my cab S has 3500 miles now and is a smooth quiet delight. still have trouble believing a cab is this quiet.
Sorry to hear about a few of you putting up with rattles in such an expensive car.
I can feel your pain, though, because my $150+ K R8 rattles and squeaks like CRAZY, to the point that it is just sitting there in the garage...while I drive the 991. Every day.

 

Apart from about a half dozen campaigns with running changes to fix a variety of early production stuff, the only issue I had with my Jan 2012 production car was a minor rattle in the drivers side door card. The dealer took it off as advised that there was defective part and replaced it with one sent from the factory- no debate- just did it.

 

Couldn't agree more. P-cars are "bumpy ride cars", so it should be expected that construction and assembly anticipate it. I'd love to fix my own rattles, but my major issue is that I can't pinpoint some of them. It's really difficult while driving. One thing I was able to isolate was the back of the passenger seat, which wobbles back and forth rapidly on certain (crappy) CA streets and the inner backrest handle, which somehow is looser than the outer one.

Do you happen to have pictures of where you discovered rattles? That could be helpful.

 

You have already started doing the right thing. I should have taken pics as I went along but did not (sorry). The main advice I can give - if you want to fix the rattles yourself and are a DIY man - you should do it yourself. Taking it into Porsche may be hit and miss depending on the interest of the guy that has to find and fix it. Obviously you are much more qualified as you have the interest. What you don't have is an instruction book. Porsche has that.
I did have to phone them on occasion and once had to go to the workshop so they could show me how to undo things.
It's fairly easy once you know what to look for - usually a clip or screw hidden by a small, easily removable panel or part. Those plastic inserts on the door panel for example - you can remove them easily with a flat wide plastic spatula (look in your wife's cooking utensils for some useful items) - never use metal objects to remove these parts as you can easily cause marks on them.

As general rule, anything that looks removable is removable and if it is - it will come off fairly easily.

If you can't figure something out - ask your Porsche tech. In my case they have been very willing to help with advise.

My dash had a very bad rubbing noise but it was easy to fix. One good push forward at the drivers side airvent resulted in an audible "click" and noise gone. One of the latches that holds the dash was not inserted all the way during manufacture and it just needed a good push.

Some minor rubbing noises remain - but these are all related to leather rubbing against leather as far as I can make out. They are only noticeable on fairly bad roads (I have the SPASM) when the chassis flexes a bit. There are several areas where leather touches leather so this is unavoidable.

Rattles where identified and fixed in seat mechanism, seat belt reels (rear), dash and doors.
The door panels are very light weight which does not help if you have the normal sound system which allows too much base on the speakers so the whole thing vibrates. The normal sound system does not have the sub woofer so they can't cut out the base from these speakers which would help a lot. Even just a piece of paper (like a gas purchase receipt) in the side holder against the speaker makes a bad noise so I don't keep anything in there.
The doors need three screws (behind panels) removed and the whole thing just lifts out. Some self-adhesive felt strips around the panel perimeter before re-assembly fixes any rubbing noises. Inspect the door latch mechanism and window mechanism while you are at it. Take the back end of a large screw driver and tap around the mechanics and listen for noises of any metal "tinkling" sounds. When you locate something, add a dab of lithium grease to the offending part or joint. This also works well on other mechanical rattles.

 

Mine has quite exactly the same problem in the driver's door. One of the first 2012 build. Shamfor such a car.

 

Thank you Rainer.
Having torn lots of cars apart, I'm sure with a healthy does of patience we'll get to the promise land..

 

You can beat the rattles. All you need is patience, a second set of ears, insulation padding (used some of the padding from my V1 box once...worked like a charm) and insulation tape. When your best efforts fail, head over to the dealer. Be sure to brief them on the steps you've taken. It's only a matter of time (time is probably now) before they have enough experience to attack the problem.

I found here online that some people like to take their car interiors apart and install various items. I've used those photos and instructions to figure out the source of a few of the rattles. For example, my C-pillar issues were aided by the gentleman, who decided to remove some of the insulation to get a louder exhaust sound in the interior.

To establish some ethos, I'm not a fix it man, but if you need something broken or destroyed, I'm your boy. I'm really good at it!

Grist for the mill; hope this helps. If not, try Talisker Scotch.

 

No kidding, a $100,000 ++ sports car with these kinds of problems. Why is this acceptable? I'm starting to second guess my decision.

 

Like a 300k Ferrari doesn't have these problems? Wow. Sell me your car.

 

If a $300,000 Ferrari has these kinds of problems then I would be 3x as pissed; still unacceptable.

 

The point is that these kinds of problems are common on any new or limited production sports car with a low center of gravity and super tight chassis on crappy roads.

 

Sorry, I've spent a considerable amount of time in Ferraris and that has not been my experience. The 308 I drove was a rattle trap as was the 348 targa, but all models after that were pretty tight. I understand that firm suspensions can produce noise in all the wrong places, but anytime you have plastic touching plastic, metal touching metal, you will have squeaks and rattles. As others have pointed out there are remedies and these should be undertaken by the factory.

 

Sure. None of my previous Porsches had rattles. Most of the 991s have no rattles. Not sure i understand your point sir.

My point is that sometimes rattles do happen regardless of the brand of sports car and the rattles can be fixed. My point was not an indictment of a brand. It's going to be okay.

 

Okay good to know that these are exceptions.

 

Very interesting. I am a lurker here. I have a 2009 C2S pdk coupe with 42K miles that I love--and that is built like a tank and is still rattle-free. I have been debating for 6 months now on whether to trade it in for a 991 C2S cab. Certainly a thread like this one gives me pause, although I assume the longer I wait the better these things will be addressed.