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Ear pain/Pressure help

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Put them together and wrapped them in electrical tape.
64F0307E-BCCF-4C2C-A806-CAF529A380F8.jpeg
 
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Well it has arrived, and I've installed it, for reference here is the Amazon link it was on sale when I bought it for 199 (still that at time of posting)

c5qIBAZ.png


Looks nice and solid. It's thick and has a padded foam on the top underneath some fabric. It is light weight, I'm not sure maybe some kind of particle board or something, similar to the trunk floor board pieces.

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Here it is folded (it does run into some issues when folding it hits the trim, but it still folds
see here for video)

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Here is what it looks like from the inside, doesn't go overtop of the trunk speakers


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The tracks hook onto the rear seat belt holes. It's not a great fit. I tried my darndest thinking this was made from a mould, but it doesn't seem to line up perfectly. Have to be careful here because it sat too high at first and was impacting the retraction of the rear seat belt.

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All in all I say it was a good purchase for $199. I'd say there's an improvement in cabin noise, not pressure reduction. It does eliminate some road bump noises. This is all anecdotal of course, but if you know me from my post history, I'm obsessed with this. It 100% is better than those roller covers, which I own and did nothing.

If I had to give it a rating, I'd say it's a 15% improvement in cabin noise reduction.
wonder if this will work with 7 seat Y?
 
Not sure if this will be helpful for others but the MYP had quite a bit of booming noise after switching my 21" Uberturbines to 19" Gemini wheels (probably due to the lesser quality tires). I adjusted to two outer rubber stops on my hatch door with the envelope test for adequate seal, but was still getting a lot of booming. I ended up resetting the 2 outer rubber stops to the shortest positions, then adjusted the 2 inner rubber stops that lay flat with the floor bottom (again with envelope) before adjusting the 2 outer stops. This has eliminated >90% of booming and buffeting noises when driving my 40 miles commute. So in my case, it wasn't just the 2 outer rubber stops that needed to be adjusted, but rather all 4 rubber stops on the hatch. Did not have to do anything else for this fix.
 
Long time poster on this thread. I moved to a BMW i3, followed by a Porsche Macan with adaptive dampers and the smallest wheels for a softer ride (and it is plenty soft). Both cars offered substantial “boominess/pressure” improvement over one another and past cars, though there was a little low frequency noise that I considered normal. A month into both I started getting a plugged up left ear.

Eventually it got to the point where my left ear remains plugged for the duration of the day after driving. It’s pretty severe Eustachian tube dysfunction and I’m obviously super bummed about this whole thing. Seen numerous ENTs and an allergist but no help.

FWIW, The Macan has the same solid shelf as in post #769, and I concur that it reduces cabin noise about 10-15%, but not ear pressure. Have tried pulling it out, driving with windows cracked (no help), windows down (significant improvement), HVAC on recirc, rear seats down (small improvement), checking rear vents, etc. Current theory is I caused ETD by driving in cars with this pressure sensation and my ear (or the tube) is over-sensitive now. This will be my last post until there is a major breakthrough like my ear returning to normal and driving becoming fun again. Hoping a solution becomes available for your Model Ys.
 
Not sure if this will be helpful for others but the MYP had quite a bit of booming noise after switching my 21" Uberturbines to 19" Gemini wheels (probably due to the lesser quality tires). I adjusted to two outer rubber stops on my hatch door with the envelope test for adequate seal, but was still getting a lot of booming. I ended up resetting the 2 outer rubber stops to the shortest positions, then adjusted the 2 inner rubber stops that lay flat with the floor bottom (again with envelope) before adjusting the 2 outer stops. This has eliminated >90% of booming and buffeting noises when driving my 40 miles commute. So in my case, it wasn't just the 2 outer rubber stops that needed to be adjusted, but rather all 4 rubber stops on the hatch. Did not have to do anything else for this fix.
What rubber stops are you referring to please?
 
Thanks for the tubing idea and the great tutorial you put together, ilovecoffee.

We just got our Y a couple months ago and the boominess was immediately obvious and in some cases painful. Driving to work out of our neighborhood everyday is an exercise of patience til we got to high speed road. We tried adjusting the stops and the envelope trick since that's the easiest first thing to test.

Then I found this thread and the very useful and well explained vinyl tubing and we just tried this today. We were able to get the tube to go about 80% of the way around with no issue. So only needed a 2 piece solution.

However that extra girth made it so the hatch would not latch when it closes (receded the stops completely to be sure). While we can push it shut after the auto close motors stop, it was clearly too much pressure, changing the gap, as you noted, and popping out when unlatching in a way that indicated a lot of pressure on the latch when closed.

We decided to pull it back out, but for science, we went for a test drive first. And I can say that it for sure resolved the problem in the low frequency range (where the pain comes from). You could still hear a cavernous reverb from the large cabin, but that super low air-pressure boomy effect was pretty much gone from what we could tell across the same paths where we heard it clearly before.

Our next test is going to be some 3D printed hatch stops that stop just short of the rubber when the envelope calibration is implemented, hoping that the rigidity will prevent travel of the hatch and preventing the subwoofer effect, without putting the added tension on the latch and cinch motor.
 
