Have any of you experienced something like this? Has anyone found a solution? I love my Tesla, but hate-hate-hate this drip-drip-drip water torture noise.
This is my second MS 100D. It has had this annoying noise that started not long after I took delivery of the car in January 2018. The noise is similar to the sound of a deck of cards being shuffled. The car has 7,000 miles on it. The noise occurs where the headliner meets the driver-side door gasket and window near the b-pillar. This places it “conveniently” directly in my left ear. Ouch! I have experienced a lesser version of this noise problem in about half of the dozen or so other newer Teslas I have driven. A lesser version of this problem was also present in my prior 2017 MS 100D. It is disappointing to pay a gazillion dollars for a car and experience the kind of rattling you would not get in a far cheaper Japanese car. I’m sure part of the problem is the infinitely quieter cabin in a Tesla. I'm sure part of the problem is I just need new ears.
Tesla techs have looked at the problem twice but were unable to replicate the noise on the roads around the service center. Sadly, I have no problem replicating the noise on the streets surrounding my home (and elsewhere too). Why is this always the case with stuff like this? Is there some universal smart aleck politest at work?
This noise can be continuous when driving on certain road surfaces, speeds, and temperature combinations. The noise is far worse when making lefthand turns. You cannot hear the noise if the stereo is playing. The passenger cannot hear the noise. The noise is focused into the left ear of the driver making it a personal kind of sonic hell ;-)
I have recorded the noise. On the recording, it sounds like a large insect flapping its wings. I guess my car has a bug in it
) In real life the sound is deeper and much louder than the recording and more like a deck of cards being shuffled. To hear the sound on the recording you need to turn the volume all the way up. It starts at 4 seconds into the recording, fades at 7 seconds, then comes back at 9 seconds.
Dropbox - gasket vibration3T.mp3
The noise had grown worse over the months since taking delivery. Since the service center repeatedly failed to replicate the noise, I decided to try to Sherlock Holmes the problem myself. Here is what I found:
1. If I insert rubber shims into the edges of the headliner near the b-pillar, I can reduce the occurrence of the noise by about half.
2. If I pull down on the rubber door gasket near the b-pillar, I can 100% eliminate the noise (as shown in this photo Dropbox - StopNoiseWithFInger.jpg). If I could just drive around like this my problem would be solved.
3. If I roll down the window 1/8 inch, the noise stops.
4. Pushing up on the headliner near the source of the noise used to stop it but now just lessens it.
5. Rolling up the window and then hitting the button a second time to reseat / re-tension the window, sometimes lessens the noise.
I would pay almost anything, trade in my life, my liberty, my overdue Model 3 reservation, if I could just get a Tesla expert that could come out to my personal test track (i.e. my neighborhood roads) and work with me to stamp out this noise. For months I have been trying to get Tesla to send out a ranger, but they keep asking me to bring the car to them—which is the very definition of insanity—doing the same thing a third time and expecting different results. I’m only 25 miles from the service center so sending a ranger should not be a big deal. They sent rangers to my house in early 2018 for other issues. I think the service center is now too busy with Model 3 deliveries and problems to take as good a care of their existing customers as they used to do.
This is my second MS 100D. It has had this annoying noise that started not long after I took delivery of the car in January 2018. The noise is similar to the sound of a deck of cards being shuffled. The car has 7,000 miles on it. The noise occurs where the headliner meets the driver-side door gasket and window near the b-pillar. This places it “conveniently” directly in my left ear. Ouch! I have experienced a lesser version of this noise problem in about half of the dozen or so other newer Teslas I have driven. A lesser version of this problem was also present in my prior 2017 MS 100D. It is disappointing to pay a gazillion dollars for a car and experience the kind of rattling you would not get in a far cheaper Japanese car. I’m sure part of the problem is the infinitely quieter cabin in a Tesla. I'm sure part of the problem is I just need new ears.
Tesla techs have looked at the problem twice but were unable to replicate the noise on the roads around the service center. Sadly, I have no problem replicating the noise on the streets surrounding my home (and elsewhere too). Why is this always the case with stuff like this? Is there some universal smart aleck politest at work?
This noise can be continuous when driving on certain road surfaces, speeds, and temperature combinations. The noise is far worse when making lefthand turns. You cannot hear the noise if the stereo is playing. The passenger cannot hear the noise. The noise is focused into the left ear of the driver making it a personal kind of sonic hell ;-)
I have recorded the noise. On the recording, it sounds like a large insect flapping its wings. I guess my car has a bug in it
) In real life the sound is deeper and much louder than the recording and more like a deck of cards being shuffled. To hear the sound on the recording you need to turn the volume all the way up. It starts at 4 seconds into the recording, fades at 7 seconds, then comes back at 9 seconds.Dropbox - gasket vibration3T.mp3
The noise had grown worse over the months since taking delivery. Since the service center repeatedly failed to replicate the noise, I decided to try to Sherlock Holmes the problem myself. Here is what I found:
1. If I insert rubber shims into the edges of the headliner near the b-pillar, I can reduce the occurrence of the noise by about half.
2. If I pull down on the rubber door gasket near the b-pillar, I can 100% eliminate the noise (as shown in this photo Dropbox - StopNoiseWithFInger.jpg). If I could just drive around like this my problem would be solved.
3. If I roll down the window 1/8 inch, the noise stops.
4. Pushing up on the headliner near the source of the noise used to stop it but now just lessens it.
5. Rolling up the window and then hitting the button a second time to reseat / re-tension the window, sometimes lessens the noise.
I would pay almost anything, trade in my life, my liberty, my overdue Model 3 reservation, if I could just get a Tesla expert that could come out to my personal test track (i.e. my neighborhood roads) and work with me to stamp out this noise. For months I have been trying to get Tesla to send out a ranger, but they keep asking me to bring the car to them—which is the very definition of insanity—doing the same thing a third time and expecting different results. I’m only 25 miles from the service center so sending a ranger should not be a big deal. They sent rangers to my house in early 2018 for other issues. I think the service center is now too busy with Model 3 deliveries and problems to take as good a care of their existing customers as they used to do.
