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Gwgan

Almost a wagon
Aug 11, 2013
3,456
2,891
Maine
My impression is that the deep trunk acts as a resonance chamber for road noise so I took a look to see if there might be an easy fix. There are some noise dampening pieces on broad metal surfaces under the trunk carpet and one big sponge under the floor of the trunk. Here are pics looking under the lifted trunk carpet (it is continuous forward under the seats and I did not want to remove them for this project). The transverse piece marked by the yellow arrow has a thick (~2”) white foam covering it which extends foreword over the motor but the portion covering the top of this bar is thin compared to the rest.
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I covered the exposed metal starting from the top of the bar and going aft with Noico dampening material. I did not remove the side carpets—which at least on the left would expose more bare metal but the amplifier is on the right—or expose the wheel wells for modification.
According to my free iPhone app interior noise dropped about 5dB and my impression is that the car is much less “boomy” and seems noticeably quieter. A pro install treating more areas could accomplish even more but I am satisfied with this improvement, now the front wind noise is the major offender.
http://a.co/9rxcgvY
I had bought this material to apply to my X but found that car had quite a bit of insulating material in the trunk area already.
 
I thought about doing this if the road noise became an issue. Although it would be adding weight to the car, laying down some sound deadening material all around will reduce the road and wind noise immensely. Please keep us posted!
 
This has always been a complaint on our S and I see similar complaints from X owners....honestly (and sadly) it's the kind of thing that makes me want to consider a low end Jaguar i-Pace instead of a loaded Model 3. Heck, I was in my son's new Mazda CX-5 (loaded grand touring) SUV and my wife and I both noted it was quieter than our S. Sometimes I wonder if Tesla road testing is all done on smooth blacktop at speeds of 45 mph.

When the 3 was revealed, I was legitimately bummed that it didn't have full frame doors because I had so little faith they would get the noise intrusion issues resolved....
 
Maybe a handful got bad seals, but in my car wind noise is the wind hitting the windshield and glass roof. At least in my car it's not wind leaking in so no amount of taping or weather stripping would help. Cabin sounds no different than any other 30k cars. With options up to 60k the car in a nutshell is under 30k without batteries. People are expecting too much. Turn music to 20% and your brain will tune out the wind noise. Matter of fact, cabin noise is better than any Toyotas I've owned. Beats Camrys and Avalons. Don't compare it with other 45k+ cars. This is not a BMW 5, BMW 7, or Lexus GS, ES or LS.
 
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the wind hitting the windshield and glass roof
Agreed. Above about 50mph and increasing to about 60mph the wind noise is more than my X so I suspect there is some unanticipated turbulence somewhere but after more testing, taping hood gaps and air intake, I have not found any wind traps. It is ok, I just think they could have done better.
 
Maybe a handful got bad seals, but in my car wind noise is the wind hitting the windshield and glass roof. At least in my car it's not wind leaking in so no amount of taping or weather stripping would help. Cabin sounds no different than any other 30k cars. With options up to 60k the car in a nutshell is under 30k without batteries. People are expecting too much. Turn music to 20% and your brain will tune out the wind noise. Matter of fact, cabin noise is better than any Toyotas I've owned. Beats Camrys and Avalons. Don't compare it with other 45k+ cars. This is not a BMW 5, BMW 7, or Lexus GS, ES or LS.

A BMW 3, MB C-Class or Lexus ES are all "under 30k" without their engines and options. I can absolutely compare them to the 3 and if Tesla wants to start pulling buyers from those cars (which they need to), they absolutely should compare as well.
 
My MCU is getting replaced so I was got a loaner today.... a P85+ pre-autopilot. I was blown away by how much louder the car is than my car.... It is seriously like an airplane. It's still pretty quiet below 50 mph, but man, 80 mph sounds like a jet engine. I'm amazed with the progress that they've made in the stock vehicles... Even my friend's P90D is quite a bit louder than mine. I'm sure there is good reason for this. It's a coil suspension and softer over bumps... the whine of the front engine is loud, and the tire noise is significant.... I assume it's the lack of acoustic foam as well. Anyway, if I owned a pre 2017 car, I'd definitely be putting the sound deadening materials in the car.

