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Reducing noise and keeping the door sills clean

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B

bradhs

Member
Oct 14, 2013
841
361
San Diego, CA
#1
I’ve been experimenting on ways to reduce road noise and also keep the door sills clean.

The best solution seems to be adding more rubber to the doors. See the attached pictures. Road noise rarely exceeds 70 dB(A), it’s now mostly between 50-69 depending on how fast and the road conditions. This is is a P3D+ with 20” rims and 4S sports tires with 6.5K miles.

I used two different kinds of rubber door seals. I’m not in front of my computer to grab the Amazon links, I’ll update the post with them later.

Let me know if any questions.


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#5
This is still work in progress. When you install the read door seal it will be a little hard to close. After a few days of compression it will return to near normal. When installing the seal near the top keep in mind where the door compresses/sits closer when closed.

You need 2X of this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0784SDRFK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
And so far 1X of this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MED8YPP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
 
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#6
I am very interested in trying this as well. I find the interior noise level on the highway at speed to be quite high and it seems to be primarily "wind" noise. Not clear to me from your pictures where you actually adding the material (probably because I need to look more closely at my door to see what you have added and what is factory seal) but I will take a closer look.
 
#10
TORQU3 said:
I'm interested to know the PN's. Most of my previous and current other cars have a double seal, the 3 seems to be missing this. What were your road noise measurements before adding the seals?
Click to expand...

The car has a double seal. With this you'll have a triple seal in some areas.


Magnets! said:
Nice job. Any idea what the dB was prior to the seals?
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I'm not sure, I believe I was exceeding 70 dB(A) prior to this. I did notice a reduction in noise, especially in the higher frequencies which is most important to me.


mswlogo said:
I'm also interested in this.

How easy are the doors able to shut now?

I'm a little concerned when it's 0F out how much resistance this might add.
Click to expand...

I'm in San Diego so not sure how it will perform in the colder climates. What I can tell you though is the front door was no problem--no change in closing force. The rear door required more closing force at first, so much that it was not reasonable. I had to adjust the top portion so that it was only in the area that had more tolerance with the door sills. Also, it's very good now, after a few days of it being sandwiched and compressed. I can only imagine that after a few weeks it will be back to normal.

ALSO, you get a nice thunk when the door closes.
 
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#14
FYI -- I opened up the Album so you can post your own pictures of similar efforts. Here's the link: https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/media/albums/model-3-noise-reduction-and-clean-sills-project.1139/

I'll add more pictures


Magnets! said:
Curious to see if that bottom seal on the rear doors traps water. The stock seals do channel water inside the door but outside of the second seal so your bottom seal may trap it. Could probably be fixed by making a few small holes in the seal.
Click to expand...

It does stop water. Washing my car is much easier with this set up. The door sills don't have to be cleaned as much.

SabrToothSqrl said:
Why stop at 3? Quintuple seals or bust!
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Haha, Tell me where I can add a fourth and I'll do it. Do they make foam or rubber paste?
 
#15
Magnets! said:
Curious to see if that bottom seal on the rear doors traps water. The stock seals do channel water inside the door but outside of the second seal so your bottom seal may trap it. Could probably be fixed by making a few small holes in the seal.
Click to expand...

I was thinking the same thing. It might prevent water from entering at the bottom in the first place as well.
Need to watch this carefully. Also in cold climate if water was trapped it could freeze.
 
#16
mswlogo said:
I was thinking the same thing. It might prevent water from entering at the bottom in the first place as well.
Need to watch this carefully. Also in cold climate if water was trapped it could freeze.
Click to expand...

It does stop it. What you have to make sure is that there is a place for it to drain. And there is, between where the two doors meet. I'm in San Diego so I rarely deal with rain, only a month or two a year.
 
#17
UwoG7KzxTka3vq62jovDxw.jpg
bradhs said:
It does stop it. What you have to make sure is that there is a place for it to drain. And there is, between where the two doors meet. I'm in San Diego so I rarely deal with rain, only a month or two a year.
Click to expand...

I don't doubt it stops water from entering from the bottom, but I don't think you're following what I'm saying...the seals filter water inside the door from the top, outside of the second seal but inside your third seal. Might leak out but might not. Check after a car wash or big rain.

You can see what I'm talking about in this picture.
 
#18
Magnets! said:
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I don't doubt it stops water from entering from the bottom, but I don't think you're following what I'm saying...the seals filter water inside the door from the top, outside of the second seal but inside your third seal. Might leak out but might not. Check after a car wash or big rain.

You can see what I'm talking about in this picture.
Click to expand...

Oh I see what you mean. I think you’d be okay because those seals are compressed and not much can get in there. But I’ll try it just to see what it does when it goes through a car wash.
 
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