Model 3 Road Noise

[enemji]

enemji was there a reason you folded it over on itself instead of just putting the adhesive down with a single layer? I got my roll in today and am about to start the project.

Simply because not only did I not want the hassle of removing adhesive if it did not work, but the fact that sliding it in will make it stick to the exposed panels.

 

[enemji]

Yeah, this one is easily bent and won't stay in place by itself. However the important thing is to deaden the sound, and this one looks like it would do a good job in that respect.

Deadening is useful for low frequencies. The tire road noise is mid to high range and the closed cell foam is better at blocking those.

 

[eharper]

Simply because not only did I not want the hassle of removing adhesive if it did not work, but the fact that sliding it in will make it stick to the exposed panels.

I did what you did by deadening the trunk under the carpet, then applied the doubled material inside where the door meets the front corner panel. I still had a little bit more wind noise than expected so I'm guessing my cut was a little looser than yours (My front panel gap is pretty large between door and quarter panel as well). I thought I would cut another 4x4 square and use the adhesive right at the, as you refer to it "crows foot". After putting that patch in there is now no wind noise. I have not put any sound deadening into the frunk yet, other than a couple large pillows, but that is only place I hear mild road noise coming from. Thanks again for the suggestion!

 

[enemji]

I did what you did by deadening the trunk under the carpet, then applied the doubled material inside where the door meets the front corner panel. I still had a little bit more wind noise than expected so I'm guessing my cut was a little looser than yours (My front panel gap is pretty large between door and quarter panel as well). I thought I would cut another 4x4 square and use the adhesive right at the, as you refer to it "crows foot". After putting that patch in there is now no wind noise. I have not put any sound deadening into the frunk yet, other than a couple large pillows, but that is only place I hear mild road noise coming from. Thanks again for the suggestion!

Thanks for the feedback. Good to know this solution is usable by many, and it is easy!

 

[eharper]

Thanks for the feedback. Good to know this solution is usable by many, and it is easy!

The doors are very easy. Under 5 mins for both sides. The trunk maybe 45 mins because i'm slow.

 

[galimpic]

Deadening is useful for low frequencies. The tire road noise is mid to high range and the closed cell foam is better at blocking those.

Since you touched on the subject, let me elaborate a little, since I am also a sound engineer and a music studio owner.

Strictly speaking, deadening is a wrong word in this context, as it describes attaching something to a material to make it less prone to vibration and rattle. If we want to be correct, we should use "dampening" or "absorption". In any case, here we use a very thin material (mine is 1/4'', similar to OPs when doubled). To make sure we are effective, we should get the most of the peak of the wave to be caught within our material. Say we have a rather high frequency of 10Khz, with a wavelength of 4/3''. Our 1/4'' is 40% of the half-wave (one peak) so we can theoretically reduce it at most by that percentage if we use perfect material, but it only gets worse as we go to lower frequencies. To actually make the sound energy be converted to heat, a heavy, dense material should be used, not any light foam (with large bubbles and open cell design). The one I got seems reasonably dense with closed cell design.

Lastly, the white (pink?) noise from the road contains all frequencies, and also the very rotation of the tires and the vibrations of the suspension are certainly low frequency, but there is not much we can do about it with this solution. All we can hope for is a little bit of a reduction of the road/wind noise in the high frequencies which should be noticeable enough on itself, like removing the hissing sound from old cassette tapes, while keeping the "boominess".

P.S. Now that I am thinking about it, it is possible we also have some deadening benefit by covering that panel, as it's very possible it's resonating and thus producing its own sound, like a very crude speaker.

 

[XPsionic]

Since you touched on the subject, let me elaborate a little, since I am also a sound engineer and a music studio owner.

Strictly speaking, deadening is a wrong word in this context, as it describes attaching something to a material to make it less prone to vibration and rattle. If we want to be correct, we should use "dampening" or "absorption". In any case, here we use a very thin material (mine is 1/4'', similar to OPs when doubled). To make sure we are effective, we should get the most of the peak of the wave to be caught within our material. Say we have a rather high frequency of 10Khz, with a wavelength of 4/3''. Our 1/4'' is 40% of the half-wave (one peak) so we can theoretically reduce it at most by that percentage if we use perfect material, but it only gets worse as we go to lower frequencies. To actually make the sound energy be converted to heat, a heavy, dense material should be used, not any light foam (with large bubbles and open cell design). The one I got seems reasonably dense with closed cell design.

Lastly, the white (pink?) noise from the road contains all frequencies, and also the very rotation of the tires and the vibrations of the suspension are certainly low frequency, but there is not much we can do about it with this solution. All we can hope for is a little bit of a reduction of the road/wind noise in the high frequencies which should be noticeable enough on itself, like removing the hissing sound from old cassette tapes, while keeping the "boominess".

