Hello, I have a rattling noise that I've isolated to the large leather dash panel. Is there any easy to remove it? It feels like it might be held on by some clips, but I don't want to pry or force anything that might break it. I uploaded a generic photo of the piece in question I'm trying to remove. Thanks! Image Unavailable, Please Login
If you aren't in a big rush, I am going to be removing that panel on my car soon here. I'd be happy to give you a run down of what's involved. From what I can see, it attaches via a combination of push in pins and bolts from under the dash, so that's going to involve removing the glove box assembly, among other parts, in order to access the screws I believe. Keep in mind that the passenger side air bag is under there, so you should cut all electrical power in order to avoid accidentally setting off the airbag and blowing your head off Here are some additional photos that might help. Ray Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
That would be great, thank you! No rush at all, I'd appreciate any photos, especially those of what is underneath!
Ok sounds good. When I get to removing that part from my car, I'll take some photos or a video or at least give you a run down of how difficult it is on a scale of 1 to 10 Ray
Yes. Just have the dealer complete the airbag recall as he will be performing the same panel removal. If you have an issue, let him know so he takes car of it while its apart. Unless, of course, your issue (if you have one like above) was caused by the airbag replacement itself and now it rattles. Why are you asking?
I have one being worked on as we speak. Was coming from around the A pillar. Hopefully removing and replacing the airbag doesn’t cause more. Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat.com mobile app
In order to remove this piece, you need to remove the glove compartment. Once that is done, then you can gain access to the fasteners. Or do this -
I have this job scheduled, assuming I keep my car longer term. In speaking with the head tech at the dealer, he said basically you remove the glove box to gain access to the panel screws but he said make sure you keep in mind that there are also two 10 mm nuts/bolts that hold the air bag in - and you need to remove those. If I ever get around to the job on my car, I'll document some of it with a video for future reference. Usually with these types of jobs, if you do them yourself, you just have to start tearing into things until you get to where you want. Make damn sure to disconnect the battery when dealing with anything around the airbag (aka high explosive). As noted, there is a recall on the airbags currently, so might be able to get the dealer to handle it with that. Ray
Thanks for the feedback guys. I had the dealer perform the airbag recall and now there’s a rattle. I suppose I can reach out to them to see if they’d dig into the rattle, but I am not holding my breath. Ant
Ugh, sorry to hear that. Personally, I'm gonna leave it as is and not do the recall on the airbag. I don't like anyone touching my car, dealer or not. Ray
You two folks are expressing my concern about the whole airbag and potential rattle/fitment issues. Wish you luck but thinking myself about maybe not getting it done or at least not right away.
Image Unavailable, Please Login The pins pictured on the left sometimes stick in to their respective clips, causing the plastic to fracture that holds them to the dash panel, tread carefully.....
Just to let you guys know... when the airbag is disconnected, it locks itself preventing any unwanted detonation. inside the Male side of the connector, the one attached to the airbag itself, have a security feature called "SHORT BARS". When is disconnected those metal bars are designed to short circuit pins, so there is no static or other accidental detonation risk.
Any updates from those that attempted to take the passenger dash off? I recently got a CPO 2011 458 and there's a really annoying rattle coming from somewhere in the passenger dash area. I can't exactly isolate it, but it's definitely coming from the front passenger area--possible near where the dash meets the A-pillar. I'm curious to know how difficult it is to pull the dash as I really hate dropping my car off and having other people tear into it. I suppose I should get a copy of the service manual and see if this is addressed in there. Also, I'm assuming that since my car was a CPO car they would've made sure that any recalls were addressed. What years does the airbag recall affect?
After many hours looking around inside the dash, stuffing foam and test driving to try and isolate the noise, I had some success putting black foam strips between the dash and windshield. If you use grey or white you can see the reflection in the glass which doesn’t look very good. That took care of 99% of the rattle. I think the whole dash panel probably resonated when going over uneven roads vs loose trim and the foam helped insulate it. Because there was absolutely nothing rubbing or loose inside the dash that I could find, that would have caused that. Hope that helps. And yes, a CPO car should have had the airbag recall taken care of, but you can always message your dealer and ask. They can look that up easily.
Personally I have not heard prior of anyone having issues post air bag dealer service. I had none. However I just had my entire dash removed including getting rid of the plastic/sticky instrument cluster cover & replaced it with my Ricambi CF unit. I have the CF factory race interior and this part is exact weave & fit but in CF. Truthfully didn't think I needed this part but must say Wow. As to the reassembly etc I went to a Independant shop called European Exotic Cars in Tampa . No issues,no rattles,just satisfaction.
