rear hatch rattle

[Easy Ed]

After reading here about the cause for the noise it was off to the garage I went to look. Could see where the rubber trim was contacting the lower lip of the hatch in the area where DRTYFN pictures show the trimmed piece of rubber trim. At first I was going to cut it off like in the photo but being the analytical (not anal ) person I am I wanted to know what was causing it. Then I remembered reading somewhere about "bending a piece of sheet metal" and that is when I noticed the bottom of the rear corners were not "stamped" at a perfect 90 degree inward. The rubber trim was being held to the rear of the Hummer by contacting the bad bend which in turn made it contact the bottom lip of the hatch. I put my fingers up underneath the rear corners and bent the "lip" upwards to clear the rubber trim by about .0625 (1/16") and now see that the rubber trim in its relaxed state doesn't touch the lower lip of the hatch. Took it for a test drive and no more noise, went to the in-laws last night for Thanksgiving dinner and no noise there and back. I think what happens is that while driving at highway speeds wind comes in the rear fender wells and "pushes" the rubber trim to the rear making contact with the lower lip of the hatch but because of the bad 90 degree bend in the sheet metal of the rear corners it holds it there causing the noise.

Want to say "thank you" to this site for its help in finding the location of the noise.

Also, Not going to say that this will work for everyone but that it may be a alternative way to stop the noise.

Easy Ed