P85D Front Motor Noise Levels

[Danal]

Hmmm... Last couple of pages seem to summarize to: "Don't be over sensitive, all cars make noise when accelerating", or "Tesla acceleration sounds like this", or similar.

Since my post is way back in the thread: I drove the black (or possibly dark blue, it was night) P85D at the Dallas/NorthPark store on 12/9. It has California plates. I heard an objectionable whine from the front. What I heard was NOT related to acceleration or power in any way. It was purely related to speed. An absolutely constant whine, whose frequency varied only with speed. No variation with power, regen, coast, etc. There are unique acceleration noises, and I agree they are pretty cool! But the accel noises are not what caused me to post; the constant whine caused me to post about noise mitigation.

Has anyone on this thread driven THAT car?

Hopefully, the wide variation in reports from the test drives above indicates that the sounds I heard are unique to the individual P85D that I drove. Because, as I mentioned in my first post, this was a big enough deal to me for me to consider not ordering the car. Instead I decided to go ahead, and to 3rd party mitigate the noise after delivery.

I'm very hopeful that the 'constant' noise that I heard doesn't even exist in other cars.

 

[ecarfan]

My sense is the constant noise you heard is unique to the car you were in.

 

[Drron]

Make it more quiet if possible

I will receive my P85D on December 27th hope that it doesn't have an irritating sound to it when I am cruising at 75 or at 45. This is my first " luxury performance car" so I have nothing to compare to. I do know that my wealthy older brother who has a collection of "performance" car none of which will be as fast as my vehicle make a heck of a lot of noise when cruising and incredible noise when his Carrol Shelby signed 2011 (I think that's the year) #2 convertible off the Shelby assembly line does his 0 to 60 in 3 point something seconds it is almost painful to the ears ---admitted a cool rumbling throaty etc, sound the Tesla will never make a thank God! But if the Tesla has a whining sound irritatinwhen cruising

 

[Xenoilphobe]

Did you turn on the $2500 sound cloaking device? Works great with my wife

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

I cannot hear it at all except for a distant-sounding soft whine at very slow speeds. The pre-production P85D cars were not quite refined, I guess.

Much ado about nothing really.

 

[Andyw2100]

I cannot hear it at all except for a distant-sounding soft whine at very slow speeds. The pre-production P85D cars were not quite refined, I guess.

Much ado about nothing really.

What about the "ticking" from the new brake system? It's been written about a lot in other threads, but I don't think I've seen anyone talk about whether or not it still exists with the P85Ds. Can you hear the ticking?

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

What about the "ticking" from the new brake system? It's been written about a lot in other threads, but I don't think I've seen anyone talk about whether or not it still exists with the P85Ds. Can you hear the ticking?

None at all. My wife, with much sharper ears, would have noticed it.

Speaking of the brakes, the new ones are noticeably stickier / stronger - not sure what the right adjective is - than the old ones. They appear to be able to stop on a dime.

 

[Jaff]

I'm thinking this as well...however, a lot of P85Ds are being delivered over the next few days....let's wait and see if anyone else reports this isue...

My sense is the constant noise you heard is unique to the car you were in.

 

[EarlyAdopter]

Hey folks, long time P85 driver here. Took a P85D for a test drive today. I think I'm well situated to comment on the noise.

First, the drive: Simply amazing! Acceleration is everything we've heard, the handling and ride quality was surprisingly improved over my P85. Interior quality with the next gen seats is definitely improved, up to Audi levels.

I did hear noise from the front motor, and it was most certainly gear sound. It was directly correlated to speed and acceleration/deceleration forces on the motor. Almost as if there were straight cut gears in the front gear box instead of helical cut gears. It was not inverter whine or any other sound non-D cars make.

Cruising at a constant speed there's no noise. Put some load on the motor and there is. I didn't find it objectionable but I could see others being sensitive to it.

Note, the demo car was a very early VIN for a P85D - in the 62,000's as opposed to the 63,000's and 64,000's we're seeing for all of the first customer orders, so there may have been some improvements in production cars.

Ok, I think we can put this concern to bed.

The front motor is considerably quieter in my production P85D that I took delivery of today.

Yes, there is still some noise, but only under heavy acceleration or regen, and it sounds exactly like sound from the rear motor in my P85. Nothing new, different, or objectionable.

No gear noise like I heard on that test drive car. Yay!

 

[andrewket]

Ok, I think we can put this concern to bed.

The front motor is considerably quieter in my production P85D that I took delivery of today.

Yes, there is still some noise, but only under heavy acceleration or regen, and it sounds exactly like sound from the rear motor in my P85. Nothing new, different, or objectionable.

No gear noise like I heard on that test drive car. Yay!

Same here. Just the normal whine under heavy acceleration. Nothing objectionable at all.

 

[EarlyAdopter]

Oh, and I forgot to mention - nice surprise on the P85D: no balloon squeal.

 

[dlt]

As Tesla blogged today, the upcoming firmware upgrade (january) will enable motor idling (ie. no power to the other motor when not really needed)

This is only my own guess, but if both motors have been running continuously, also when cruising steady speed, even slighest mismatch of rotation speeds between them will generate mechanical noise. So, the firmware may also make it quieter!

 

[GetAmped]

As Tesla blogged today, the upcoming firmware upgrade (january) will enable motor idling (ie. no power to the other motor when not really needed)

This is only my own guess, but if both motors have been running continuously, also when cruising steady speed, even slighest mismatch of rotation speeds between them will generate mechanical noise. So, the firmware may also make it quieter!

I can speak from first hand experience that my P85D that I picked up yesterday is very quite when cruising.

