Model 3 Road Noise

[_Redshift_]

Sounds like a fun project.
On the rocker panels, just be careful when you pull them off - as I mentioned above. But I am very happy with the results it made on my car.

I think the reasoning behind not putting any sound insulation under the carpet is the fact that the battery - being so thick and directly under the floor - should act like a sound barrier, but the noise seems to just transmit through it, and Tesla is probably too cheap and too concerned with adding more weight to properly isolate it. There is no foam in between the battery pack and the floor, which would probably help (again another cost cutting move?).
In addition, on my car the rear floor section behind the front seats flexes and hits the battery pack underneath it, it literally sounds hollow and like a tin can when you press on it - Not sure if the new models have this known issue anymore, but I am sure it could have been solved with some sort of pad in between the floor and battery - just unacceptable in my opinion.

Interestingly, new Mercedes EQS sedan has an insulating pad attached to the battery pack on the outside facing the road, thus isolating the battery pack from the road. The car is super quiet.

I did the whole floor with foam and aluminum backed rubber, there was almost no perceptible improvement.

I did many other parts as well, cumulative effect was noticeable, but not earth shattering.

 

[jacie6056]

Sounds like a fun project.
On the rocker panels, just be careful when you pull them off - as I mentioned above. But I am very happy with the results it made on my car.

I think the reasoning behind not putting any sound insulation under the carpet is the fact that the battery - being so thick and directly under the floor - should act like a sound barrier, but the noise seems to just transmit through it, and Tesla is probably too cheap and too concerned with adding more weight to properly isolate it. There is no foam in between the battery pack and the floor, which would probably help (again another cost cutting move?).
In addition, on my car the rear floor section behind the front seats flexes and hits the battery pack underneath it, it literally sounds hollow and like a tin can when you press on it - Not sure if the new models have this known issue anymore, but I am sure it could have been solved with some sort of pad in between the floor and battery - just unacceptable in my opinion.

Interestingly, new Mercedes EQS sedan has an insulating pad attached to the battery pack on the outside facing the road, thus isolating the battery pack from the road. The car is super quiet.

I am interested in this project; which rocket panel you took off? Upper rocker panel with the paint on it, or does the lower rocker panel that is hard plastic?
Did you have a chance to take some photos of where you put the Noico 150?

Thanks!

 

[3P TGV]

I took off the lower plastic rocker panels. The ones that are in between the road and attached to the body. There are two main screws - one at the front and one at back (you need to lift up the plastic tabs to access those screws). There are more tabs but there are no screws in those areas - at least on my car. The rest of the rocker panel is attached with clips. Which as I pointed out can break off - it is a poor design in my opinion- so be careful when doing this and be aware of what damage can occur. (I had to glue one side back on through the clip holes). It almost seems like those rocker panels are designed for just one install.

Anyway on Amazon they apparently only sell the Noico 310 - which is twice as thick at 8 mm. I had some 4mm left from a previous purchase and project. Again - doing this made quite a difference on my car. If you tap the rocker panel area just by the door opening it is really pretty thin and hollow. I compare this to my other cars and it is really obvious - really thin metal and a large empty cavity!

All I did was cut 2” wide strips by what ever length was needed to fill the area in between the clip holes in the body. The Noico product is super sticky so should hold up pretty well. I also did this to the plastic rocker panel in the same area. The 8mm product probably will work even better - but I would only do the body and not the plastic rocker - probably not enough space in between.
Sorry I did not take pictures.

 

[3P TGV]

I did the whole floor with foam and aluminum backed rubber, there was almost no perceptible improvement.

I did many other parts as well, cumulative effect was noticeable, but not earth shattering.

I concentrated on the front section and behind the seats. Using the same stuff - not a huge improvement as you mentioned also, but noticeable.

I also did the interior of the rear wheel wells. Removed the subwoofer to get behind there - used dynamat material + foam and also stuff thinsulate material down in there. It made a difference for sure.

The area under the rear seat cushion is also a source of noise- on my car there are a series of holes in the body panel that stretch the panel just below the rear seat uprights. I filled those in and also added some thinsulate to the top of the battery pack in between the seat cushion and the battery pack. I was filling areas that I thought was a source of noise.
Overall I was trying not to go crazy by adding all this heavy dynamat stuff everywhere- just trying to be selective in certain areas - trunk lower storage being an obvious area as well.

