Sadly, I have the basic steel wheels with plastic covers. I notice the fronts rattle when I hit a bump. Anyone have/had this problem and know of a quick fix? I can wiggle them around when I push on them so they aren't tight, hence the rattling. I still have the bumper to bumper warranty but the prior owner scraped them up on curbs so I don't know if the dealer would fix them under warranty.

 

My 2009 did the same. After retighting the plastic "lug" nuts it was better, but not gone so I just removed the covers altogether. Currently looking for smaller rims and an older "look".

One other thought, rotate front to rear if you think they are warn. My fronts were the only noise makers.

 

Good luck. Mine rattle too, but I dont mind so much.
I think they loosened them up a bit since older ones that were tighter (like on my cavalier) caused squeaking when they rubbed on the wheels. The squeaking is far worse, trust me on that one.

 

my Ol used to have a 98 Staurn, plastic hubcaps would squeak & rattle..

I just wrapped the teeth of the hub-caps with 1/2" strips of duct-tape & no more rattles or squeaks..

Cheesy fix, but it worked.

 

That rattle seams to be a common thing with HHR steel rims - Mine did it from day one. But then again, I had plans to change them to alloy as soon as possible. I even went so far as to put a 1/2 inch thick strip of foam weather stripping on the edge of the rim to stop the rattle. Worked for some time - but the rattle always came back. Good luck

 

I think just about every car with hubcaps does this... Don't really think there's much you can do. My Lumina does it, and if you ever watch a car driving in a parking lot you can always hear if it has hubcaps...

 

Your better off having them loose. I have an 09 and the same thing happens to me on bumps. If the hubcap was too tight hitting bumps and other things could make the hubcap crack/break/or even come off. Yeah I know there are plastic screw on caps holding them down-but it is plastic. Overtighten them and they will strip. (Priced the screw caps for my inlaws Impala who is missing some-almost 5 bucks a piece here in NY) The stock steelies do have an amount of flex to them on big bumps or potholes. They are designed that way. In NY I'd rather have some noisy hubcaps on a cool HHR than having them fly off or break. Can't afford rims. However I did by some great used 08 hubcaps from LethalTendancies from his stock 5 spoke steelies and cut/reshaped them to fit my 09-the look sorta like my wifes 05 Cobalts alum rims. (In gallery)

 

Have you inspected the inside rim area of the wheel cover? There should be several black plastic strips attached by way of tab & slot around the rim area, these often go missing or destroyed by prybars. Their function is to be a shim between the cover and the wheel to prevent such complaints. (kind of like those metal shims on the back of disc brake pads). Did that make sense?

 

Mine have them intact-on both my sets of stock hubcaps. My 09 hubcaps did it from day one.I think the noise issue is that the hubcaps can slide around slightly-just enough to make minor noise.

 

Sure enough, I was tightening them last night a stripped two of the plastic nuts. They'll probably be frizbees now at highway speed.