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Insanity-Inducing Door Rattle Field Repair - 2015 Dodge Viper GT Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.comEdmunds.com Member, Administrator, Moderator Posts: 10,315
edited August 2015 in Dodge
imageInsanity-Inducing Door Rattle Field Repair - 2015 Dodge Viper GT Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds fixes a door rattle on its long-term 2015 Dodge Viper GT during a 3,124-mile road trip from North Carolina to California

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    miata52miata52 Member Posts: 114
    Why do car manufacturers today make interior fasteners a single use item? If you take apart the inside of a contemporary car expect a good deal of the fasteners to self-destruct in the process. I think they do it to drive up service costs.
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    allthingshondaallthingshonda Member Posts: 878
    You do all of this to find a rattle instead of taking it to the dealer for warranty service; but always take them back to the dealer for simple oil changes.
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    kirkhilles1kirkhilles1 Member Posts: 863
    " Judging by the clips that were missing before I started in on this field repair, I'm not the first person who's been mucking about with this door. "

    So... what does that mean? I assume then that whoever "mucked" around with the door before didn't put that bolt back and it's not a representative failure. I'd pass it onto Dodge/SRT and see if you can get an answer. Maybe there was a door speaker replacement or something like that in the past.
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    prndlolprndlol Member Posts: 140
    Good job. You surely took more care resolving this rattle than any dealership employee would've.
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    ctpaulctpaul Member Posts: 46
    do that with your Ferrari
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    desmoliciousdesmolicious Member Posts: 671
    Excellent work.
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    lmbvettelmbvette Member Posts: 93
    Now this is what I like to see....car guys (and gals) doing car guy(and gals) stuff!
    Don't worry about what other people think. Drive what makes you happy.
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    red_xj2000red_xj2000 Member Posts: 13
    Wait, what? The nut that was missing was in the cupholder the entire time and you guys just noticed it?
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    socal_ericsocal_eric Member Posts: 189
    edited August 2015
    miata52 said:

    Why do car manufacturers today make interior fasteners a single use item? If you take apart the inside of a contemporary car expect a good deal of the fasteners to self-destruct in the process. I think they do it to drive up service costs.

    Likely because with how reliable most components and subsystems are, the average owner will never have to have panels removed from the car. By using single-use plastic clips or push rivets (which many times can be reused if care is taken and directions followed on how to take the panel off instead of just pulling and prodding) a manufacturer can place more fasteners into spots that would otherwise require a hole or some other access into the panel to secure a conventional nut/bolt fastener.

    It's not like these are new. My cars from the early '80s were utilizing them and it hasn't been too big of an issue to replace a dollar or less fastener on rare occasion that something has to come apart. And by using these types of fasteners the panels look nicer and are held in place more securely which means less rattles and noise in the passenger compartment. Also if you're thinking about service cost, if the car is out of warranty and you're paying $80-120 or more an hour in labor it might end up be cheaper and faster overall to replace a couple bucks in clips than having a technician spend an hour getting tons of nuts, bolts, and screws out.
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    steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    Great explanation. Still frustrating, lol. Haven't checked in a long time but for a while there the big box hardware stores were selling "universal" auto fasteners.
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    thecardoc3thecardoc3 Member Posts: 5,747
    edited August 2015
    There are so many different clips and fasteners that for most shops it isn't practical to stock them. Here is just one source for these items.
    http://www.clipsandfasteners.com/Assortments_s/1.htm?searching=Y&sort=13&cat=1&show=45&page=1&brand=ClipsAndFasteners
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