I was also surprised how much noise comes through the side vent holes on both sides of the rear wheel wells. Those vent holes as we know allow air to escape when closing doors, trunk, etc. On my drivers side the vent was actually stuck open. Mercedes uses open cell foam both on the outside of these vent holes - between the bumper and body and also on the inside (I watched a YouTube video on the EQC suv a few years back where they showed some of the ways they deal with road noise). They have found a way to sandwich that area with foam for noise, while also providing a way for the air to escape - such clever engineers!

In the frunk area I also partially wrapped the shock towers with dynamat (in the frunk area and not on the inside of the wheel area where the wheel is) and used foam on the frunk tub. The wrapped shock towers seem to lower a bit the wheel impact noise from the front suspension over bumps - not a huge improvement but some relief.

The last thing I will do is change the crappy cardboard underbody shields - probably just the front one- with the aluminum and foam backed after market piece, which apparently also helps with noise while greatly protecting the front of the battery pack in case of underside impact.

At this point, I am quite happy with the noise level -again my last project on the rocker panel area was a real positive solution that made quite a difference to the noise in my car. That area acts like a drum. I was really surprised by the results.
It is not S Class quiet and never will be but pretty good for a performance car on PS4S tires.

 

[_Redshift_]

I concentrated on the front section and behind the seats. Using the same stuff - not a huge improvement as you mentioned also, but noticeable.

I also did the interior of the rear wheel wells. Removed the subwoofer to get behind there - used dynamat material + foam and also stuff thinsulate material down in there. It made a difference for sure.

The area under the rear seat cushion is also a source of noise- on my car there are a series of holes in the body panel that stretch the panel just below the rear seat uprights. I filled those in and also added some thinsulate to the top of the battery pack in between the seat cushion and the battery pack. I was filling areas that I thought was a source of noise.
Overall I was trying not to go crazy by adding all this heavy dynamat stuff everywhere- just trying to be selective in certain areas - trunk lower storage being an obvious area as well.

I was also surprised how much noise comes through the side vent holes on both sides of the rear wheel wells. Those vent holes as we know allow air to escape when closing doors, trunk, etc. On my drivers side the vent was actually stuck open. Mercedes uses open cell foam both on the outside of these vent holes - between the bumper and body and also on the inside (I watched a YouTube video on the EQC suv a few years back where they showed some of the ways they deal with road noise). They have found a way to sandwich that area with foam for noise, while also providing a way for the air to escape - such clever engineers!

In the frunk area I also partially wrapped the shock towers with dynamat (in the frunk area and not on the inside of the wheel area where the wheel is) and used foam on the frunk tub. The wrapped shock towers seem to lower a bit the wheel impact noise from the front suspension over bumps - not a huge improvement but some relief.

The last thing I will do is change the crappy cardboard underbody shields - probably just the front one- with the aluminum and foam backed after market piece, which apparently also helps with noise while greatly protecting the front of the battery pack in case of underside impact.

At this point, I am quite happy with the noise level -again my last project on the rocker panel area was a real positive solution that made quite a difference to the noise in my car. That area acts like a drum. I was really surprised by the results.
It is not S Class quiet and never will be but pretty good for a performance car on PS4S tires.

My experience is the same as yours. I have done almost every part except the front firewall.

 

[Ernest H]

Okay reporting back after doing the speaker activation cabling. Sounding great and while I was at it, underneath most of the floor mat areas are 2cm foam glued to the back, but under seat itself are just carpet. Without going into full seat removal I reckon some gains can be had if doing a full sound proofing above battery. But that's a lot of time and effort I mightn't have.

Rocker panel I'll need more time to examine as this is a MIC build and from the online service manual, a lot of things are different as I've found out (different glovebox mount points, different boot / trunk layout, wiring spots, etc). Let me do some read ups and see the best way to remove the rocker panels.

 

[Bouba]

Okay reporting back after doing the speaker activation cabling. Sounding great and while I was at it, underneath most of the floor mat areas are 2cm foam glued to the back, but under seat itself are just carpet. Without going into full seat removal I reckon some gains can be had if doing a full sound proofing above battery. But that's a lot of time and effort I mightn't have.

Rocker panel I'll need more time to examine as this is a MIC build and from the online service manual, a lot of things are different as I've found out (different glovebox mount points, different boot / trunk layout, wiring spots, etc). Let me do some read ups and see the best way to remove the rocker panels.

