That damn center console (times 2) and a crazy dealership

[Sylon]

Yesterday I took my car in for its 30k service, so despite being out of warranty, I was going to have them look at my center console during it, which has been the source of two different rattles. One of the rattles I could stop if my elbow is on the lid (the notorious squeaky lid problem). The other rattle I can't pin point. I took everything out of the console to see if something inside was causing it. No luck, I just can't figure out what is causing it.

I asked my dealership if they could take a look at it. The guy told me that just to look at it would cost me $145! I told them they were out of their minds and to not bother. I'll have to figure out how to fix it myself. There is no way I'm spending that kind of money for them to do what I could show them for free.

My car is also due for the VANOS recall, but with the holidays and the fact that I went out of town the next day, I told them I wanted to hold off on it. He told me that they would need my car for at minimum 2 days. So with Xmas, that wasn't going to happen either.

[shah269]

Ok here is what you can do....grab a bottle of Black Magic tire cleaner...use it to spray down the center console. It may fix the problem. The plastic BMW used on this car was on the cheep...as in SOME SOB saved $0.0000001 per lb and that's why our cars sound like they were built by Honda.
The black magic tire cleaner should do the trick.
Spray it on, let it sit for a few min then wipe away.

[mr.fabulous]

I put a few small felt feet under the lid (beneath the rubber feet) and applied a very small amount of light oil at the hinges. Made a big difference.

[Esteban]

I sprayed a small amount of WD-40 on the hinges and wiped away any excess oil, now all is quiet.

[6MT_Addict]

Similar to the felt I put self adhesive Velcro in the hinge and lid, problem solved. My solution was based off this:

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=447871

[gmartan]

Cheap plastic and poor design is exactly what my dealer said. BTW All my Hondas were quiet and bullet proof.

[6MT_Addict]

Originally Posted by gmartan

Cheap plastic and poor design is exactly what my dealer said. BTW All my Hondas were quiet and bullet proof.

Your Hondas we're quiet for likely another reason, as Honda plastic is much thinner and much more brittle than BMW plastic (I've taken tons of both makes interiors apart professionally, speaking directly from experience). Honda is pretty good at making sure panels are isolated. M cars are actually wonderful to work on, every panel is lined with about 1/8" of square foam, similar to what you can buy at home depot for re-sealing windows and other weatherstripping. It isolates everything to eliminate any noise, as explained below.

What causes this noise is potentially poor design, but it's plastic on plastic contact. If you open the armrest and look at the hinge assembly, you should be able to see where it is contacting. My 09 Ford was way worse for this, and that is poor design. Plastic on plastic with no separation (gap, foam, fabric, etc).

If you place something in between the areas making contact as the vehicle moves over bumps and such it will eliminate the noises. Lubricating them does the same thing by preventing the parts from grinding for lack of a better word and slipping instead. If this is still an issue in the spring I can make another DIY when I get my 1er out of winter storage.

[mr.fabulous]

Originally Posted by shah269

Ok here is what you can do....grab a bottle of Black Magic tire cleaner...use it to spray down the center console. It may fix the problem. The plastic BMW used on this car was on the cheep...as in SOME SOB saved $0.0000001 per lb and that's why our cars sound like they were built by Honda.
The black magic tire cleaner should do the trick.
Spray it on, let it sit for a few min then wipe away.

clearly a management decision

[CHUUK]

I've had my 2013 for nearly a year, barely 5,000 miles on it, the armrest started speaking a few months back. Took it to the dealership and explained the issue - I could tell they thought I was just being finicky. I get a call a couple hours later saying there was a service bulletin for the armrest sqeak and they then performed the work which was basically a lube job on the hinge. This worked well for a week, but the squeak came back.

It seems to me, though, like there are two issues... at least with mine. One is the hinge... plastic squeaking against plastic. The other is the armrest lid. The upper plastic of the lid sounds like it grinds against the lower (inside) plastic of the lid... like there's a gap between the two pieces that form the lid. Rest an elbow on it closes the gap between the upper and lower causing the squeak. Gonna have a closer look when I have some free time. The lid looks like it may be assembled kinda like 'snap-tight'... dare to take it apart and it breaks!