So I wanted to throw out a possible explanation to the problem the lady had with her 2008 Jetta making noise when the car was being driven in the rain.
I have a 2006 Jetta and my car makes the same noise (only in the rain). It has done this since it was new, and I’m 95% sure the noise coming from a relay under the dash on the drivers side.
A while back I remember reading about certain German cars having a feature called “brake disc wiping”. This basically keeps the discs dry by periodically making light applications of the brakes to remove water/ice/salt. I’m not 100% sure the Jetta has this feature but if it does, the ABS/ESP relay would probably make some noise as it controls applications of the brakes not initiated by the driver.
Regardless, she should NOT take the car to the dealer and have them disassemble the dash. Then things really will rattle since it is incredibly difficult to put things back together exactly the way they were before.
[i] she should NOT take the car to the dealer and have them disassemble the dash. Then things really will rattle since it is incredibly difficult to put things back together exactly the way they were before.
[/i]
I have to agree with that. I don’t know about the disk wiper thing, but that does not mean it is not there.