My car is also MiC so if you figure it out, I will be very interested in how to take off the rocker panels

 

[_Redshift_]

I concentrated on the front section and behind the seats. Using the same stuff - not a huge improvement as you mentioned also, but noticeable.

I also did the interior of the rear wheel wells. Removed the subwoofer to get behind there - used dynamat material + foam and also stuff thinsulate material down in there. It made a difference for sure.

The area under the rear seat cushion is also a source of noise- on my car there are a series of holes in the body panel that stretch the panel just below the rear seat uprights. I filled those in and also added some thinsulate to the top of the battery pack in between the seat cushion and the battery pack. I was filling areas that I thought was a source of noise.
Overall I was trying not to go crazy by adding all this heavy dynamat stuff everywhere- just trying to be selective in certain areas - trunk lower storage being an obvious area as well.

I was also surprised how much noise comes through the side vent holes on both sides of the rear wheel wells. Those vent holes as we know allow air to escape when closing doors, trunk, etc. On my drivers side the vent was actually stuck open. Mercedes uses open cell foam both on the outside of these vent holes - between the bumper and body and also on the inside (I watched a YouTube video on the EQC suv a few years back where they showed some of the ways they deal with road noise). They have found a way to sandwich that area with foam for noise, while also providing a way for the air to escape - such clever engineers!

In the frunk area I also partially wrapped the shock towers with dynamat (in the frunk area and not on the inside of the wheel area where the wheel is) and used foam on the frunk tub. The wrapped shock towers seem to lower a bit the wheel impact noise from the front suspension over bumps - not a huge improvement but some relief.

The last thing I will do is change the crappy cardboard underbody shields - probably just the front one- with the aluminum and foam backed after market piece, which apparently also helps with noise while greatly protecting the front of the battery pack in case of underside impact.

At this point, I am quite happy with the noise level -again my last project on the rocker panel area was a real positive solution that made quite a difference to the noise in my car. That area acts like a drum. I was really surprised by the results.
It is not S Class quiet and never will be but pretty good for a performance car on PS4S tires.

What I did for those vents is to cover them all up first with double insulation of foam and Dynamat type stuff. Then punch a small hole (smaller than the original).

Air still escapes but noise is slightly reduced.

On my S, there were many holes that were near the rear passenger’s ear height (near the C pillar joint) that were blind plugged in later versions of the S. I covered them with insulation and the car became much quieter.

 

[jacie6056]

What I did for those vents is to cover them all up first with double insulation of foam and Dynamat type stuff. Then punch a small hole (smaller than the original).

Air still escapes but noise is slightly reduced.

On my S, there were many holes that were near the rear passenger’s ear height (near the C pillar joint) that were blind plugged in later versions of the S. I covered them with insulation and the car became much quieter.

Are you guys talking about covering this area in the video?

 

[Ernest H]

Are you guys talking about covering this area in the video?

Yes this is the area.. I'll need to figure something out to partially cover it up

 

[_Redshift_]

Are you guys talking about covering this area in the video?

Not the louvres but the holes above them. Yes, those are what I covered and punctured with a small screw driver afterwards. The louvrso do most of the work to let the air escape, and I left them the way they were. Perhaps, I could do what MBZ is doing, there. Would not be hard to do.

 

[_Redshift_]

Not the louvres but the holes above them. Yes, those are what I covered and punctured with a small screw driver afterwards. The louvrso do most of the work to let the air escape, and I left them the way they were. Perhaps, I could do what MBZ is doing, there. Would not be hard to do.

We should tweet this video to Elon.

 

[3P TGV]

Yes this is the video. Really good stuff.

 

[Ernest H]

just read up the service manual. disclaimer - the manual i read is for UK/Europe but my M3 RWD is MIC for Australia, so things could differ. anyway, the rocker panel, to remove, basically:

1. remove 4 bolt cover
2. remove the 4 bolts (10mm)
3. release 2 plastic rivet from front wheel arch (bottom) and 2 from rear wheel arch (bottom)
4. release 10 clips along the entire rocker panel and remove from body of the car.

NOTE - it does say this part is "remove and replace" and not a once-off part.

hope to get some free time in the coming week to jack up the car to take a look.

