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Finally a detailed description of the rear deck removal on a 08 CTS sedan.

26K views 16 replies 14 participants last post by  MrPanda 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
As with many, I continued to deal with all the rattles associated with the rear speaker deck on my 08' CTS . I looked at many post here about the steps involved in removing the rear deck to get to the rattles, but none of them gave me enough detail.
I took on the task today and these are my findings...keeping in mind i know my way around a tool box.

1.) Pull up on the lower seat and it pops right out, easiest part of the job.

2.) Seat back...4 bolts just under the seat back and 4 more in the trunk. Don't worry about the 2 holding the trunk release. Once loose, just lay the top seat down face first down where the lower seat was...throw a couple of towels down first.

3.) Pop off the "airbag" logo from the side pillars, this gives access to a small screw underneath.

4.) Gently but with persuasion, remove the side pillar covers from each side. Keep in mind there is a black clip attached to a short cord that is attached to the metal inner panel...this clip is a pain in the back side to remove from the panel, but worked with it until it detached.

5.) Once you detach the clip, pull the two piece pillar panel away from the side panel and lay down on the seat. No need to detach the seat belt.

6.) Once you have the side panels out, you can work the rear deck out. Just flip it upside down so you don't have to detach the seatbelt.

7.) This is where you can see the major rattle trap that is hidden under the rear deck... people talk about stuffing weather strip back near the rear glass... but once you see what's under the rear deck, you will understand where your rattles are coming from.

8.) There are two smaller black plastic boxes that are somewhat clipped into place , but are not tightly secured, so they are the main rattle issues. Also tighten down the bolts that hold the plastic covers that hold the speakers and other components.

9.) Run a bead of silicon along the bottom rear edge of the shelf near the back glass, as well as each of the little ribs near the rear edge, along with a bead anywhere else you can reach to silicon parts together....you will see that the factory put a little black piece of felt on each of the ribs.

10.) after all of this, just re-install everything in reverse order, paying attention to the two side pillar covers as these are a bit of a pain to re-install.

From start to finish took about 3 hours, and on a scale of 1-10...i would say it was about a 7 or a 6 pack of beer depending on your speed :).
Believe me, once you remove that rear deck and see that birds nest of a mess of plastic and components...you will clearly see why there are so many rattles back there.

Good luck and hope this helps you better understand the involvement in removing that rear deck and searching for the numerous rattles back there.
 
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#2 ·
As with many, I continued to deal with all the rattles associated with the rear speaker deck on my 08' CTS . I looked at many post here about the steps involved in removing the rear deck to get to the rattles, but none of them gave me enough detail.
I took on the task today and these are my findings...keeping in mind i know my way around a tool box.
1) pull up on the lower seat and it pops right out, easiest part of the job
2) seat back...4 bolts just under the seat back and 4 more in the trunk. dont worry about the 2 holding the trunk release. once loose , i just paid the top seat down face first down where the lower seat was...throw a couple of towels down first.
3) pop off the "airbag" logo from the side pillars. this gives access to a small screw underneath.
4) gently but with persuasion, remove the side pillar covers from each side. keep in mind there is a black clip attached to a short cord that is attached to the metal inner panel...this clip is a pain in the back side to remove from the panel, but worked with it until it detached.
5) once you detach the clip, pull the two piece pillar panel away from the side panel and lay down on the seat. no need to detach the seat belt.
6)once you have the side panels out, you can work the rear deck out. I just flipped it upside down so you dont have to detach the seatbelt.
7)This is where i can see the major rattle trap that is hidden under the rear deck...people talk about stuffing weather strip back near the rear glass...but once you see whats under the rear deck, you will understand where your rattles are coming from.
8) I found that there are two smaller black plastic boxes that are somewhat clipped into place , but are not tightly secured, so they are the main rattle issues. I also tightened down the bolts that hold the plastic covers that hold the speakers and other components.
9) i also ran a bead of silicon along the bottom rear edge of the shelf near the back glass, as well as put a bead of silicon on each of the little ribs near the rear edge, along with a bead anywhere else i could reach to silicon parts together....you will see that the factory put a little black piece of felt on each of the ribs.
10) after all of this , just re-install everything in reverse order, playing attention to the two side pillar covers as these are a pit of a pain to re-install.

From start to finish took about 3 hours, and on a scale of 1-10...i would say it was about a 7 or a 6 pack of beer depending on your speed :).
Believe me, once you remove that rear deck and see that birds nest of a mess of plastic and components...you will clearly see why there are so many rattles back there.

Good luck and hope this helps you better understand the involvement in removing that rear deck and searching for the numerous rattles back there.
That's a great account. I recently went through that in order to install the remote start module. It's just tedious work.
 
#5 ·
Thank you for taking up this challenge and sharing the description of the process and what you found!

Did this cure your rattle problems? Also, is it necessary to remove the bottom seat cushion if you have the folding rear seats or can you just fold down the seats and remove the retaining bolts?
 
