Abso-freaking-lutely.

I have torn car interiors down to the bare metal to find offending noises. Sometimes they’re caused by crazy stuff, like on one 92 BMW 525i where a creak in the rear parcel shelf was being caused by two sheets of metal where the spot welds had popped (from hard driving and chassis flex). I had to sit in the bare metal rear seat area of the car while a friend drove me around some intentionally awful roads while I poked everything. I drilled a bunch of holes and used some bolts to fasten the sheetmetal together, problem solved.

My current daily driver is a 2003 BMW 530i with 316,000 miles, and it thankfully does not have a single rattle or squeak. I religiously condition/lubricate the rubber door seals with Gummi Pflege, lubricate the latches and hinges with white lithium grease, and condition the leather seats, all to reduce squeaking. The other day I noticed my clutch pedal was starting to creak when depressed, so I took off the kick panel and lubricated all the pivot points, it’s nice and quiet now.

The key is to stay on top of the rattles and squeaks, because if I let them accumulate I get angry and end up selling the car. Wind noise is also a big no-no, I have to have the windshield sealed up perfectly and the window + sunroof seals need to be perfect so I can drive 90mph in complete silence.

Next up is replacing all 4 wheel bearings because I’m starting to be able to hear them at certain speeds and that bothers me.