B Pillar Tick

davidsp101 · June 5, 2019

Has anyone been able to consistently replicate this noise? I drove to the dealer this morning with the clicking and luck would have it, it stopped in the 15 minutes I waited for the tech to come ride with me.

Bob Miller · June 19, 2019

Its been real warm here in the mornings (80-83 according to outside temp on nav screen) and I think I'm starting to hear the clicking in the pillar - but only on real big potholes and only when its the first thing in the morning.

Last summer it was doing it on pretty much any road surface with a groove in it (again usually in the mornings), but that isn't the case now. I just drove it during lunch (mid day heat its about 95) and the only thing rattling is my passenger seat - no clicking at all.

I'm going to take it in for that passenger seat soon though - that is absolutely driving me nuts. I think the frame inside the seat is cracked or something.

Bob Miller · June 20, 2019

So I got my truck in this morning to the dealer for the seat rattle. I got a Colorado as a loaner and low and behold the loaner has the metallic rattle in the pillar on bumps. LOL

Bob Miller · June 22, 2019

Surprise surprise - dealer couldn't replicate the sound of my rattling passenger seat. Sucks.

mojohn · June 24, 2019

On 5/16/2019 at 3:11 PM, mojohn said:

Well, she-ott.

Fix didn't take.

Back to the drawing board!

Quoted to add:

Folded a towel 4-6 layers.

Placed it on the floor in the opening between rear passenger door and rocker panel as close to the hinge as possible. (Closed the door on it) Been working for the past month. I'm much happier now. The towel gets wet when it rains, or truck gets washed. I can live with that a while.

Best,

John, KF5ZMD

davidsp101 · June 24, 2019

I'm still getting a ticking in the b pillar, but mine has also developed the ticking under door sill below the driver's door speaker. It is the identical noise with the same consistency. It's bizarre. I'm hoping it's just a response to whatever is touching that's causing this mess to begin with. Anyone else experiencing this?

lerbud · June 24, 2019

On my 2016 I had a noise that sounded similar and I stuffed rags all over and taped stuff down and messed with the door plugs. One day I raised up the 40 part of the rear seat and the sound went away. My rattle was the plastic that holds the seat cover on. I taped it up and have not had a rattle since. I hope this helps someone out there!

davidsp101 · July 4, 2019

Anyone have an update? Mine is occurring daily at this point.

JHowie · July 4, 2019

I had this problem a while back, passenger side. I too though it was in the Pillar. I tried adjusting the door striker and tick no more.

Bob Miller · July 5, 2019

Every once in a while I’m getting a vibration in the b pillar (not the ticking noise it’s more like a rapid vibrating noise) on road surfaces that have a lot of small ridges like older concrete. Sounds like it’s coming from the bottom of the b pillar near the back door.

Its inconsistent tho. Seems to come and go

wreckdiver · July 7, 2019

I'll tell you what guys. I am usually a very calm and cool headed dude. But this noise has me about to take a sledgehammer to my truck. I can't imagine what people think when they see me on the road screaming at the top of my lungs at this thing.

wreckdiver · July 7, 2019

4 hours ago, wreckdiver said:

I'll tell you what guys. I am usually a very calm and cool headed dude. But this noise has me about to take a sledgehammer to my truck. I can't imagine what people think when they see me on the road screaming at the top of my lungs at this thing.

Good news and bad news. I've have the source of 2 noises, but apparently there's a 3rd source I haven't found yet LOL. And that 3rd source is the most prominent one that is annoying.

One source is the seat belt guide about half way up the pillar. It's a brass looking guide that in GM's infinite wisdom was made with WAY to much freedom of movement. The bottom flat part of it literally sits in direct contact with the sheet metal behind it. You can easily made a rattle happen by simply moving the seat belt with your hand and the brass guide just hits the sheet metal on and off.

The second source is more of a plastic rattle sound and comes from the adjustable sliding mechanism that goes up and down to adjust for driver height of the top of the seatbelt.

For both of these, double sided sticky tape is your friend. The kind that is thicker and almost spongy like you would use to hang a small lightweight picture on the wall. I cut some small strips of the tape and put it behind the brass guide so that the guide sticks to the tape and no longer hits the sheet metal. As an added benefit, the guide no longer has any play at all, which is good.

I also used some double sided tape strips on and around the adjustable piece where I thought it would stop plastic movement. The downside is that the thing is no longer adjustable. But I don't care because I'm the only one who drives my truck and I picked a spot for it about 75% of the way up to pretty much accommodate any driver for the most part without needing to be moved.

I think the remaining source is not in the pillar but somewhere down underneath and the noise if transmitting up the pillar as an acoustical conduit of sorts, making it seem like it is coming from the pillar.

But maybe you are lucky. Maybe one of the 2 I found are the only ones you have happening in your truck.

The search continues...

