If you hear rattling in your Tesla door panels, you’re not alone. This is a common issue due to loose wires in the panels and/or clips that are out of place or broken. The good news is this can be an easy DIY fix, and you don’t need to take it to the Tesla Service Center for this (unless you’re really uncomfortable taking apart your panel). In the video, we take apart the driver’s side panel, but this works for all doors on your Model 3 and Y.
What you need
- Drill/Impact Driver
- T27 Torx bit
- Trim removal tools: here and here
- Drill Extension
- Light
- Tape (Frog or Painter’s)
- Rubber Foam
Quick Tips
- You don’t need to turn your car completely off to do this. It’s safe!
- Make sure your door is open, and give yourself plenty of room. Having the window down gives you more room to work.
- Make sure you have a couple extra clips available before you take off the panel, because they can easily break upon removal. Buy at Tesla here or Amazon here.
Removal
- Put tape around the panel parts that you will use a trim tool on as you’re removing. This will protect your paint and plastic. Keep in mind that the whole panel is one piece, except for the small speaker (tweeter) at the top.
- Use pry tools to wedge underneath the panel and begin pulling straight out towards you. I usually start at the top since there is a slight edge to get over. *NOTE: Don’t pull slowly. It’s best to pull by jerking to pop out the clips. There is less chance for breaking them this way. Also, you will have to use a lot of force. These clips are strong!
Find & Fix Rattles
- Once the panel is removed, you’ll see there are many wires and clips attached. Don’t let it hang from the wires. Put it in your lap or on a stool as you’re working.
- Shake the panel and see if you can hear any thing rattling. Look for clips that may have fallen out (or stuck in the actual door) and make sure they are all reattached in the panel piece that you removed. Replace broken ones.
- After checking for broken pieces loose in the door and fixing those, then move on to check if there are loose wires.
- Put rubber foam between loose wires and the panel.
Reinstallation
- Start from the top, hooking the grooves over the edge next to the weather seal.
- Once that’s aligned, then start aligning the other clips.
- You should easily be able to push them in if they are in the right place.
- Avoid pushing too hard so you don’t break them, and then you’ll have more rattles!
Good luck and happy driving!