So my '03 WRX is coming up on a year old here. I'm nearing 12,000 miles and I'm being annoyed by two noises in my dash.

The first one is coming from the stereo/cupholder area and seems to be loudest when I'm at about 2500 rpms.

The second noise is coming from the driver's side AC vent and is caused by bumps in the road as opposed to engine vibrations.

Has anyone had the same problems? Any idea how to fix them, or should I just see if the dealer can fix them?

It's really annoying the crap out of me.

 

I just dealt with this problem as well. They are both related! The entire dash component and the area above the stereo are a single piece of plastic which is held down by about a dozen plastic clips. Yes, cheap and shoddy -- you will also find these plastic clips in $53k BMWs!

The excellent site ScoobyMods has a solution -- I can't take credit for it, but I did do it and it worked. YMMV! Having the dealer fix it just annoys them.

Enjoy!

Silencing the VIN Plate / Defroster Panel rattle

 

I have a 03 wrx also ,Try taking your cds out of the changer. I removed all mine and the noise stopped.

 

Thanks for the info, i got the same problem on my 2002..... gona try later on today one question do i need to wait till the silicon drys with the clips on and then reasmble the trim panel or should i reinstall it just i finish putting the clips back on with the silicone?

 

i had the vin plate vibrations too. i thought it was something with my heat shield. the thing was annoying. my dad drove my car and he thought my car was falling apart with all the rattles and sqeaks.
like others have said scoobymods has great instructions on how to get rid of it.

 

ive hat my car for 7 months and it rattles too

 

do the scooby mods mod.....it quited mine only took about 5 min to do....

 

Thanks everybody!

Man I love this site. I'll do the scoobymods fix later today.

(I love scoobymods too)

 

Same thing here, my noise stops when ill press down just a bit on the clock panel

 

The dash rattles, the console rattles, the AC vents ratte and the windows squeak. Subaru must have thought 'to hell with fit and finish, we're selling a turbocharged rally car'!!!

 

the fix got rid of the rattle for me as well.

while we're on this subject...donate to scoobymods to keep their site up!

 

Mine had the same problem. I was able to narrow the sound to the VIN plat area. After adding a small bead of silicon it is gone.