I've watched a couple of videos in the past few months where a YouTuber who reviews cars, happened upon a really low mileage, good condition original Fiero, and took it for a drive. The one comment that stuck out to me was that they said the Fiero is "typical of GM 80s quality" and emphasized that this meant "everything rattles and makes noise."
The point was that this is how the cars came from the factory, because... these are original low-mileage cars, so of course this must be how they were?
I didn't think much of it, but when my daughter and I started driving her car after we got the whole back end together (and removed and restored the whole rear-quarters)... I didn't hear ANY rattles at all. I mean, nothing. No rattles, totally solid. The only noises I hear are from the front (which at the time, had not been restored or anything either). I'm just going to share this here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t_tSGGtxBw
Not for the purpose of pimping my daughter's videos, but because it occurred to me that a lot of the rattles and noise we get from our Fieros could be from the fact that all the foam strips and pads installed throughout the car are all dried and worn out. My first Fiero (which I still have in storage), is a 1987 Fiero SE / V6. I bought this car in early 1996 just before I graduated high school, and I was kind of a bad-ass with that car. But ignoring all that... I never remembered any rattles or noises or anything like that in the back of the car.
Anyway, going through this process with my daughter has been interesting. I've restored a few cars in the past, but not so to the level of being meticulous as we have in this case. When I was younger (and doing the work myself on some of the cars)... I won't say that I'd cut corners, but I made do with what I had. I painted and sanded stuff, and fixed things, but if there was a foam gasket that was still good, I'd just re-use it. So if you do have squeaks and rattles... I'm curious if you know where they come from. I'm thinking it could be that. Her car makes no body noise whatsoever as we're driving it around.
I bought mine new and drove many new Fiero’s over the years.
The cars new were fairly tight but the plastic interior made noise. As it ages they make a bit more noise.
I kept up on mine but there are some things that make noise. Most the door windows get lose and the doors sound like trash cans slamming shut. They can be fixed. T top cars will make more noise due to flex.
Many cars has bad bushings in struts, shocks, steering racks, sub frames body mounts and just flat out rusted away space frames.
Now on the other hand my C5 with a plastic interior and a drop top is so much more solid. This is due to one of the most solid frames ever. The cars has bad has less bushings and uses higher grade bushings. They also did more sound deadening and it even could be better.
The way many things fit together you can see on my Vette, truck and SUV how much better GM worked on sound reduction since the mid 80’s.
Believe it or not, quite a few Fiero’s have a definite and known “rattle” that is due to several factors (all door & hinge related) but basically the striker post is famous for rattling against the door latch mechanism on this car. Mine did it horribly until I installed the remedy, which was a striker bolt from your local auto store. (HELP / Ford striker bolt) Kit
[This message has been edited by Kitskaboodle (edited 03-26-2025).]
Something in my rig definitely rattles. Sounds like over by the passenger seatbelt. Also been waiting for an opportunity to say this but I love your daughters videos! Packed with useful info and some of the best fiero content on the web if you were to ask me.
Something in my rig definitely rattles. Sounds like over by the passenger seatbelt. Also been waiting for an opportunity to say this but I love your daughters videos! Packed with useful info and some of the best fiero content on the web if you were to ask me.
Thank you, I really appreciate it! I didn't realize it at the time, but with the last couple of responses... I kind of want to collect all the thoughts everyone has and maybe tell her she should make a video on reducing squeeks and rattles.
I've got the roof fully off mine at the moment, let me know if you'd like some pictures.
I appreciate it, we already did ours... and found that the existing foam padding in there was completely dried up (with the adhesive having failed too)... which of course is expected. Have you added it all back?
I'm kind of mad we didn't really take very more pictures... unless they were on the chip that died, but this is the video where we kind of show everything.
She POR-15'ed the entire roof panel that she could, replaced all the foam padding and sealer that she could, and even used RTV sealant between the joints where the screws go through.
I have owned my 85 SE V6 since new....never had many rattles...My Driver door started to develop a rattle after 20 years- found a tight one in JY and swapped it in.
The Fiero was the first American car built under the Deming TQM system- that is the quality control system that an >>AMERICAN<< taught the Japanese...He tried to get the US auto industry interested in the 70s, but Hubris/Arrogance negated that ("WE are the BIGGEST car company in the world- we don't need no stupid quality control!!" so US sales tanked...
TQM is basically a NEGATIVE FEEDBACK system....I was trained in it during the late 80s at NAS Alameda....Before, the bosses would just yell at us "Do the job and shut up!!!" We had some landing gear damaged so had to be shipped out for re-chroming....The Navy noticed we were backlogged- instead of informing the Navy why, the bosses started having us do overtime (10 hrs/day, 6 days/week)
After, if we noticed a problem, the bosses would actually listen and FIX the problem....8 years (1982-1990) I hated the job...after TQM, we all worked together and the planes were really well done...We were the first aircraft line- new or rework- to produce a ZERO-Defect aircraft...and then we did 13 a year Zero-Defect for 3 years (Then they closed the base) (Arrrrggggg)
By the way, we did NOT go outside and exercise together or any other stupid crap like in that movie "Gung-ho"
No system can work without Negative feedback- if Positive feedback (Oh, yeah, boss- you are always right!!!!) then system will spin out of control....Your workers are your "Eyes and ears" on the line....
All auto production lines now use some form of TQM....(But call it something different)
Not yet waiting on the weather stripping to arrive.
Here's the current status of mine
I'm planning on using 3m window weld at the A-pillar and front roof as well as run a parallel bead along the door edge.
As far as paint goes this is how mine looked after a gentle wash. The old weather stripping was in rough shape and the adhesive on the tape was long gone.
our all original 84 is one of the quietest cars we have ever owned. i think it depends on how the foam was originally installled and how it was treated. our dash barely even has fading on it and is still somewhat soft on the top so that definely helps. our 88 just rattled the windows like heck if they were open but otherwise was very quiet until it got its interior removed and painted black and the stock exhaust exploded and we used an ocelot kit. it seems its litterally mounting bolts and the oem foam and clips just getting loose for 90 percent of all original fieros
