Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

Humming sound when driving in warm weather

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
Hi all,

I've got a new one. Searched the forums and found 1 post buried in another thread with a more or less similar problem but no answer.

When I am driving above 95kph (60mph) and it's warm outside, sunny, 25 degrees c (77F) I hear a 'hollow' humming sound coming from the front as if my tires are cupped or a wheelbearing that is worn. There is a vibration that I can feel in my steering wheel and in my left foot on the floor. It's not entirely constant and it changes over different road surfaces. At lower speeds (~ 50kph) I don't hear it, but I do still feel the same vibration in my steering wheel. The hotter the weather, the louder the noise. At 30 degrees C, when I first noticed it, It almost made me stop at the first highway parking to check. That loud.
The sound doesn't disappear when I turn down the AC. It could be getting less but I find it really hard to say.
It doesn't disappear when I lift my foot of the accelerator. It stops when the car stands still.

I thought it were the tires. They are quite new (3000km). But today I changed my wheels for a test set from the SeC (19" even), and the noise is still the same. Tesla checked the wheel bearings, and they are fine. The sound doesn't get worse in corners, so that is probably the right conclusion. Also, wheel bearings tend to make a noise regardless of the temperature when they are worn out.

I am thinking maybe something in the cooling system for the battery? Could it be related to the radiators behind the bumper where the bumper opens ("slats"?)? Maybe one of the fans that are located there? The sound seems to be 'activated' by the tires / roadsurface, but it also seems the sound is not coming directly from the tires.

Does this sound familiar to anyone?

Thanks!
 
Hi BjornTM,

It sounds like an air conditioning problem to me...
Early with my car it sounded like a jet engine at superchargers...
The roaring fans produce enough vibration that you could feel it with
your feet.
It could be a compressor support bushing gone bad and sometimes
the dampers near the front bumper do not open properly...
Some suggestions...

Good luck,

Shawn
 
  • Informative
Reactions: BjörnTM
Mine is noticeable only when temps are close to 30 Celsius and I'm driving slow. Once I speed up, it stops. I called service, a ranger came to my house and after listening to it he said it's perfectly "normal".

Apparently unlike a gas car that has some pumps driven off the engine by belts, this one specifically is an electric pump and gets very noisy when it's working hard (typically when it's very hot).

He had a P85D and he turned on the car and that car had the same racket.