To augment the excellent post TimW (the acknowledged Dash & A-Pillar Rattle Expert) made about A-Pillar noise, I'd like to add a new noise-suppressant technique for the 5th Gen Max that I recently installed.

With the temperatures dropping, our plastic cars are going to be more creaky. I've found that the hard plastic components make the most noise and are the most sensitive to resonant vibrations. The hard plastic pockets in the bottom of the front doors are starting to rattle like crazy. They even rattle when I lightly shut the door! I first tried to tighten them, but there are no fasteners for these plastic pieces that can be tightened. My next thought was to deaden them on the inside - I tried duct taping heavy felt on the interior sides of the pockets and drove the car for a couple days.

This quieted them completely, but felt and duct tape was not a permanent solution. I got some trunk/door panel deadening material from a friend who recently installed this inside his door panels. It's a cheaper version of the Dynamat product - adhesive backed rubber-like material. I cut the panels to fit on the inside of the door pockets and it has eliminated the noise as expected, but isn't even visible.

I'm now considering adding the stuff to the insides of the center console as well.