As mentioned before, and being no surprise to most all Tesla owners, ownership is a blast. No real complaints so far on my new Model S. With one ironic exception... road noise. Granted, given there's no ICE under the hood, the quietness of any given Tesla is indisputable. However, whether because there is not engine drone to counter the tire noise on the road or because I'm nick picking at this point, I have been wondering if there is a way to deaden the road noise further. One of the reasons I bought the Tesla was because I really, REALLY hate the time and hassle and cost of flying. I was shopping around for a car which I could use to drive to my typical business meeting cities (Chicago, Baltimore, NYC, etc). I was looking for a vehicle which had good 'gas' mileage and a great comfortable ride. Thus, the Model S. So, I plan a lot of highway driving with this car. Around town, the road sound is a non-issue, but at higher speeds on varying degrees of high-way surfaces the tire slap and noise is noticeable. While turning up the volume on the audio system tunes it all out most of the time, if all tunes are off, the noise does kinda counter the otherwise sublime, elegant design surrounding the driver. There is indeed noise deadening 'fabric' or particle foam inside the wheel wells of most Teslas and I assume some degree of additional factory installed noise deadening strategy within the doors, floors and cabin. But it seems like it could be even more quiet given something extra... Through some research I've found that some Teslas are fitted with Continental Tires' 'ContiSilent' brand tires. These are basically a normal (in some cases high performance) tires but with an added internal layer of foam which apparently helps in the road slap of tires (some articles mention a 40% reduction in noise). My Model S came with Michelins, so I've not tried the Continentals. I've also heard of the newer Audi and Corvette models having nylon 'carpets' installed inside the outer wheel wells. It looks like black astroturf. The fibers standing above the surface assist in diffusing the road noise from those well areas. I'm curious if anyone else has issue with road noise or has found any other possible solutions or shops which might offer such noise deadening services. I've read about and seen vids showing shops which gut the car and roll out dynamax(matts?) throughout the car. I'm not about to do that, but if there's some DIY or relatively inexpensive noise deadening to be done, I'd consider it.
it is an issue more on my S than on my 3 . However I would be happier if there was less road noise on both.