P.S. Now that I am thinking about it, it is possible we also have some deadening benefit by covering that panel, as it's very possible it's resonating and thus producing its own sound, like a very crude speaker.

Looking forward to hearing your assessment of your foam placement

 

[enemji]

Since you touched on the subject, let me elaborate a little, since I am also a sound engineer and a music studio owner.

Strictly speaking, deadening is a wrong word in this context, as it describes attaching something to a material to make it less prone to vibration and rattle. If we want to be correct, we should use "dampening" or "absorption". In any case, here we use a very thin material (mine is 1/4'', similar to OPs when doubled). To make sure we are effective, we should get the most of the peak of the wave to be caught within our material. Say we have a rather high frequency of 10Khz, with a wavelength of 4/3''. Our 1/4'' is 40% of the half-wave (one peak) so we can theoretically reduce it at most by that percentage if we use perfect material, but it only gets worse as we go to lower frequencies. To actually make the sound energy be converted to heat, a heavy, dense material should be used, not any light foam (with large bubbles and open cell design). The one I got seems reasonably dense with closed cell design.

Lastly, the white (pink?) noise from the road contains all frequencies, and also the very rotation of the tires and the vibrations of the suspension are certainly low frequency, but there is not much we can do about it with this solution. All we can hope for is a little bit of a reduction of the road/wind noise in the high frequencies which should be noticeable enough on itself, like removing the hissing sound from old cassette tapes, while keeping the "boominess".

P.S. Now that I am thinking about it, it is possible we also have some deadening benefit by covering that panel, as it's very possible it's resonating and thus producing its own sound, like a very crude speaker.

Pleased to meet you, and you are absolutely right in most if not all of the aspects. The foam I used in particular though is a closed cell design, and I was a bit wary of using it. But like everything, the best knowledge comes from doing it, and so I went ahead and did the trunk well. As expected, the lower frequencies are not affected however the annoying one to me is mid to high frequencies, and that was attenuated to a more acceptable level, and just not disappeared.

Also for the front wheels, the best solution is to open up the wheel well and apply MLV to reduce the low frequency resonance. But that is not a problem I was even attempting to solve as I do not find it annoying enough. So why waste the time and effort, and in addition make a mess of the NVH balance of the car as doing so might make the floor noise disappear and the shoulder level noise would become prominent and annoying. There is no fix for that as it is all glass.

Regarding the panel vibration, it is possible, and if I had not been satisfied with the result of just placing the closed cell foam in that place, I would have gone down the way of sticking it to the inside panel. fortunately, I did not have to go down that path.

 

[galimpic]

As far as the method of having the foam/mat attached in that place, I will try to follow your advice to cut it somewhat larger and hope it will stay in place, as I would really not enjoy having a sticky mess in the summer if it starts to peel off in the blistering FL heat. I will also try to double it to get rid of the sticky surface, like you did, but mine is thicker to start with and it may become too thick for the door to move freely. I just need to find time to do all that....

 

[Niroc]

Thanks for the feedback. Good to know this solution is usable by many, and it is easy!

Thanks for the excellent tip

I pick up my 2023 M3 on Tuesday. Do you have a summary on what I can do do for the frunk/trunk that is simple and quick?

 

[enemji]

Thanks for the excellent tip

I pick up my 2023 M3 on Tuesday. Do you have a summary on what I can do do for the frunk/trunk that is simple and quick?

The easiest is to fill the trunk well and frunk well with pillows. Would help with some noise reduction, for sure.

 

[galimpic]

OK I cut a little larger chunks and fit them into both sides without gluing (I didn't remove the cover film; there is also aluminum foil on on the other side, I left that one as well, as seen in the picture). Then I drove around a little, and it does sound quieter, but I can't really be sure, and I also put a sunroof shades at the same time, so that also probably plays a role. I don't have a proper Db meter, so I recorded the current sound with the cell phone on a few roads with marked speed, and I will remove those inserts tomorrow and record again under the same circumstances to check if it is just my imagination. Whatever happens, I will keep both those things in the door panel AND the sunroof cover since the whole inside now sounds less roomy, like an inside of a car should.

 

[enemji]

OK I cut a little larger chunks and fit them into both sides. Then I drove around a little, and it does sound quieter, but I can't really be sure. I don't have a proper Db meter, so I recorded with the cell phone on a few roads with marked speed, and I will remove those inserts tomorrow and record again under the same circumstances to check if it is just my imagination.

The DB meter might not be very helpful as it might be reducing levels of mid and high frequencies emanating from that direction that are in the direction of your ears but the other frequencies are still just as high as ever in other parts of the car.

