Alright, well I have had this noise since the day I took my hood insulation out. I thought it might be connected, but probably not. I did drive around without the aircleaner on, and the noise was still there just as much.

What it is, is something sounds loose, and rattles, over every bump. In the video, you need to listen past the regular "bump" noises and the t-top squeaks to hear the rattle.

You can hear it best between seconds 00:25 and 00:45 on the video. It is a distinct "clanka clank clank" from under the car. I was under the car today, and hammered on everything I could find. Not the exhaust, not the front suspension, not the brakes or calipers.

Also, if you listen at the stop sign, right as I start letting the clutch out to get moving again, you can hear the "groan" from the RR quarter panel area. That happens after every stop too.
here is a link to the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3fhZvpg6OU

Any ideas of new things to check would be nice guys thanks!

 

wow that road sucks. umm.... i heard the noise but it could be so many things. its usually something either really obvious or ur just not trying hard enough looking.

i recently took my whole underbody all apart and now there is no clunks or rattles( xcept the t tops) so i no i did something right. just get down there and took a really good look. and bring a friend a second set of hands or eyes always helps

-edit. do u have sfc's? if not get some. after i installd my jegster bolt in pieces my doors fit and closed better and the ride is much more solid.

 

Man, that was pretty noisy all together... LOL. I think I heard something familiar as you were accelerating from the stop sign (the groan?). I recently replaced everything from the cat on back on mine, and developed a rattle that sounds like what I think I heard in yours. I got under there, and tightened any loose screws I found in the heat shields, and pushed some up tighter to the bottom of the car, and that got it. I bout to check out some of your other videos.

 

pull your carpet up behind the rear seat and check the top nut on your rear shocks sounds loose or missing,later jimmy

 

That is the road I live on. And it really doesent suck at all, its decent asphalt with a few cracks here and there. I didnt hit a single pothole in that video, my car is just picking up every little 1/2" crack in the road...

If you think that road is bad, you should see most of the average roads in town...

And I do have SFC's. When I installed them, it helped a little in the corners and stuff, but the t-top squeaks and other various noises got worse.

Thats a real good idea. I never thought about it loosening up. I dont think the shocks are any good at all, but even then it would probably be best to tighten it in any case, if it is even loose.

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Maybe now people will understand why I say WS6 sucks... unless I have a particular lemon of a firebird lol.

 

That noise is pretty bad. I agree with the rear suspension idea. If your shocks and springs are bad, I might suspect them too.

 

The shocks are probably all spent. I still dont see why spent shocks would make ANY noise, never mind the one in question.

The springs are still mint. I mean - still have the stickers with the part number on them! I checked them today.

When I first bought the car, it had 47,100 miles. It was really quiet and rode firm, but smoothe.

Now, it has 60,000 and all these different noises. And rides like absolute ****. I mean watch the video, at like 00:24 you can see the road is like really nice and smooth. But it feels like driving down a dirt road with ruts lol.

 

My first suspect would be those shock mounts. Seems to happen all of the time in many cars. But depending on how badly the shocks are shot or leaking, weird things can happen.

 

Well, they dont leak oil, and the back end doesent bounce around like an old caprice...

but - it has been feeling more "floaty" going over hills, or through dips on the highway. Also, all those noises seem to be getting worse every day!

 

Just out of curiosity, if you gently press the brake pedal to hold the pads against the rotor. Does the rattling stop? I had the same issue when I replaced brake pads. The pads were rattling against the retainer pins but it sounded like the whole car was falling apart. Also, might try and adjust the wheel bearings. I know everyone eluded to the rear, but it sure sounds like front end to me. Just my .02.
Good Luck!!

 

You may wanna check exhaust hangers, catalayic converter to see if the inside is all loose, heat shields, panhard & torque arm mounts. Strut/shock mounts to see if teh rubber is till thier, they don't have to leak to be bad, the o-ring inside can go & that will make the internals vibrate.

Noise can travel & may not be from were you are hearing it, bad body mounts will make the whole car squeak & rattle. SFC's will make everything stiffer & rattle cause theres no flex in the uni body. Thats why Im gonna change my body mounts b4 I out on my SFC's.

Front brake pads, the ears on them should be hammered down enough to fit over the caliper so they don't move around onyou when your braking causing the rattling. Just hit enough so they will snap over the caliper, if you bend them to much just use some pliers to bend them back & use the pliers to squeee them on, a lil bearing grease helps also.

Coils, I just use some leftover Heater hose to wrap the top & bottom of the coil atleast 3/4 turn to insulate from squeaks.

Hope these tips help & good luck

 

Yeah, that is what I have pretty much narrowed it down to. I just figured that out the other day, that when I press the brake, it wont rattle.

I figure its because the cheap autozone pads I got, were so loose in the calipers compared to stock. I even had to re-use the stock clips, because the duralast ones wouldnt fit in the piston. Maybe one of the clips fell out into the middle of the piston?

 

Clip could have fallen out, or there may not be any grease in the area there is supposed to be. If you reused the stock clips, one of the may have simply broken or fallen apart by now. I'd pull apart the brakes and get them re-greased and the clips tightened up. It could be a really cheap fix.

 

I agree with the above posts, it sounds like your brake pads are ratteling around. :/