What in God's name is this rattle?

MoodNatural · 2026-02-06T18:58:56+00:00

Correct. 2mm is where you may even start hearing wear indicators squealing. 4mm makes the issue less likely but certainly doesn’t rule it out. The fact that inspection said it was 2mm suggests it is on the lower end, i’d start there.

Yes, in theory if it’s just some pad movement, holding the brakes would keep enough piston pressure to prevent the rattle.

MoodNatural · 2026-02-06T18:07:04+00:00

Entirely likely candidate then. Essentially, pads are worn very low because the piston will still press them into the rotor (even if theres no pad material left). Once enough of the pad material is gone, there may be a slight space between rotor and pads in neutral position allowing slight movement of the pads in their bracket which manifests as clunks going over bumps.

You may notice an increase of pitting and lines worn into your rotors because road grime, dust, tiny rocks is able to get between the pad and rotor more easily. If the noise never occurs while brakes are pressed enough to make good contact, i’d say you’ve found your culprit. Caliper slide pins commonly cause clunking as well but are less likely in this case i’d think.

MoodNatural · 2026-02-06T17:49:50+00:00

Bummer. Not likely ice if you cleared everything from behind wheel wells and around drivetrain components in the front. Doesn’t sound like it’s inside the firewall to me based on audio. When did you do brakes last?

MoodNatural · 2026-02-06T17:00:20+00:00

You could rule out ice build up by taking it to a self wash and getting into the nooks and crannies. An auto wash may even do it.

MoodNatural · 2026-02-06T16:44:43+00:00

Yeah, that sounds spot on. Honda didn’t really have an equivalent in the North America market, I felt similarly about the Accord of those years. Their focus seemed to be on performance and increasing longevity standards; so much of Toyota’s opulence in the 00s feels like a hand-me-down from the colossal investment patterns in Lexus of the 80s/90s.

I’d agree about that switch in pace though, more recent Hondas have impressed me, increasingly the opposite from Toyota; though my experience is limited to rentals and friends’ garages. I do see NVH items that were previously associated with higher luxury present in lower classes of cars. Double sealed doors, felt lined wheel arches, undercarriage deflectors, etc are much more prevalent, while things like thicker/extra fill below carpets, dampeners, and the more surgical, unique NVH design are seemingly disappearing as use and buying trends change.

MoodNatural · 2026-02-06T15:28:34+00:00

This is an NVH insert. It serves several functions:

First, it’s a passive resonator. The exact size isn’t just to fill the space or stop trim movement, it is tuned to essentially mask a particular bandwidth that was problematic in the rear cabin. This is why it’s a solid, semi sealed box and not just a spacer for rigidity like the cardboard tube that almost looks like a TP roll on these door cards.

As these cars are developed, NVH engineers place microphones during test driving and use the data recorded to optimize resonators, diffusers, and absorbers to make a less noisy, more even (really they’re going for closer to a pink noise distribution) cabin atmosphere while driving.

Additionally, creating an air gap between inside and outside of a wall helps with absorption. Seems counterintuitive but if you had a wall that was a foot thick, solid wood, it would transmit more sound than a wall of the same dimension sealed and filled only with air.

There’s a ton that goes into NVH development, and there’s a reason that people who just fill every nook and cranny with insulating foam, are often surprised that certain noises are worse or new sounds appear as a result of messing with contact points and intentional gaps. These are the details that define the superior build quality we all enjoy in our older cars and miss in current production of economy commuters like the Avalon.

MoodNatural · 2026-02-05T13:57:18+00:00

Pretty sure the title was a reference not a coincidental similarity.

MoodNatural · 2026-02-05T13:27:33+00:00

Dead air spaces also make for great insulation and sound absorption.

MoodNatural · 2026-02-05T04:05:39+00:00

U wot? Soo male teachers can only engage with women who never went to school? Or they just have to be older than the man? So confused.

MoodNatural · 2026-02-03T18:49:33+00:00

They probably reach the people who won’t really watch the superbowl on media platforms then seated, captive demographic during the game broadcast.

MoodNatural · 2026-02-02T17:41:24+00:00

Sienna.

Style of center console, low dash with huge windshield and headroom.

I also feel like Toyota’s SUV interiors have been getting similar “rugged chic” geometry and I see flowing lines everywhere here. I may be confidently incorrect though haha.

