Need help with a very specific roof rattle (not sunroof)

I've had a roof rattle that has driven me nuts for a long time. I always thought it was the sunroof, but everything is fine there. After hunting around while driving, I finally landed my finger on the thing that is causing it. It doesn't appear to be sunroof related. It feels like a short bar, about 3/4", that is internal to the headliner and located about 4 inches forward of the coat hook. You can't really see the bar itself in the photo, but my fingers are surrounding it and it is slightly protruding the headliner when I push around it. There is an identical bar in the same position on the passenger side as well. When I put my finger on that driver's side bar, the rattle stops (and all is right with the world! ). Does anybody know what this internal "bar" is, and how to keep it from rattling?

I don't know if it's any help but here's a not very good pic of the roof without the headliner.

I remember something about there being a reinforcement bar that spans the headliner in that general area. The coating or felt comes off the end of the bar and it rattles in its bracket.

Quotes source post: 19097627

Thanks very much for posting the photo. This pic should help, but I don't see the short (3/4" or so) bar thing (for lack of a better word) I feel in that area behind the headliner. It doesn't protrude into the headliner, but I can definitely feel it (on both driver and passenger side) running my hand along the headliner just about 4 or 5 inches forward of the coat hanger.

Probably one of the black plastic clips that holds in the headliner broke off. You can see four of the them in SoCal's photo. That or someone slipped something in there while the sunroof was open. When I pulled my headliner for the sunroof delete, I found a Bic lighter.

Yup, I developed the exact same rattle a week after the PO of my car said he fixed it. The headliner needs to come down, there is a rod beneath (well, on top) that hooks into a bracket. Pad it a bit, either with adhesive or some thin cloth/felt and it should resolve.

Quotes source posts: 19098942, 19099058

Thanks for the feedback. How easy is it to remove the headliner? Do you think the whole thing needs to come out or is it possible to just open it up in that section?

I haven't done this myself yet so I don't know how scary the clips are to pull, but conceptually it's pretty simple. Here's a Youtube link I stumbled across when I was looking up what things look like under the headliner: You Tube

Go to the 5:00 minute mark of the video posted above You Tube

7 minutes to get this far

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Thanks very much for sharing. Is the part number on that little bar/clip 951.845.911? Trying to look up that part (without success). Is that what is rattling in your roof? (looks like what is rattling in mine from the shape).

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Part number for those plastic clips is 996-555-691-02. That other piece looks like part of the sunroof frame assembly. Could be 999-703-258-41 from looking at the PET.

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Awesome. Pelican stocks the 996-555-691-02 clips, so I guess I'll order a set in advance of taking it apart. Do you know if the clips actually wear so that a new one will fix it, or is it a matter of doing something (e.g. tape) to secure the clip to stop the rattle?

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I don't think they really "wear", but they do seem brittle. Broke most of mine (most likely due to operator error) when prepping for the sunroof delete. New ones snapped in easily and securely.

Quotes source post: 19102631

no problem!! that�s what this board is for 🙂 Had other intentions!! I also rerouted my radar detector hard wire and pulled the keyless entry antenna out of the harness for a bit more range. Never had rattles on the drivers side, mine only rattles on the passenger side haha. I�ll get to that tomorrow and post pics if I see something strange afoot at the Circle K�.

Thanks for sharing the cause of your roof rattle! I traced mine to the rear screen and its plastic frame but I will definitely check if the headliner rod is rattling too.