#6 ·
Reciprocity......you will still need to remove the lower seat cussion to access the 4 lower bolts on the seat back. Honestly the lower cushion is a breeze to remove, so no worries there. the toughest parts to remove/replace are the side pillar covers, they are a bit of a pain, and make sure your hands are clean before attempting to mess with those or you will dirty them up pretty quickly.

As of today i do not have one rattle coming from the rear deck, which makes the interior pleasantly nice to drive.
 
#7 ·
Great! Glad to hear it was a worthwhile project. I'll have to give it a shot.

I took the rear deck out of my first-generation V to install an iPod connector (plugs into the XM wiring) and didn't cause any problems with that. It sounds like this setup is very similar, aside from needing to remove the bottom seat cushion. Thanks again for the info.
 
#9 ·
It is a great write-up but for me, it's more like a case of beer type of job..lol. I really don't know why mine hasn't ever rattled nor has it ever been repaired by the dealer. (08 CTS4 Premium) I'm one of the lucky ones I guess...still bookmarked for possible future needs:)
 
#10 ·
I own a 2009 CTS4 that had the same vibration and rattling noises coming from the rear window shelf. I followed
advice of "08 CTS4", and resolved the problem. I cut some rubber material from a tool box drawer liner, and in-
serted it between the speaker mount plastic legs and the inner shelf base and retightened the mounting hardware. I also tightened all the fasteners in all locations. In addition, I placed pieces of high density foam in various places to provide tighter clamping pressure when everything was fully assembled. No rattles or buzzing problems now.
Thanks for the advice.
 
#13 ·
As with many, I continued to deal with all the rattles associated with the rear speaker deck on my 08' CTS . I looked at many post here about the steps involved in removing the rear deck to get to the rattles, but none of them gave me enough detail.
I took on the task today and these are my findings...keeping in mind i know my way around a tool box.

1.) Pull up on the lower seat and it pops right out, easiest part of the job.

2.) Seat back...4 bolts just under the seat back and 4 more in the trunk. Don't worry about the 2 holding the trunk release. Once loose, just lay the top seat down face first down where the lower seat was...throw a couple of towels down first.

3.) Pop off the "airbag" logo from the side pillars, this gives access to a small screw underneath.

4.) Gently but with persuasion, remove the side pillar covers from each side. Keep in mind there is a black clip attached to a short cord that is attached to the metal inner panel...this clip is a pain in the back side to remove from the panel, but worked with it until it detached.

5.) Once you detach the clip, pull the two piece pillar panel away from the side panel and lay down on the seat. No need to detach the seat belt.

6.) Once you have the side panels out, you can work the rear deck out. Just flip it upside down so you don't have to detach the seatbelt.

7.) This is where you can see the major rattle trap that is hidden under the rear deck... people talk about stuffing weather strip back near the rear glass... but once you see what's under the rear deck, you will understand where your rattles are coming from.

8.) There are two smaller black plastic boxes that are somewhat clipped into place , but are not tightly secured, so they are the main rattle issues. Also tighten down the bolts that hold the plastic covers that hold the speakers and other components.

9.) Run a bead of silicon along the bottom rear edge of the shelf near the back glass, as well as each of the little ribs near the rear edge, along with a bead anywhere else you can reach to silicon parts together....you will see that the factory put a little black piece of felt on each of the ribs.

10.) after all of this, just re-install everything in reverse order, paying attention to the two side pillar covers as these are a bit of a pain to re-install.

From start to finish took about 3 hours, and on a scale of 1-10...i would say it was about a 7 or a 6 pack of beer depending on your speed :).
Believe me, once you remove that rear deck and see that birds nest of a mess of plastic and components...you will clearly see why there are so many rattles back there.

Good luck and hope this helps you better understand the involvement in removing that rear deck and searching for the numerous rattles back there.
Thank you did today and worked.
 
#15 ·
I though I had the rear deck rattle as well. Followed along the directions and when I got to both upper and lower back seat removed, I found my rattle was the top bolt of the shock on the passenger side was loose. It sounded as two washers clinging together with a thump. Luckily I didn't have to finish taking apart the rear deck. Great directions though, thank you.
 
#16 ·
Hi all – Just bumping this thread to say that I successfully completed this repair over the Christmas holiday, and it's so worth doing if you have rattles from the rear deck. It's honestly like having a new car; silent and vault-like. Now that I've driven the car post-repair on my regular commuting routes, looking back it's crazy just how much things were rattling over any small bump.

While researching the repair, in addition to this thread, I also found this video that documents the process in excellent detail:

The video is for replacement of the Bluetooth module, which requires removal of the rear deck, so 90% of the video applies to the rear deck rattle repair. With the help of the video, the repair took me 2 hours 15 minutes. Totally worth it!
 
#17 ·
Hey , thanks for the tutorial helped me alot .. i had this problem in my cts 2005 .. did every part to get to the rear deck but found out my problem was not the black plastic or anything so i thought would be a good idea to share what was my problem for the rattle .. turns out it was the 4 black bolts that Hold the sub into place .. with the time they got loose so it create a space between the sub and where its attached too ... this is where my rattle was coming from so i took a phillips screwdriver and just screw them back with lock tite .. works like a charm now ! Thanks for your help and hope it’ll help others :)
 
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