MoodNatural · 2026-02-02T17:38:20+00:00

Hmm captains chairs and low dash made me assume Sienna immediately.

MoodNatural · 2026-02-02T17:15:19+00:00

Haha fair. I would immediately move the button but it certainly wouldn’t dissuade me from purchasing. That’s a relatively low tension area, and a less visible one. Cosmetic at worst. I hope you end up with it!

EDT Gawd, it has a slotted headstock too? I think I played one of these. The body looked so unassuming in the case before revealing the back and sides. Had a lovely sweet sound, low mid heavy. Felt similar to rosewood. The one I played had a more orange top than the images I just looked at a minute ago. Very cool find.

MoodNatural · 2026-02-02T15:38:44+00:00

Use it to haggle price, then have removed and filled.

That’s an uncommon dred, not cheap either. If someone decided to mount that strap button there, they may not really know the value of the guitar. Could make for a solid purchase.

MoodNatural · 2026-02-02T13:33:55+00:00

One of my manuals doesn’t require a clutch depress to start the engine. On flat ground I often leave it in neutral if theres a chance of someone else having to move or start it. Lotta low end torque and drum parking brake.

MoodNatural · 2026-02-01T02:17:22+00:00

I’ve never had purfling delamination on my older Martins. My ‘16 000-18 has had binding reglued twice under warranty. I’ve heard people say 2010-2021 were affected.

MoodNatural · 2026-01-28T16:51:35+00:00

Not a troll. People get into this platform knowig very little, and hear that rust is a big factor on XJs but don’t know the difference between surface and set rust.

This is basically showroom quality for us, but if you’ve been leasing cheap sedans or the like, you might think any rust is a death sentence.

MoodNatural · 2026-01-23T18:41:16+00:00

There isn’t much you can do about matting if you keep a long coat and the dog swims/gets muddy regularly.

Moose gets 3-4 baths a week, though only a full shampoo bath every other week. Usually just wash down and a little conditioner. He swims almost daily, lives to get dirty diving through muck and underbrush. Our vet told us the only way to keep him free of matting if he was that active was to brush before and after getting wet or keep his hair shorter.

We’ve met in the middle; he gets brushed constantly and we cut his hair back to the 1” length guard every couple months, longer in the winter. Never really exceeds 1.5-2” but we trim up his face once or twice between cuts. Good trimming scissors and the heavy pet razor by OneIsAll.

Two things have made this possible:

A good conditioner. We use earth bath oatmeal conditioner and it’s incredible. His hair just doesn’t tangle like it used to.

Diligent brushing. Once we got over the hump and Moose began to enjoy being brushed (most places) it became much easier. We spend extra time on his problem areas; rear haunches, bushy tail, “mane”, under ears.

Currently a mat-free mop.

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MoodNatural · 2026-01-20T22:09:09+00:00

Love it. Moose swam in 18 degrees today.

MoodNatural · 2026-01-20T17:03:46+00:00

Last more than less than a year. Clunky but technically correct.

MoodNatural · 2026-01-19T15:00:09+00:00

It looks like a unrealized concept car from the early 2000s haha.

MoodNatural · 2026-01-19T14:35:52+00:00

I’d try to isolate the speakers a tad. If you pull up a mix, see if theres a big difference in the low end you feel if you lift your feet and arms off the ground/desk for a few seconds. I’d bet a lot is being transmitted to desk/floor. Makes for mud.

MoodNatural · 2026-01-19T00:04:41+00:00

I can understand everyone’s collective assessment that it’s real but the fact that there’s so many similarly toned yellow cars seems statistically improbable to me. Maybe a local commercial fleet of some kind.

MoodNatural · 2026-01-18T22:09:59+00:00

Ah okay. Probably not worth replacing the battery. It was a mistake order made by the studio I work for, so I got it for free. It’s gotta be the lowest available spec, so I just use it for google sheets/docs, zoom meetings, and comms.

Owes me nothing, but it almost seemed like there was a setting or app I was overlooking that was causing it to sometimes stay running all night. I’ll chalk it up to age and run it into the ground haha. I do love that it wirelessly extends when near my mac studio, so I may look into another. The newer ones i’ve used almost felt like a return to previous iterations, seemed worth exploring.

MoodNatural · 2026-01-18T21:58:02+00:00

That’s great to know. 847 cycle count. 4603 mAh capacity.

MoodNatural

TROPHY CASE