Solved: Road Noise & Front Wind Noise

Through the last few months, I have been watching and reading up the various posts regarding the many ways many of you all have attempted, as well as the various kits available online, to reduce if not eliminate road noise and wind noise from the Model3. After reviewing all those posts and review of the kits, I figured that since none of you have been able to achieve that elusive goal, let alone even come close to reducing the noise, made me ask the question: What are we missing?

So as I kept driving my M3, I attempted to focus on finding those missing sources ie where is the noise emanating into the cabin from. Turns out they are the 4 corners of the cabin ie the A-Pillars and C-pillars. More specifically, the A-Pillars for wind noise and C-Pillars for road noise.

#1 - The solution for wind noise is the following - Z Weatherstrip down inside the leading edge of the front door, and foam block at the top triangle where the front fender, windshield and door meet.

Z-Weatherstrip

Foam at the junction

#2 - The solution for road noise is the following - 2" Fiber insulation behind the rear seat side panels that cover the rear wheel wells.

I hope this helps everyone who have been pursuing this goal. Thanks for all the contributions and many thanks to @XPsionic for his constant engagement and interest.

 

[jwalkingjon2]

It might be helpful to so what I did…

View attachment 1014471

Do you leave your seal pulled out over the b pillar? I noticed mine is tucked in but looks like it's not inside the small slot the bpillar has for the edge of the trim, I think this is causing my issue. I tried reseating the seal into the small slot it has, curious if you just pulled it over the b pillar? I'm going to order the U shape you suggested and see the wind noise from the corner of my window is crazy loud

 

[jwalkingjon2]

maybe it was an illusion from the photo, but mine dips down into the bpillar similar to this pic that someone else posted. Where as I am pretty sure the seal is suppose to be inserted into this slot here?

 

[Kandiru]

What on earth is going on in that first photo? Is your window really adjusted to that crazy angle or is the door open? I can't even tell.

You are looking at my passenger side B pillar. The driver side was fixed by a mouthbreather ranger who walked into my garage dragging a sledgehammer on the concrete floor, rear door edge now sticking out. I wish I had known this fix before that retard caved my B pillar outward. After I am done with the M3 in 2030 I will likely get the next best non-Tesla, a NACS Macan maibe.

 

[jwalkingjon2]

It might be helpful to so what I did…

View attachment 1014471

Sadly didn’t fix the issue for me, the corner where there is blank space hangs which when the door is closed causes it to not contact for me so my corner window wind noise is still there. Going to try putting something behind it to maybe lift it and hold it in place

 

[jwalkingjon2]

Anyone have a suggestion of a very thin D seal or B seal for the window my gap is like 0.1 inches down the side of the window. I also can’t seam to get 3M to stick to the rubber even with adhesive remover anyone have this issue?

 

[tyler_k1]

Before adding extra seals around my windows, I decided to schedule another service appointment. This time, the estimate says they will be replacing the whole seal on the drivers side. Fingers crossed that works. The shape is much less uniform than the passenger side, which is significantly quieter. Circled where the noise is entering (I included this in my service request)

This morning my service center replaced the drivers side main body seal, adjusted the window and adjusted the door. Problem solved, thankfully. Car is much quieter now though I'll still be doing the first 3 things mentioned in this thread in order to make it even better.

 

[jwalkingjon2]

Tessék, kérem szépen. Top of second pic shows the edge tucked under original trim edge. Looks factory, esp after a rubdown with Formula 303 protectant.

View attachment 1018692View attachment 1018693

What type of weather seal are you using there? Hard to tell from the photos

 

[Kandiru]

What type of weather seal are you using there? Hard to tell from the photos

High density foam tape, forward edge inserted under the OEM.

 

[enemji]

You should give the Michelin Primacy Tour A/S. They are built for the Lexus

MSPN: 06522

Buy Michelin Primacy Tour A/S Tires | Michelin

Michelin Primary Tour A/S tires are the perfect match for drivers who want to get the relaxing driving experience they expect from their premium vehicle.

www.michelinman.com

https://tires.costco.com/Product?ItemNo=1508584&tirename=michelin-primacy-tour-a/s&partno=06522&width=235&aspect=45&rim=18

The MICHELIN Primacy™ Tour A/S has the quietest tread design among leading competitors.[2]​

Enhanced ComfortControl with PIANO Noise Reduction Tuning combines frequency cancelling shoulder grooves and block chamfers with ultra smooth belts resulting in an exceptionally quiet ride.

