Ear pain/Pressure help

[MyEarHurts]

I wish I could take a drive in your Model Y and assist you with this. The butyl will help road noise which is part of the low-freq spectrum, but at the end of the day, ANY movement of the rear hatch door will contribute the most to any headache-inducing booming. If the stoppers are somehow not adjusted properly (too much, too little, too uneven from one side to the next), you'll probably run into problems.

I forget have you posted pictures of your stoppers? For what it's worth? Are you using any kind of rigid hatch stops? For some reason I still don't understand is how you had a ginormous gap with 5/16" OD tubing.

I just did this again to the Oct 2022 delivery Model Y I wrote about earlier, and the driver said he noticed an improvement. I noticed it as well. Regrettably, I didn't record measurements with Spectroid before and after.

Yeah the hatch does seem to cause the boominess and is very sensitive to any adjustability. I don't have pics of the stoppers but I used the pvc end cap method, I'll try sanding them down to lower it a tad more.

As for the tubing, to clarify, the 5/16 tubing fit the seal, I was talking about me having ADDED additional seals to the left and right side along the the body of the car where the hatch rests. I put the seals there and inserted tubing in which caused the hatch to have a large gap (with the seal squished) is what I meant, I guess not really a gap but more like it raised the hatch?

I will try it again when I get a chance, I figure this would give it more of a seal and if anything to keep the dirt from the tracks. Do you think adding butyl to the hatch itself would make a difference?

 

[ilovecoffee]

Yeah the hatch does seem to cause the boominess and is very sensitive to any adjustability. I don't have pics of the stoppers but I used the pvc end cap method, I'll try sanding them down to lower it a tad more.

As for the tubing, to clarify, the 5/16 tubing fit the seal, I was talking about me having ADDED additional seals to the left and right side along the the body of the car where the hatch rests. I put the seals there and inserted tubing in which caused the hatch to have a large gap (with the seal squished) is what I meant, I guess not really a gap but more like it raised the hatch?

I will try it again when I get a chance, I figure this would give it more of a seal and if anything to keep the dirt from the tracks. Do you think adding butyl to the hatch itself would make a difference?

Ohhhhh ok. So just to clarify, did you ever add 5/16" tubing within the existing gasket? Or just within those extra seals you added?

Do not add butyl to the hatch itself. I mean, you can, but all it can support is the weight of 2 sheets or 2-3sq. ft. worth. Then it will have trouble opening. It is very sensitive to added weight, especially in colder weather due to changes in the gas in the opener struts). It also doesn't do anything, another reason not to bother LOL. I've ripped mine apart a few times trying different things and there is no noticeable difference.

 

[ohmman]

I've been meaning to post a few things here. First, I spoke with a helpful service advisor who explained one type of "booming" that people hear in their Model Y cabin. This is related to the top of Fremont battery packs flexing, and the fact that there is a gap between the sheetmetal "lid" of the pack and the floor of the cabin. They will drop the pack, apply a thin layer of foam to the entire top of the pack which closes the gap between the floor and the pack, and apparently fixes that issue.

However, I think that's the rarer case and it sounds as if it's more of a distinct popping sound on certain types of uneven roads.

The second thing I wanted to mention is that if I take my fist and bump it against my front driver or passenger side door panel, I get the same frequency sound that I hear when driving. Doing so in the rear doesn't replicate it. These doors do have some give when I push on them from the outside. While I recognize that the dynamics of a vertical surface (side doors) vs. a somewhat horizontal surface (liftback) are very different, I do wonder if there's something there on the side doors. I haven't explored ways to test this yet, but figured I'd mention it and see if others can do the same test - fist bump against the handle on the panel - and see if they hear the same thing.

 

[ilovecoffee]

I've been meaning to post a few things here. First, I spoke with a helpful service advisor who explained one type of "booming" that people hear in their Model Y cabin. This is related to the top of Fremont battery packs flexing, and the fact that there is a gap between the sheetmetal "lid" of the pack and the floor of the cabin. They will drop the pack, apply a thin layer of foam to the entire top of the pack which closes the gap between the floor and the pack, and apparently fixes that issue.

However, I think that's the rarer case and it sounds as if it's more of a distinct popping sound on certain types of uneven roads.

The second thing I wanted to mention is that if I take my fist and bump it against my front driver or passenger side door panel, I get the same frequency sound that I hear when driving. Doing so in the rear doesn't replicate it. These doors do have some give when I push on them from the outside. While I recognize that the dynamics of a vertical surface (side doors) vs. a somewhat horizontal surface (liftback) are very different, I do wonder if there's something there on the side doors. I haven't explored ways to test this yet, but figured I'd mention it and see if others can do the same test - fist bump against the handle on the panel - and see if they hear the same thing.

