Rear Bottom of Clamshell Disassembly

[Blue By You]

My hatch (clamshell) creak is driving me crazy and I'm finally getting around to taking the black plastic apart to see how I can silence it.

Has anyone done this before and know the exact steps?

I have the 5 torx screws removed from the panel and the 1 torx screw removed from next to the release handle.

Do I need to remove the handle or do the two plastic pieces come apart? There is a tiny panel on the right side of the panel as well, wondering if I need to do anything with that?

Gurus please chime in! Thanks

[11earl]

Following!

[Qsilver7]

There are some great video on youtube that shows various methods of silencing tailgate rattle. It appears there could be multiple causes…but here’s a video that shows a pretty simple method to try to silence the rattle that only requires adjust the latch for the bottom tailgate by a few millimeters.

[Blue By You]

Originally Posted by Qsilver7

There is a great video on youtube that shows how to replace the lower protective plastic pieces on the rear lower tailgate. Is that what you’re referring to when you say “clamshell”?

The video was filmed by a female owner that has a male friend replacing it. He doesn’t do much talking…he just quickly and methodically goes through the procedure. But she narrates what he is doing which is helpful.

I just figured out yesterday that it's not the plastic pieces. There is a video online that I'll try to find again showing how to adjust the top tailgate guides and bump stops.

Working with these adjustments is touchy, and I've just about dialed it in then my tailgate won't close. But now I've got mine adjusted to the point where it's much quieter and I think a little more time with it might help me totally dial it in.

I also bought and yet to receive some silicone grease (think white lithium but clear and seems better) to lube up those areas so they hopefully don't creak even on the bigger bumps. Some people use electrical tape too. Other than a much more mild creak from the opposite side and a large creak from the same side but over bigger bumps (not creaking the entire time down an undulating road but only when I hit a larger/more rare bump in the road for instance) things are much quieter already!

[Blue By You]

It's the top half of the rear tailgate/clamshell assembly. I played around with the horizontal guides and bump stops. Used silicone grease, tried electrical tape, both. Nothing fully eliminated the creaking. Even when it was subtle, it was driving me wacky.

Concluded with maxing out the space/play between the horizontal guides on the tailgate and quarter panels so they do not rub at all, and adjusting the bumps stops to where the tailgate seems to be pretty tight and flush with the quarter panels.

Although I thought things should be tighter for longevity, I read somewhere that the creaking is a result of things being adjusted too tight. The current result is a much much quieter rear tailgate. I can hear some shuffling around but I also have plenty of stuff going on in my cargo area so it could be anything. And it's more of a nitpick by me at this point because it really is a dramatic improvement.

Bottom line: NO MORE F-ING CREAK!!! My M feels like the badass tight sporty vehicle that it should instead of an old rattlebox every time I hit road imperfections and bumps.

Long term I might want to tighten things a bit. But I'm enjoying the peace and quiet right now! Hope it helps peeps.