Thanks for the tubing idea and the great tutorial you put together, ilovecoffee.

We just got our Y a couple months ago and the boominess was immediately obvious and in some cases painful. Driving to work out of our neighborhood everyday is an exercise of patience til we got to high speed road. We tried adjusting the stops and the envelope trick since that's the easiest first thing to test.

Then I found this thread and the very useful and well explained vinyl tubing and we just tried this today. We were able to get the tube to go about 80% of the way around with no issue. So only needed a 2 piece solution.

However that extra girth made it so the hatch would not latch when it closes (receded the stops completely to be sure). While we can push it shut after the auto close motors stop, it was clearly too much pressure, changing the gap, as you noted, and popping out when unlatching in a way that indicated a lot of pressure on the latch when closed.

We decided to pull it back out, but for science, we went for a test drive first. And I can say that it for sure resolved the problem in the low frequency range (where the pain comes from). You could still hear a cavernous reverb from the large cabin, but that super low air-pressure boomy effect was pretty much gone from what we could tell across the same paths where we heard it clearly before.

Our next test is going to be some 3D printed hatch stops that stop just short of the rubber when the envelope calibration is implemented, hoping that the rigidity will prevent travel of the hatch and preventing the subwoofer effect, without putting the added tension on the latch and cinch motor.

Thanks.

I'm guessing you used 3/8"? I'd try 5/16”. And even still give it a good few tough closes of the hatch which will help settle it in place.

You can reduce the cavernous reverb with a parcel shelf AND sound proofing butyl on the rear wheel wells (which is a bit of effort but in my opinion does help).
 
With the trunk hatch open, you should see 4 rubber cylinders pointing out from the top part of the hatch. They articulate into the bottom part of the hatch below (you can see the round circle where they should contact). I adjusted the rubber stops of the top of the hatch.

View attachment 827864
So are you saying that the two rubber stops that the top should not be super tight? I just tightened them because I thought they were loose
 
So are you saying that the two rubber stops that the top should not be super tight? I just tightened them because I thought they were loose

This is what I did:
  1. open hatch, tightened all 4 of the rubber stops all the way down (2 on the outside, 2 in the middle of the upper hatch), effectively shortened all the rubber stops (make sure when you adjust you grab the whole stop and not just the rubber nubs)
  2. slightly loosen/lengthen the 2 middle rubber stops by a small amount
  3. place an envelope in the bottom hatch where the 2 middle stops will contact
  4. close the trunk, try to pull envelope out; ex:
  5. if envelope easily slides out, need to lengthen the rubber stops some more
  6. do this until middle rubber stops provide enough grip to stop envelope from being pulled out easily
  7. repeat step 2->6 for the outer 2 rubber stops
Would recommend you check the noise/buffeting levels prior & after adjusting the above to see if it makes difference for you.
 
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This is what I did:
  1. open hatch, tightened all 4 of the rubber stops all the way down (2 on the outside, 2 in the middle of the upper hatch), effectively shortened all the rubber stops (make sure when you adjust you grab the whole stop and not just the rubber nubs)
  2. slightly loosen/lengthen the 2 middle rubber stops by a small amount
  3. place an envelope in the bottom hatch where the 2 middle stops will contact
  4. close the trunk, try to pull envelope out; ex:
  5. if envelope easily slides out, need to lengthen the rubber stops some more
  6. do this until middle rubber stops provide enough grip to stop envelope from being pulled out easily
  7. repeat step 2->6 for the outer 2 rubber stops
Would recommend you check the noise/buffeting levels prior & after adjusting the above to see if it makes difference for you.
Thank you so much!
 
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Long time poster on this thread. I moved to a BMW i3, followed by a Porsche Macan with adaptive dampers and the smallest wheels for a softer ride (and it is plenty soft). Both cars offered substantial “boominess/pressure” improvement over one another and past cars, though there was a little low frequency noise that I considered normal. A month into both I started getting a plugged up left ear.

Eventually it got to the point where my left ear remains plugged for the duration of the day after driving. It’s pretty severe Eustachian tube dysfunction and I’m obviously super bummed about this whole thing. Seen numerous ENTs and an allergist but no help.

FWIW, The Macan has the same solid shelf as in post #769, and I concur that it reduces cabin noise about 10-15%, but not ear pressure. Have tried pulling it out, driving with windows cracked (no help), windows down (significant improvement), HVAC on recirc, rear seats down (small improvement), checking rear vents, etc. Current theory is I caused ETD by driving in cars with this pressure sensation and my ear (or the tube) is over-sensitive now. This will be my last post until there is a major breakthrough like my ear returning to normal and driving becoming fun again. Hoping a solution becomes available for your Model Ys.
Interesting post. I too have some ENT issues that are difficult to remedy, including pressure and tinnitus in my left ear that started sometime last summer.

Our model Y is driven by my wife, but I get enough unpleasant sensation particularly at low speed driving over rough city streets, that I do not think I could drive it full time.

I think you are correct that this car is just prone to give sufferers of ENT issues more trouble. It's a shame, because it's an otherwise great car.
 
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