The service advisor might have misunderstood you and is referencing something else entirely I think, and that's just a singular pop with the flex of the battery pack. The last sound on this page "While Charging", although can also happen while sharp turning on an incline while driving.

Although bump the panels of any aluminium body panel car and you'll likely hear the same noise. These panels don't move/vibrate or experience any impact during driving. You won't get the same boom from the hatch door body panels because they don't have wide open spans like the door panels, but it doesn't matter.

Bjorn Nyland on YouTube took a test drive in a Model 3 that was completely covered in sound-deadening material in the door panels, he even knocks on them to show how that sound is eliminated. But in the end of his testing he found no appreciable difference, if in fact there was an increase in cabin noise based on his measurements.

I had similar results but I only put sound-deadening material on the outward-facing body panels of the rear quarter section of the car. Didn't accomplish anything.

 

[MyEarHurts]

Yeah I had the same issue with the space between the battery pack. They have something called the "toolbox" kind of like an internal tsb fix. It pretty much makes a big pop noise when it was cold going over inclined bumps and to fix it they dropped the battery and stuffed foam in a corner I believe and it fixed it. But it did nothing for the boominess.

 

[MyEarHurts]

Ohhhhh ok. So just to clarify, did you ever add 5/16" tubing within the existing gasket? Or just within those extra seals you added?

Do not add butyl to the hatch itself. I mean, you can, but all it can support is the weight of 2 sheets or 2-3sq. ft. worth. Then it will have trouble opening. It is very sensitive to added weight, especially in colder weather due to changes in the gas in the opener struts). It also doesn't do anything, another reason not to bother LOL. I've ripped mine apart a few times trying different things and there is no noticeable difference.

Yes I did put the vinyl tube in the existing gasket, the boominess is definitely minimized once I added the pvc caps and sanded it down enough to make tight contact. The additional vinyl tubing I removed and will add again when I have time, I'm hoping this will create a tighter seal.

Overall the boominess is reduced significantly but it's also because the weather has been cold lately which odd but I find it less boomy compared to the afternoon when it's warmed up. Another experiment that I mentioned before but haven't had a chance to, I have an extra weight from the trunk of another luxury car that was attached to the hatch. I thought about taking that weight (maybe 5lbs) and somehow attaching it to the body on the inside of the car (can't find a mounting area) or this might sound crazy but mount it on the shock somehow.

 

[MY-Y]

Six layers of butyl seems like overkill to me. One layer of butyl and one layer of foam is all I use in the problem areas.

Did you use the spectroid app to Isolate the problem frequency? No point addressing the problem if you're chasing the wrong resonance. The crisp 41 Hz tone in mine is how I determined the PVC caps would fix my issue, and they did. The center of my hatch caused a 43 Hz tone, which wasn't dominant. This is why I didn't bother making rigid stops for the lower two stops.

 

[MyEarHurts]

I'm not too audio inclined as in measuring and figuring out frequencies so I just did the 6 layers just because I had ordered too much and figured it wouldn't hurt. Again the pvc pipe did minimize it but did not remove it completely, when I drive around without audio I notice the slight boominess remaining. I wonder if adding the rigid hatch stops to the center would make a difference?

 

[MY-Y]

If you only notice a slight boominess with the audio off, I'd just put on some music or a podcast and enjoy the car.

 

[WADan]

I just found this party and saw the video. Sorry if I miss some parts of all the discussion here, so I have a question why the butyl approach is not used on the front wheel wells? Is it because it’s not possible to remove all the panels in front to get to the wheel wells? Thanks!

 

[MY-Y]

The rear wheel wells are effectively inside the car and contribute much more to road noise.

 

[ilovecoffee]

The rear wheel wells are effectively inside the car and contribute much more to road noise.

I just found this party and saw the video. Sorry if I miss some parts of all the discussion here, so I have a question why the butyl approach is not used on the front wheel wells? Is it because it’s not possible to remove all the panels in front to get to the wheel wells? Thanks!

There's considerably more coverage over the front wheel wells as well. You'd almost have to apply it underneath within the wheel well itself. Doing that would be problematic due to the fitting of clips of afterwards, and I'm not sure how well butyl stands up to abuse of outside road conditions. But like @MY-Y said, the noise generated here isn't directly in the cabin. The rear wheel wells have the double-whamo combo of being in the cabin and the big open drum of the trunk. And to top it off, they are only covered with a thick piece of foam insulation and one strip of flashed-on noise absorption material.

 

[WADan]

There's considerably more coverage over the front wheel wells as well. You'd almost have to apply it underneath within the wheel well itself. Doing that would be problematic due to the fitting of clips of afterwards, and I'm not sure how well butyl stands up to abuse of outside road conditions. But like @MY-Y said, the noise generated here isn't directly in the cabin. The rear wheel wells have the double-whamo combo of being in the cabin and the big open drum of the trunk. And to top it off, they are only covered with a thick piece of foam insulation and one strip of flashed-on noise absorption material.

