Do all of you having the "rattle" have the black wheels with the attatched hubcap? Mine was doing the same thing, and I figured it was the hubcap rattling. Took them off and no more rattle.

 

Hey Joe! I need those stock steel wheels for dyno testing!!!

Read HERE.

If you want a nice set of alloys, PM me and lets' work something out.

Ours are too nice to just sit around gathering dust:



(...and I don't want to bother shipping them.)

 

Same thing here

 

I took the Malibu in yesterday and the other clunking noise was coming from a loose tie rod end.

 

update: took mine in for the weird rattle, they claimed it was the "intermediate steering shaft". Part was ordered and was replaced today and..... its still there, seems to be worse actually. And on top of that now the steering wheel is off about 5 deg to the left looks like its going back to the dealer tomorrow because my warranty ends soon (35700 miles)!

 

My rattle was only over bumps and was fixed by the service but I also hear this noise that sounds like an impact sprinkler, you know, chck chck chck, and i suspected it was the wheel cover on the black wheels like you said because they are kind of loose and don't seem to stay tight even when you try to secure them. But I'm not positive. I may take the covers off this weekend and see if the sprinkler goes away.

 

Does it always sound like the sprinkler going at the same speed or does it change based on the speed you are driving? I heard that before in another vehicle I had and it was a nail in the tire.

 

It was the rim covers for sure. I took them off when I got home from work tonight and the rattle went away. I think I am going to just get some different covers or maybe different wheels and use the old ones for snow tires. But I'm 95% sure it was from the covers.

 

update again. They have replaced the intermediate steering shaft and it made no difference whatsoever. Now they have ordered an entire rack & pinion assy to replace and if that doesn't work the steering column needs to come out and be replaced.

 

Same thing here. Already replaced the int. steering shaft and steering column. Now they're going after the rack and pinion. Interesting, I also ended up with the steering wheel off center quite a bit to the left and was charged for an alignment. The dealer blamed me for it and that's been a whole other story alltogether. The dealerships Service manager and I got into a screaming match in the middle of the service entrance and for a minute there I thought we were going to go to blows. I wrote GM cust. Svc and am waiting for a response.