 

[galimpic]

The DB meter might not be very helpful as it might be reducing levels of mid and high frequencies emanating from that direction that are in the direction of your ears but the other frequencies are still just as high as ever in other parts of the car.

Right, but any reduction in sound level will be a success. However, with phone recording I can run it through a spectrum analyzer to see if any frequencies are lower now. It won't be exact science in any case. BTW I heavily edited my message right after I posted it, so your quote now only shows the first draft

 

[Niroc]

The easiest is to fill the trunk well and frunk well with pillows. Would help with some noise reduction, for sure.

Thanks. I believe you bought something from Amazon? I got a bit lost as I did know if that was for the frunk/Trunk or for something else

 

[enemji]

Right, but any reduction in sound level will be a success. However, with phone recording I can run it through a spectrum analyzer to see if any frequencies are lower now. It won't be exact science in any case. BTW I heavily edited my message right after I posted it, so your quote now only shows the first draft

Perfect way to quote. It is messy when someone quotes the whole post

I generally rely on the behavior of my passengers esp my wife and how they react. Many people are pretty self aware of their surroundings and how comfortably they can talk within the car ie are they shouting, speaking louder, straining themselves to hear what the other said (asking what? again and again, etc) are quite good indicators of how loud the car is.

Today I had 5 people in my car. Everyone was talking to each other comfortably while we are going at 75-80mph. Quiet a good indication that the road and wind noise level in the vocal spectrum was not interfering.

Looking forward to that spectrum analyzer report.

 

[galimpic]

Putting aside for the moment the discussion about the effect of that panel dampener on the outside noise, it looks like having at least a thin sun roof cover below the glass has a noticeable effect in making the interior a more pleasant environment for talking (and listening music), probably due to cutting off some of the high frequency reverb.

 

[enemji]

Putting aside for the moment the discussion about the effect of that panel dampener on the outside noise, it looks like having at least a thin sun roof cover below the glass has a noticeable effect in making the interior a more pleasant environment for talking (and listening music), probably due to cutting off some of the high frequency reverb.

Yes. It does. I put one in one of my M3LR and testing that too. Definitely feels better.

 

[kayrish]

Just wanted to hop on this thread. Been following for a few weeks.

I decided to finally bite the bullet and did the following after seeing what others have done:

Sound deadening on:

1. Frunk luggage compartment.
2. Trunk lower compartment.
3. Left and right side rear wheel well and surrounding walls
4. Sugru on A pillar front
5. Left and right passenger fender cavity

I have an early-ish VIN 2018 3 LR RWD. Didn't have any deadening tape on the trunk tub but there was a thick piece of mixed cloth like fibre panels stuck to the bottom and front of the liner. Can any newer 3 owners comment on whether they have this?

I'm going to wait before sharing results as I have the old school appliqués on my mirrors and they stick out quite a bit as there's no anchor on the upper portion (was added in a later part revision). Fairly certain they've been causing a whistling noise I keep hearing on my commute. Appears to come from the windows but I've already adjusted the track, height, and re-calibrated those. I've ordered some from china at 1/4 the cost Tesla quoted me so I'll install those and then provide an update. They should arrive sometime this week.

Photos below. I was too lazy to pull the rear seats to get the liner out so I just propped it up with a piece of wood while I worked. Forgot to take a photo of the left and right rear wheel wells but I did take a photo of the sub and amp/dac lol.

 

[enemji]

Just wanted to hop on this thread. Been following for a few weeks.

I decided to finally bite the bullet and did the following after seeing what others have done:

Sound deadening on:

1. Frunk luggage compartment.
2. Trunk lower compartment.
3. Left and right side rear wheel well and surrounding walls
4. Sugru on A pillar front
5. Left and right passenger fender cavity

I have an early-ish VIN 2018 3 LR RWD. Didn't have any deadening tape on the trunk tub but there was a thick piece of mixed cloth like fibre panels stuck to the bottom and front of the liner. Can any newer 3 owners comment on whether they have this?

I'm going to wait before sharing results as I have the old school appliqués on my mirrors and they stick out quite a bit as there's no anchor on the upper portion (was added in a later part revision). Fairly certain they've been causing a whistling noise I keep hearing on my commute. Appears to come from the windows but I've already adjusted the track, height, and re-calibrated those. I've ordered some from china at 1/4 the cost Tesla quoted me so I'll install those and then provide an update. They should arrive sometime this week.

Photos below. I was too lazy to pull the rear seats to get the liner out so I just propped it up with a piece of wood while I worked. Forgot to take a photo of the left and right rear wheel wells but I did take a photo of the sub and amp/dac lol.

That cloth thing is called a shoddy pad and even my 2022 trunk well has it