maxcosity

My '03 trunk latch has seemingly become loose and is now rattling like a ****.

I swear I didn't do anything to it (albeit I have modded my car in many ways)..

I crawled back there while my wife drove the car around over some bumps, and the noise is coming from the 2 flat metal pieces which slide open and then lock on the latch when the trunk lid is closed. There is a spring there so perhaps the spring has given out. Anyways, I held the metal pieces and it was dead silent, so I knew I found the culprit.. I guess maybe it occured from people slamming my trunk? (me perhaps too)

From what I could tell, the sliding metal pieces are bolted on to the main mounting plate, but it is not a bolt, instead it is more like a rivet, which I cannot remove without breaking forcefully. I tried wrapping the rivet in dental floss to thicken up and essentially make a washer to squeeze the pivoting metal piece so it wouldn't vibrate. Initially it worked 100%, but after a few weeks it is back to it's old self (I guess the dental floss broke down).

Any ideas on what else I can do?

I don't want to take it to the dealer, because a) I don't trust dealer's servicemen and b) I am sure they are just going to blame me or at least tell me it is NOT under warranty or something lame like that and I don't feel like fighting with them.

Your thoughts??