I finally pulled the plug and went with these MICHELIN Primacy™ Tour A/S tires on my 2022 M3LR

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Michelin&tireModel=Primacy+Tour+A%2FS&partnum=345VR8PTASV2

Ordered from Tire Rack and installed at my local Discount Tire. Smooth process.

First trip of about 20miles on the same roads I drive everyday at 70mph resulted in 71db
For comparison, the Michelin MXM4 that comes OE produced 76db on those roads, and the Hankook Kingrgy GT produced 74db.

Some things are just designed better from the start, especially when they are designed for the Lexus & Mercedes luxury cars.

 

[enemji]

I finally pulled the plug and went with these MICHELIN Primacy™ Tour A/S tires on my 2022 M3LR

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Michelin&tireModel=Primacy+Tour+A%2FS&partnum=345VR8PTASV2

Ordered from Tire Rack and installed at my local Discount Tire. Smooth process.

First trip of about 20miles on the same roads I drive everyday at 70mph resulted in 71db
For comparison, the Michelin MXM4 that comes OE produced 76db on those roads, and the Hankook Kingrgy GT produced 74db.

Some things are just designed better from the start, especially when they are designed for the Lexus & Mercedes luxury cars.

FYI - This tire is OE on the Lexus IS 300

 

[MarkoP]

My journey with 2020 M3P sound deadening.
Tires are 235/35R20 PS4S.

Here is the summary of measurements, some pictures below.

Measurements taken with a decibel meter at the middle of front seats area on head level, no radio or AC blowing, speed 80km/h or 50mph, same road etc.
- Stand still: 38db
- Stock: 68-69db
- Sound deadening inside fenders: 68-70db
- Sound deadening trunk: 67-68db
- Sound deadening front floor: 67-68db
- Sound deadening front doors: 65-66db
- Sound deadening rear doors: 65-66db
- Additional door seals: 65-66db

After all above was done, I took some measurements from here and there, on a different road (higher db)
- From the original measuring spot: 67db
- At the middle of side front window: 72db
- Top back corner of the front window seal: 72db
- Front floor: 72db
- Windshield: 72db
- Middle of the front door: 74db
- Middle head level backseat: 68db
- Middle of the door: 73db
- Middle of window: 73db
- Back seat floor: 74db
- Under the back seat: 72db
- Back triangle window: 78db

After these I actually added some more sound deadening to the back/trunk and door seals, but did not re-measure as I could not hear the difference.

Sound deadening inside of the fenders:
In my previous cars, typically biggest gains have come with sound deadening the fenders with underbody coating.
Tesla has non-existing rust prevention, so I started by going through the seams with a zinc paint, then rust protecting cavity wax and finally thick underbody coating to kill the noise (~1kg per fender).
View attachment 957946 View attachment 957947 View attachment 957948 View attachment 957949

Next sound deadening the trunk, front and rear floors, rear fenders from inside, doors:
Materials used were CTK brand as that was locally available.
I added 2.2 millimeter Butyl mat to all straight surfaces in body, avoiding to add over the seams as that would collect moisture in Finland conditions and I wanted to avoid rusting.
On top of butyl I added some felt type of blanket in dry locations (Caimat) and in doors and locations whetre i expected to have moisture or water (Wavefix) which is not absorbing water.

This is not the final stage of trunk, as I added some more material, but gives the idea.
View attachment 957951 View attachment 957952 View attachment 957953

Trunk roof.
View attachment 957954 View attachment 957955 View attachment 957956

Back floor, front floor, doors, trunk lid and pane, sound block from a-pillar to door. (also added some butyl to frunk, but did not notice any difference)
.. seems like there is a 10 photos max limit, but followed the similar practices inside of the cabin, inside of the doors and also added more sound deadening to the door panels.

Overall I managed half the sound energy (-3db), which is ok, but was honestly expecting more improvement when original sound deadening was so bad.
I could not identify any single source of problem and sound dropped rather gradually as I made progress.

I swapped worn 20" PS4S tires to some chinese 18".
Tarmac is also older and noisier compared to last year, but 64-65db was measured at the same spot of the road.
So about 1db down.
There was also some fresh tarmac, measured 62-63db on that.