I just went in the dealer who test drove the car. It turns out the rattles came from the dashboard, not steering column or steering wheel. The exact location is from inside the curved "roof" of the dashboard. You can duplicate the rattles by simply tapping/knocking the roof.

Problem not fixed yet, as I need to go in this Friday to discuss financials with service manager. My car just got out of warranty 3 months ago ;-(

Does anybody know if it is easy to convince BMW (or the dealer) to fix this for free, given my warranty just expired recently, and problem is most likely to have existed before.

 

wow, you drive a lot.

 

I just purchased this 06 530i with 23K last month and as expected it doesn't have any rattles. No surprises there of course.

However, I gave my 02 E39 530i to my mother and even though it's approaching the 100K mark it's still as tight and rattle-free as the day I bought it. Good note: I thought it might feel a little 'aged' after driving the much newer car for a while, but driving it the other day made me realize that my positive impressions of its "quality vs. age" rating was genuinely accurate. Fantastic car! Except for a few marks on its exterior here and there you'd have no idea it was as old as it was unless you knew about BMW's.

It's one of the MANY reasons why I can't see myself driving any other car ...

 

Just bought my car 2 months ago and have somewhat of a rattle coming from the passenger side rear when on rough pavement. Cant pinpoint cause im always driving. Dealer says if i cant find it, bring it in and they will locate & fix.

 

I just have creeks, I read I just need to lube the door and the window.

 

I have an 2004 530 and no rattles, my previous bmw e46 never rattled either. Fit and finish on bmw's is near perfection in my mind.