What you said makes a lot of sense. This morning while driving on the freeway, I asked my wife (who has excellent hearing) where the tire/road noise came from, and she said the front. And I agreed since my ears told me the same (even though my hearing is a lot worse than hers). Thanks for getting back to me!

 

[MY-Y]

The sound is bouncing around your car. I suggest you don't trust your ears for the direction - the rear wheel wells are the primary way road noise is entering your car.

 

[SKPnSF]

Just found this thread thanks to @ilovecoffee for posting on YT. 2020MYP here. My issues is a bit different, but may be related. We have a 13 YO terrier who trembles and pants severely when we travel on the freeway in the Tesla. It is the only vehicle she does behavior . We have several other vehicles and also rented other vehicles with no issue. I quickly realized it must be something in the Tesla that was effecting the dog and could not figure out the problem. I suspected some kind of noise or resonance that I could not hear and assumed it was the tires.
Before we put a ton of time, effort and money into this, where would be the best place to start on this? Watching our poor pup go through this every time we get on the freeway is stressful and heartbreaking.

 

[WADan]

Just found this thread thanks to @ilovecoffee for posting on YT. 2020MYP here. My issues is a bit different, but may be related. We have a 13 YO terrier who trembles and pants severely when we travel on the freeway in the Tesla. It is the only vehicle she does behavior . We have several other vehicles and also rented other vehicles with no issue. I quickly realized it must be something in the Tesla that was effecting the dog and could not figure out the problem. I suspected some kind of noise or resonance that I could not hear and assumed it was the tires.
Before we put a ton of time, effort and money into this, where would be the best place to start on this? Watching our poor pup go through this every time we get on the freeway is stressful and heartbreaking.

Yeah, dogs freak out with some noise. Our son‘s (old) dog stays with us sometimes, and he freaks out at the sound of the sprinkler system turning on/off. And sometimes he made a mess on the floor.
The only thing I can think off is getting a good sound meter to detect the frequency of the sound.

 

[ilovecoffee]

Just found this thread thanks to @ilovecoffee for posting on YT. 2020MYP here. My issues is a bit different, but may be related. We have a 13 YO terrier who trembles and pants severely when we travel on the freeway in the Tesla. It is the only vehicle she does behavior . We have several other vehicles and also rented other vehicles with no issue. I quickly realized it must be something in the Tesla that was effecting the dog and could not figure out the problem. I suspected some kind of noise or resonance that I could not hear and assumed it was the tires.
Before we put a ton of time, effort and money into this, where would be the best place to start on this? Watching our poor pup go through this every time we get on the freeway is stressful and heartbreaking.

If you don't want to do any modifications then first check your hatch stops are calibrated with the envelope test. All the stoppers should hold the paper without being able to remove it.

If that's already the case, do vinyl tubing and re-adjust hatch stops after.

I'm not a dog owner so I'm not sure if there could be any other reason for this, but it's a reasonable assumption. Although interesting to note dogs can't hear as low as humans (64hz for dogs vs 31hz for humans).

 

[Noflash]

What you said makes a lot of sense. This morning while driving on the freeway, I asked my wife (who has excellent hearing) where the tire/road noise came from, and she said the front. And I agreed since my ears told me the same (even though my hearing is a lot worse than hers). Thanks for getting back to me!

The sound is bouncing around your car. I suggest you don't trust your ears for the direction - the rear wheel wells are the primary way road noise is entering your car.

My spidey-sense tells me the boom originates at the rear and follows the domed roof to the heads of the front passengers. I've never had complaints from rear-seat passengers.

 

[Happy Hippo]

Just found this thread thanks to @ilovecoffee for posting on YT. 2020MYP here. My issues is a bit different, but may be related. We have a 13 YO terrier who trembles and pants severely when we travel on the freeway in the Tesla. It is the only vehicle she does behavior . We have several other vehicles and also rented other vehicles with no issue. I quickly realized it must be something in the Tesla that was effecting the dog and could not figure out the problem. I suspected some kind of noise or resonance that I could not hear and assumed it was the tires.
Before we put a ton of time, effort and money into this, where would be the best place to start on this? Watching our poor pup go through this every time we get on the freeway is stressful and heartbreaking.

Time to sell the car OR just do not drive with the dog in it.

 

[WADan]

The sound is bouncing around your car. I suggest you don't trust your ears for the direction - the rear wheel wells are the primary way road noise is entering your car.

I want to do this rear wheel wells soundproofing. Do the rear seats have to be removed to get to those wells? Thanks!