Take care,

Rob

wreckdiver · July 7, 2019

I laid on my back under the driver's side sidestep to try and see if I could find a source of noise under there. For those who have asked about torquing down the sidesteps, it changed nothing for me.

While I was under there, I pushed up the sidestep from below with a pretty good amount of force. Then I pulled down on it. There was only a slight amount of movement with the flexion of the body piece it is mounted to. When I pulled it down, I could hear a very obvious metal popping sound, almost like a piece of sheet metal was going from being biased in one direction to the other. Kind of like something popping from concave to convex if that helps imagine it.

I saw nothing actually moving from my vantage point. It sounded like the popping sound was coming from inside the hollow metal volume above where the sidestep is mounted. If that's the case, that's not good at all folks. It may mean that after years of flexing because of the pull down on the sidestep has maybe caused a deformation of a piece of sheet metal inside that hollow cavity. And as the truck moves down the road, and the sidestep bounces slightly up and down, it is applying a mild torque on that deformed piece of sheet metal.

That could explain that popping or rattling sound. What I was doing under the truck was not representative of what happens on the road. I was probably doing a 250 lb bench press upward on the sidestep and then pulling back down. That is an major exaggeration of the tiny up and down movement of the step on the road. That could explain why I heard a more pronounced popping sound as opposed to a simple rattle.

I think the next step in troubleshooting would be to unmount the side step and drive it around, thus eliminating the up and down torque applied by the weight of the step on the underside body panels. I hate to do that because I'm not a really tall guy and I don't want to live without my step if that makes the noise go away.

Bob Miller · July 8, 2019

So I'm noticing in the mornings that the B pillar metallic click is back - but only when I hit real large potholes that shake the whole cab. Last summer when it was doing it - and usually it was in the mornings - it was real bad - happening on pretty much any groove or small ridges in the road. But now its only on the largest of jolts to the cab. And again, its only in the first part of the morning that I'll hear it at all - after the sun beats down on it all day no clicking at all. There's this "sweet spot" of expansion that is causing something to heat up just enough to touch and make noise. so odd.

Now my passenger seat on the other hand - that is rattling and clicking like crazy no matter what the temperature - and its driving me nuts. The fact the dealership couldn't hear it just means to me the tech probably didn't feel like messing with it. Its very obvious. I can push on it and make it stop. The sound is metallic in nature but it could very easily be a plastic piece or something too. I slipped out the headrest thinking that maybe that was making the sound but it isn't that (still rattles and clicks w/the head rest out). Its either something loose under the seat or perhaps the metal frame of the seat itself is cracked or came apart.

I'm toying with removing the seat my self out of the truck and trying to figure it out. The only thing stopping me is the 97 degree Houston heat.

davidsp101 · July 8, 2019

22 hours ago, wreckdiver said:

I laid on my back under the driver's side sidestep to try and see if I could find a source of noise under there. For those who have asked about torquing down the sidesteps, it changed nothing for me.

While I was under there, I pushed up the sidestep from below with a pretty good amount of force. Then I pulled down on it. There was only a slight amount of movement with the flexion of the body piece it is mounted to. When I pulled it down, I could hear a very obvious metal popping sound, almost like a piece of sheet metal was going from being biased in one direction to the other. Kind of like something popping from concave to convex if that helps imagine it.

I saw nothing actually moving from my vantage point. It sounded like the popping sound was coming from inside the hollow metal volume above where the sidestep is mounted. If that's the case, that's not good at all folks. It may mean that after years of flexing because of the pull down on the sidestep has maybe caused a deformation of a piece of sheet metal inside that hollow cavity. And as the truck moves down the road, and the sidestep bounces slightly up and down, it is applying a mild torque on that deformed piece of sheet metal.

That could explain that popping or rattling sound. What I was doing under the truck was not representative of what happens on the road. I was probably doing a 250 lb bench press upward on the sidestep and then pulling back down. That is an major exaggeration of the tiny up and down movement of the step on the road. That could explain why I heard a more pronounced popping sound as opposed to a simple rattle.

I think the next step in troubleshooting would be to unmount the side step and drive it around, thus eliminating the up and down torque applied by the weight of the step on the underside body panels. I hate to do that because I'm not a really tall guy and I don't want to live without my step if that makes the noise go away.

Mine is doing it without running boards. I've actually contemplated getting running boards to try to curb the noise.

On another note, I sent a video in an email to GM customer service last week because my ticking is getting progressively worse. It used to only make the noise between 70-80 degrees (which is literally every morning for me here in SC) but now it can be heard periodically even when it is in the high 90s... it all has to do with whether or not it has exposure to the sun. Mine is definitely either pinch welds being bad or something inside the structure of the B pillar and the pillar where the front door hinges are connected. I'm going to bother the hell out of GM to fix it under warranty... then it's going right to a body shop.