I'm impressed how they keep whittling away at the car... trying to make it better... I hope there is no significant refresh... just continued refining.... hopefully adding some more options back in eventually regarding alcantara and stuff... thought doubtful
 
My MCU is getting replaced so I was got a loaner today.... a P85+ pre-autopilot. I was blown away by how much louder the car is than my car.... It is seriously like an airplane. It's still pretty quiet below 50 mph, but man, 80 mph sounds like a jet engine. I'm amazed with the progress that they've made in the stock vehicles... Even my friend's P90D is quite a bit louder than mine. I'm sure there is good reason for this. It's a coil suspension and softer over bumps... the whine of the front engine is loud, and the tire noise is significant.... I assume it's the lack of acoustic foam as well. Anyway, if I owned a pre 2017 car, I'd definitely be putting the sound deadening materials in the car.

I'm impressed how they keep whittling away at the car... trying to make it better... I hope there is no significant refresh... just continued refining.... hopefully adding some more options back in eventually regarding alcantara and stuff... thought doubtful

Most of the noise in a P85+ is going to be from the tires. The factory tires - Michelin PS2s - look and handle awesome, but on anything other than smooth blacktop they can be ridiculously loud. I swapped out mine for a set of factory 19" slipstreams...considerably more quiet. Overall though, the newer the Tesls the more quiet it will be "in general". I say "in general" because we had a loaner Model S 100D while our P85+ was in the shop last week. It was both smoother (softer suspension) and quieter....EXCEPT for the noticeable wind leak on the passenger side.

On another note, how is the power in the P85+ compared to your Model 3? I would expect the P85+ to "hit harder" on the bottom end (from a stop), but now you've driven both so....
 
Most of the noise in a P85+ is going to be from the tires. The factory tires - Michelin PS2s - look and handle awesome, but on anything other than smooth blacktop they can be ridiculously loud. I swapped out mine for a set of factory 19" slipstreams...considerably more quiet. Overall though, the newer the Tesls the more quiet it will be "in general". I say "in general" because we had a loaner Model S 100D while our P85+ was in the shop last week. It was both smoother (softer suspension) and quieter....EXCEPT for the noticeable wind leak on the passenger side.

On another note, how is the power in the P85+ compared to your Model 3? I would expect the P85+ to "hit harder" on the bottom end (from a stop), but now you've driven both so....
Oh my bad, I don't own a model 3... not yet... we might find a place for the reservation in the family... but my car is a 2017 P100D. Watch one of my videos for the car.

The noise is drastically different between the P100D and P85+ even with the same tires, (the P100D are staggered so should be louder). I would say something has happened very specific in the materials. I've driven a 100D loaner as well, but that one was very quiet. @TaoJones you've had both... why is the newer version more quiet?
 
You’ll find the answer below. But first, there’s this:

I’ve had the following 19” tires:

Michelin Primacy MXM-4 (OEM #2)
Goodyear Eagle RS-A2 (OEM #1)
Goodyear Eagle Touring (OEM #3)
Pirelli Cinturato

By way of review:

The Primacys have a 45K tread life warranty (I got 53K out of them and could have gotten 60K).

The Cinturatos have a 70K warranty, but Pirelli has chosen to be considerably more prickish ^H^H^H^H difficult than Michelin and requires shoulder to shoulder even wear at the wear bars before they’ll part with a nickel.

The GETs, like their predecessor OEM RS-A2, have no tread life warranty, and for good reason. The following picture is of the right rear tire at 26K miles. Why? The rear camber at -1.9 is not adjustable.


IMG_4863.JPG


As a result, I ordered a set of adjustable rear camber bushings from this guy. Once they arrive and are installed, I expect the rear camber to be set closer to -0.3.

Why Pirellis? Because the Michelins got loud the last 1/3 of their lives. Up to 85dB in cabin loud depending upon the road surface. So I figure if I get the same 53K out of the Pirellis and they’re 1dB quieter, it’s a win.

The GETs found their way, regrettably, onto the Model S because they have foam inside and are therefore ostensibly quieter. I did not find them to be any quieter than the Michelins through 26K miles. Also, the Goodyear is not as well-made as the Michelin, although you’d think by now it would be.

I failed to insist at the factory pickup for the second S that they put Michelins on the car instead of the GETs (as others have had the presence of mind to do). As a result, my cost of ownership for tires has doubled at the rate of an additional $1K/year (plus the hassle) per set of GETs.

It’s worth noting that the Model 3 18” OEMs are...

Michelin Primacy MXM-4s.
 
Here is a better pic of the trunk under the carpet, the area I insulated, from the teardown video
DCA8413A-A0E0-4273-851E-A2D5EECEB1CA.jpeg

Btw, on the X I now have Nokian eNtyre which are very quiet and they make an even quieter z-line summer tire which fits the 3.