wildlife R1T
Member
- Joined
- Feb 24, 2025
- Messages
- 46
- Reaction score
- 7
- Rivian
- 2024 R1T
I have been having a little rattle incident with my R1T so last weekend, I took things more apart than I had before, which amounted to pulling up the grill and inserting some foam here and there. Here's a DIY on how to remove the grill at the windshield and help the rattle.
It helps if you have trim removal tools and I needed a depinning electrical tool not knowing how connectors come apart. You will also need a torx bit.
You must loosen the A-pillar covers where the side curtain airbags are located. They are held in near the top by one clip. Pull straight down towards the floor on the cover near the top. BE CAREFUL as there are bungies that retain the cover to the vehicle and they don't stretch far. Don't break them and no need to disconnect them.
After the clip is loose you can pull out slightly and slide the cover towards the ceiling. Then you can push the bottom end of the cover over and behind the windshield grill channel. Repeat for both sides. Pay attention that the cover has a guide clip pointing down as well as dash channels that will need to be located into the dash to locate the bottom properly for reassembly.
The grill at the windshield is held in by simple snaps that simply pop in and out. Insert a soft panel tool between the grill and dashpad to carefully pry up the grill close to where the clips are tight.
There are three electrical connectors. The center speaker connector is on the passenger side. Slide the red locking tab away and toward the wires to reveal a push clip that releases the plug.
The phone call speakers have small plugs that are in tight. I figured there was a release I couldn't find so I used a depinning tool and inserted it to release the detent manually. Inspecting them after seems to indicate they just pull out and the detent is just super tight.
The grill should now be free. Pull one end up along the windshield to gain space to pivot it out. So analyzing the rattle again after having pulled the grill up several times, my conclusion is that the heavy center speaker mounted to the flimsy dash grill is a recipe for noise. It is virtually unsupported in this area. I have elected to remove the speaker from the grill. Torx bit does that job.
From here I pondered what to do next; leave it out or mount it differently. After poking around in the dash I decided to attach it to the sturdier structure below. There are some unused brackets that some engineer probably thought would be useful to mount the speaker to and some accountant who decided that an extra bracket was too costly. Maybe the Meridian system utilized the brackets but the nut-serts are missing in any case and it didn't feel like the sleeves are threaded. A coarse screw could grab though.
I figured it's a tweeter and doesn't need isolation and the stereo can't possibly sound worse than it already does. As a test, I pulled the harness off the grill and plugged it in to the speaker. I simply zip tied the speaker to the two brackets tightly and carefully to the plenum on the other side as the plastic is rather thin.
I cut things cleanly, and tucked the wiring into some existing clips and under the dash. Thereafter assembly was the reverse. I took it for a test drive down an asphalt street with bumps and continuous reflectors down the middle that make quite a racket. Surprisingly, there were no rattles, from the dash.
It helps if you have trim removal tools and I needed a depinning electrical tool not knowing how connectors come apart. You will also need a torx bit.
You must loosen the A-pillar covers where the side curtain airbags are located. They are held in near the top by one clip. Pull straight down towards the floor on the cover near the top. BE CAREFUL as there are bungies that retain the cover to the vehicle and they don't stretch far. Don't break them and no need to disconnect them.
After the clip is loose you can pull out slightly and slide the cover towards the ceiling. Then you can push the bottom end of the cover over and behind the windshield grill channel. Repeat for both sides. Pay attention that the cover has a guide clip pointing down as well as dash channels that will need to be located into the dash to locate the bottom properly for reassembly.
The grill at the windshield is held in by simple snaps that simply pop in and out. Insert a soft panel tool between the grill and dashpad to carefully pry up the grill close to where the clips are tight.
There are three electrical connectors. The center speaker connector is on the passenger side. Slide the red locking tab away and toward the wires to reveal a push clip that releases the plug.
The phone call speakers have small plugs that are in tight. I figured there was a release I couldn't find so I used a depinning tool and inserted it to release the detent manually. Inspecting them after seems to indicate they just pull out and the detent is just super tight.
The grill should now be free. Pull one end up along the windshield to gain space to pivot it out. So analyzing the rattle again after having pulled the grill up several times, my conclusion is that the heavy center speaker mounted to the flimsy dash grill is a recipe for noise. It is virtually unsupported in this area. I have elected to remove the speaker from the grill. Torx bit does that job.
From here I pondered what to do next; leave it out or mount it differently. After poking around in the dash I decided to attach it to the sturdier structure below. There are some unused brackets that some engineer probably thought would be useful to mount the speaker to and some accountant who decided that an extra bracket was too costly. Maybe the Meridian system utilized the brackets but the nut-serts are missing in any case and it didn't feel like the sleeves are threaded. A coarse screw could grab though.
I figured it's a tweeter and doesn't need isolation and the stereo can't possibly sound worse than it already does. As a test, I pulled the harness off the grill and plugged it in to the speaker. I simply zip tied the speaker to the two brackets tightly and carefully to the plenum on the other side as the plastic is rather thin.
I cut things cleanly, and tucked the wiring into some existing clips and under the dash. Thereafter assembly was the reverse. I took it for a test drive down an asphalt street with bumps and continuous reflectors down the middle that make quite a racket. Surprisingly, there were no rattles, from the dash.