 

[Skotty]

For me, I don't care about whine noise when accelerating. And I only care about whine noise in steady state driving if it's an annoying high pitched whine noise. I don't know if such noise comes from the motor itself, or it it is caused by the motor, or if it's electrical noise coming through the speakers, but the end result is the same, and the motor usually seems involved somehow.

My 2012 Volt makes an annoying high pitched whine noise in steady state driving, but it's at a very low sound level and can be easily drowned out with radio or highway noise. It only occasionally annoys me at slow driving speeds when the radio is off, which is infrequent enough that I can live with it happily.

I've test driven an S85, and it had a whine to it, but it was only when accelerating (or regen braking) and it wasn't even annoying. It seemed lower pitch and almost like it was dual toned. Subjective I suppose, but I didn't find it annoying at all, and it didn't happen during steady state driving, so it wouldn't have mattered much anyway.

I am concerned that maybe not all same model Tesla cars sound the same (I've heard some claim this). And with the dual motor model having two motors, the likelihood of an annoying noise occurring is increased. Despite all the advantages of dual motor, if the new front motor causes an annoying high pitched sound with steady state cruising, it will likely be enough for me to choose an S85 over an S85D.

It should be noted that not everyone will hear the annoying high pitched sounds. Some people's hearing doesn't extend to as high a frequency as others. Some people just won't hear such a sound. Kind of like the stench of a bradford pear tree or the "after eating asparagus smell"; some can detect it, some can't, so you can't trust the review of a single person. But those that can hear the sound will likely find it very annoying. For those of you who haven't experienced this, think of the most annoying sound you can think of, and then imagine if your car made that sound while driving. That's what I'm talking about. It's enough to sway a buying decision, and EV makers need to be careful to engineer solutions that avoid this, either by careful thoughtful motor and electrical design and tweaking, or by quality sound dampening and ensuring noise won't come through the audio system speakers.

 

[EarlyAdopter]

My P85D exhibits a very slight high pitch whine from the front under heavy acceleration but no noise at all under normal acceleration or while cruising.

 

[muleferg]

Test Drive P85D Video.
Little more noise than my Model S. This P85D had 21"and I have 19". That could have had something to do with it. The whine was there but I could live with that. I didn't notice the whine at 55mph.

Test P85D - YouTube

 

[EarlyAdopter]

Right, I'd add that any additional motor noise is largely drowned out by the increased tire noise.

The 21" Michelins on my P85D are considerably louder than the 21" Continentals I had on my P85.

This is my only noise complaint on the P85D.

 

[LetsGoFast]

I love the spaceship like whine of the front engine under heavy acceleration and don't really hear it at all in cruise. The 21" tires are ridiculously noisy, though.

 

[nolancn]

My P85D was delivered 12/27. I did notice a low pitch rumble during the first 1 second of hard acceleration from a dead stop in the insane mode. The sound is similar to the lane departure warning sound/vibration only it is less regular and has a slightly higher pitch. It occurred to a lesser degree with hard acceleration commencing from a very low speed (5-10mph). The sound is not generated with hard acceleration from a dead stop when in sport mode. It appears to occur only under the highest torque conditions. This sound is in no way a whine as discussed in this thread. In my opinion the whine that is present is less noticeable than my wife's P85, and certainly not objectionable. I called the local SC and told them of this observation. hey drove their "test drive" P85D, and did a pre-delivery test drive of a customer P85D, and reported back that it also made a similar sound under the same conditions.

- - - Updated - - -

My P85D was delivered 12/27. I did notice a low pitch rumble during the first 1 second of hard acceleration from a dead stop in the insane mode. The sound is similar to the lane departure warning sound/vibration only it is less regular and has a slightly higher pitch. It occurred to a lesser degree with hard acceleration commencing from a very low speed (5-10mph). The sound is not generated with hard acceleration from a dead stop when in sport mode. It appears to occur only under the highest torque conditions. This sound is in no way a whine as discussed in this thread. In my opinion the whine that is present is less noticeable than my wife's P85, and certainly not objectionable. I called the local SC and told them of this observation. They drove their "test drive" P85D, and did a pre-delivery test drive of a customer P85D and reported back that it also made a similar sound under the same conditions. Their conclusion was that the sound is normal, but it sounds a bit disturbing to me. Has anyone else noticed anything similar?

- - - Updated - - -

My P85D was delivered 12/27. I did notice a low pitch rumble during the first 1 second of hard acceleration from a dead stop in the insane mode. The sound is similar to the lane departure warning sound/vibration only it is less regular and has a slightly higher pitch. It occurred to a lesser degree with hard acceleration commencing from a very low speed (5-10mph). The sound is not generated with hard acceleration from a dead stop when in sport mode. It appears to occur only under the highest torque conditions. This sound is in no way a whine as discussed in this thread. In my opinion the whine that is present is less noticeable than my wife's P85, and certainly not objectionable. I called the local SC and told them of this observation. They drove their "test drive" P85D, and did a pre-delivery test drive of a customer P85D and reported back that both cars also made a similar sound under the same conditions. Their conclusion was that the sound is normal but it is a bit disturbing to me. Has anyone else noticed something similar?

 

[wycolo]

Aside from 'failure type noises' what you get from any given power train seems to be the luck of the draw. Each one has the potential to develop in any direction imaginable. You get what the good lord delivereth. With the twin motor: twice the joy of discovery. The sound bite from my 2012 s85 is probably hanging on the wall at Engineering, sorted by peculiarity. No action likely to be taken wrt replacement, and I agree.


> the stench of a bradford pear tree [Skotty]

Genetic engineering tradeoff? Rotting ginko fruits at least is only for one month out of the year, to name another problem fruit (peeyouu!).
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