 

[Bouba]

just read up the service manual. disclaimer - the manual i read is for UK/Europe but my M3 RWD is MIC for Australia, so things could differ. anyway, the rocker panel, to remove, basically:

1. remove 4 bolt cover
2. remove the 4 bolts (10mm)
3. release 2 plastic rivet from front wheel arch (bottom) and 2 from rear wheel arch (bottom)
4. release 10 clips along the entire rocker panel and remove from body of the car.

NOTE - it does say this part is "remove and replace" and not a once-off part.

hope to get some free time in the coming week to jack up the car to take a look.

Thanks for that

 

[one2many]

Gotta love folks that want to take a new car apart.
The older ones are much more fun.

 

[Ernest H]

Gotta love folks that want to take a new car apart.
The older ones are much more fun.

yes, now with tesla it isn't easy to play around but at the same time, very rewarding if i can beat the system. old cars i've had like 74 Fiat 138 3p, 76 Corolla, 82 R30 skyline, 87 Mitsubishi Turbo Colt, were super simple and easy to understand. Yes I missed those days but at the same time, I don't like those days now.

 

[3P TGV]

just read up the service manual. disclaimer - the manual i read is for UK/Europe but my M3 RWD is MIC for Australia, so things could differ. anyway, the rocker panel, to remove, basically:

1. remove 4 bolt cover
2. remove the 4 bolts (10mm)
3. release 2 plastic rivet from front wheel arch (bottom) and 2 from rear wheel arch (bottom)
4. release 10 clips along the entire rocker panel and remove from body of the car.

NOTE - it does say this part is "remove and replace" and not a once-off part.

hope to get some free time in the coming week to jack up the car to take a look.

Just be careful with the clips - that was my issue when I removed the panel. My car only had 2 bolts on each end and no middle bolts. There were no holes for those in the battery tray…

 

[MaxYasgur]

I see there have been many discussions on eliminating road noise, including the obvious dynamat on floor to the unique foam on the rear shelf for 2019 amd older models.

However, and somebody who is very engaged in audio science, I took a very different look and approach and it has worked!

So what different did I do?

If you see any speaker, you will see that the foundation of sound reproduction is designing the box. A speaker without a box is barely audible. Put that driver in a box and voila!

With that in mind my hypothesis was that the frunk and the trunk well are acting the same as speaker boxes and amplifying the road noise.

To test it out, I went down the path of insulating and isolating the frunk and the trunk well with simple bubble wrap on the floor of both the frunk and trunk well. On top of the bubble wrap, I placed the rubber mats to keep them down.

I then waited for my wife to take the car out to shopping and who had no idea of what I was doing in the garage.

After she came back from running her errands and shopping, she remarked over dinner that the car was very quiet today and almost no road noise, even over the rough worn out concrete roads outside the neighborhood. She then stared into my eyes and asked “What did you do?”

Then I also took out the car for a ride and yes! The car is almost as quiet as my mercedes S class.

I hope this helps anybody who is interested in reducing road noise on their Model 3.

By the way, this is the bubble wrap I used that I had some in my garage.

Double Bubble Reflective Thermal Aluminum Foil Radiant Heat Vapor Barrier Insulation: (24" X 10 Ft) Heavy Duty (Water Proof No Tear): Walls Windows Garages Attics Air Ducts HVAC Vehicle Etc https://a.co/d/iH9Pemw

Thanks so much for these tips. Road noise has been a bit of an annoyance for me. I was hoping for a quieter car. I will get the bubble wrap you linked to.
In regard to some other simpler suggestions, like putting a pillow in the frunk, I have been driving around for almost a year with a heavy blanket folded up in my trunk (to use in case of an emergency in cold weather). Doh! I'm going to unfold it some and put it in the lower trunk, for some sound insulation, hopefully. I also might also do the same with another heavy blanket I already have, in the frunk.

 

[avesraggiana]

I switched to Pirelli Cinturatos last year which are one of the quietest tires around. I have had them on my S two times. I then ordered them for my 3 as well. They made the biggest difference.

Rightnow, they are being called as Pirelli P7 AS3, they dropped the Cinturato name. However, the closest size available for Model 3 is 245 45 R 18 (for the 18” size). Slightly wider but it will fit on stock rims.

Thank you for confirming my biases. After trying out different brands I ended with some variation of the Pirelli Cinturatos. Now all our Teslas, a Model S and two Model Xs are shod with Pirelli All Seasons of some kind.

Not only are the Pirellis the quietest tyres I’ve ridden on, but they’re pretty durable too.