Colin and Sandra Posted October 3, 2015 Share Posted October 3, 2015 Have just bought a motor home having owned a caravan for more years than I care to remember. Having been for a test drive the internal rattles did seem rather loud. Are there any tips as to what might be making the most noise and how to rectify same, obviously during the test drive there were no personal possessions in the van. I did remove the grill pan before travelling. Thanks in anticipation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manxli Posted October 3, 2015 Share Posted October 3, 2015 Hi I think it's a process of elimination. I started by putting adhesive furniture pads on all drawers and cupboard doors which helped. Rattling of exterior body parts still occurs though. Don't know what to do about that. (Chausson Flash 02) Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin and Sandra Posted October 3, 2015 Author Share Posted October 3, 2015 Thanks Alan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJay Posted October 3, 2015 Share Posted October 3, 2015 Use lots of non slip on shelves etc. I find that most of the rattles generate from our cooker/oven, have learnt to put up with that for 10 years. It depends on the road surface as well. You will probably find it will always be noisier than the caravan, as you are sitting with all the fittings Just enjoy your van and put the radio/Cd on Fortunately for us we are both hard of hearing!! PJay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayjsj Posted October 3, 2015 Share Posted October 3, 2015 Make sure that your tyre pressures (especially the rears) are correct, ie. 80 psi is too high, would shake the fillings out of your teeth. Can't advise on the correct pressure, but my van runs at 65psi on the rears, with 16" Continental vanco camper tyres. Overinflation causes a lot of 'dissapointment' to 'new' motorhomers. Harsh (very harsh) Ride and excessive noise, from microwave ovens and the like. Get your van weighed at a weighbridge, ready for a holiday (fully loaded). Then phone the makers of the tyres for their advice. Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted October 3, 2015 Share Posted October 3, 2015 You really need to go for a drive with one person with a notepad well versed in ingenuity riding in the back to locate, note, and devise ways of fitting anti rattle solutions. As soon as the worst ones are sorted the lesser ones will become apparent and so on. Being an imaginitice DIYer helps as does a shed full of odd bits of foam plastic, draught excluder, carpet off cuts etc.! Good luck, and welcome to both the mad mad world of Motorhomes and to this forum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin and Sandra Posted October 3, 2015 Author Share Posted October 3, 2015 thanks everyone. Am looking forward to this adventure in motorhoming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don636 Posted October 3, 2015 Share Posted October 3, 2015 We have had our PVC for just over a year now and I am obsessive about rattles in the van, the same as I am about our cars. I drive my wife nuts as the noises just don't bother her at all. I use the usual fixes such as careful packing, anti-slip matting, tea towels, wedges, sections of pipe insulation etc to try and stop things rattling and clinking against each other. I am sure that some would say that I go way over the top but I can't help myself. My efforts are largely successful but what is really annoying is that there is ALWAYS some little rattle or squeak from somewhere and never from the same location and they are almost impossible to track down. My problem is that I am actively straining to hear any unusual noises and so I will find them. If it is really bad I have to stop and try to locate and fix it and sometimes I am successful and other times I am not and just have to put up with it. I think you need to make a reasonable effort to pack things in such a way as the noises are limited but I think you just have to accept that you will never get rid of all the noises and will just have to live with it. You could try ear plugs!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin and Sandra Posted October 3, 2015 Author Share Posted October 3, 2015 I thought ear plugs or having radio on loudly!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don636 Posted October 3, 2015 Share Posted October 3, 2015 Unfortunately the quality of the stereo in a Fiat Ducato is not great and gets worse as you try to crank up the volume over the general noise of the engine, wind and the odd rattle so I can't stand it. I like the sound of earplugs but probably not a safe option. Another option would be to buy a caravan and put the noise way out back but I have tried that and it is not for us. Overall I am happy with the level of rattles, as there are hardly any and only over rough roads, it's just that it is generally so good that when the odd noise does appear it is so noticeable and really annoys me - it's as if there is a constant battle of wits between me and the van and I hate it when the van gets the better of me. I wonder if it would be possible to install a partition of some sort behind the seats to blank out the noise from behind but that might rattle as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 Rayjsj - 2015-10-03 7:12 PM Make sure that your tyre pressures (especially the rears) are correct, ie. 80 psi is too high, would shake the fillings out of your teeth. Can't advise on the correct pressure, but my van runs at 65psi on the rears, with 16" Continental vanco camper tyres. Overinflation causes a lot of 'dissapointment' to 'new' motorhomers. Harsh (very harsh) Ride and excessive noise, from microwave ovens and the like. Get your van weighed at a weighbridge, ready for a holiday (fully loaded). Then phone the makers of the tyres for their advice. Ray I’m running my 2015 Rapido 640 with front and rear tyre pressures of (respectively) 5.0bar/72psi and 5.5bar/80psi and the ride quality is OK. The tyres are 215/70 R15CP Michelin "Agilis Camping” and those pressures are as recommended in the Fiat Ducato handbook. It’s likely that, if I weighed the Rapido and asked Michelin’s advice I’d be given a lower pressure-recommendation for the front tyres, but near certain that Michelin would tell me that 5.5bar/80psi should be used for the rear tyres because that’s what the ETRTO (European Tyre and Rim Technical Organisation) says is correct for CP-marked camping-car tyres fitted to a ’single-wheel’ rear axle irrespective of the measured axle loading. Using ‘minimum safe’ tyre pressures may reduce ride-harshness, but may also negatively effect handling precision. I don’t think my Rapido’s ride quality is significantly worse than my previous Transit-based Hobby’s that I used significantly lower pressures on. From new the Hobby produced an awful creaking noise in the overcab area that took major surgery to cure. The Rapido has a fold-out metal flame guard on the the hob that will inevitably rattle whatever the tyre pressures and - as I don’t want to alter this I’ve had to use the time-honoured method of padding the guard with a couple of cloths. Otherwise, Rapido puts anti-rattle rubber pads on all locker doors and drawers so (except for the hob guard) the motorhome’s living area has been quiet from Square One. There’s a minor rattle on rough roads that I think is in the Rapido’s cab area but my wife thinks is not. Having noticed that the ends of the REMIS windscreen-blind ‘runners’ on one side (where I think the rattle was coming from) were not actually attached to the windscreen pillars (!!!) I’ve fixed that, but I’ve yet to confirm if this has done any good. I share Don636’s rattle-aversion gene and, unfortunately, my wife is similarly immune to in-vehicle noise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billggski Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 The way internal bulkheads and cabinets are fixed together means that there is always some slight movement. My discovery was that items fall behind the drawers and cabinets, out of sight, but not of sound. As you say, you can end up listening for noises, last week we stopped four times to locate a bumping noise, until we found it was an insecure roof light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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