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Things to make cabin quieter - in order of easiest to hardest?

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UnknownSoldier

Unknown Member
Apr 17, 2017
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Earth
#1
So far, I've put the rubber loop around the top middle pane of glass (easy) and installed the popular rubber door seals (also easy). This helped with wind noise a lot but did little or nothing to improve road buzz. From here, apparently if I'm still interested in more sound deadening, it now becomes possibly exponentially harder depending on how much I want to completely disassemble and reassemble my 3.

However, are there other relatively easy things I can do to quieten my cabin, or am I basically now left with take my car apart and stuff insulation inside the body panels? I know there are now rubber seals for the frunk and trunk, and the MIC 3 even has a large panel of sound deadening material which is installed on the underside of the frunk lid (hood) of the car. I haven't found anyone selling a similar panel of material for non-MIC 3's yet.

Some people were talking about reducing the amount of sound echoing in the trunk by lining it with soft material like a blanket. I don't really know how much this would help but it seems easy enough that I could try.

I have also heard that some tires are much quieter than others, and that the stock MXM4's on my 18" wheels are actually not particularly quiet despite having the special foam material in them. Do you guys know which tires, preferably all-seasons, are generally regarded as much quieter?

Thanks for any advice you guys can give.
 
#4
#6
#7
The impression I get from reading other sources is that wheel well insulation doesn't help with road noise because it is being transmitted through the suspension not into panels surrounding the wheel wells. This would suggest that the best way to take care of that would be either through the tires or through some chassis intervention which would certainly be expensive and would most likely sacrifice safety/performance/efficiency. Dynamat would probably help the resonance of the body panels, but it's heavy (by design) and expensive to install at any level which would lead to real results.
Most of my drives are on fairly fresh asphalt, so the road noise is pretty low, but I definitely notice it when driving on older roads and most concrete surfaces. Coming from a LEAF, it's downright serene on pretty much any surface.
 
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#9
Supposedly the MIC 3's have the new wheel well liners. I wonder if you need to jack the car up to install those.

I've ordered the insulation material kits for under the trunk ceiling and under the frunk hood. We will see if those help I guess.

Is there any place where people rate tires on how quiet they are? I have the 18" aero wheels at the moment.
 
#11
By far my best bang for the buck was the Tesla Sun Screen above your head. Rear one helped too, but not as much.

Stuffed Frunk with old blankets, never used Frunk any way.

Double up Maxpider mat over the OEM carpet mat. Including Frunk, Trunk and lower trunk.

All easier than the door gaskets.

Gasket on roof glass would not stay put over time. Tried two versions. I definitely like the roof glass gasket but it would stay put. It will roll off the corners a go under the glass. Or on the curved area it would pop out and run straight across. When new, the rubber around glass has a bit of grip. After a winter it gets dust in there and dries out a bit. Then gasket won’t grip.
 
#12
Well, in order of most effect to least for me, at least the stuff I've done:

(1) Door seals. Huge, huge impact on both wind noise and road noise. This is the best bang for buck by far.
(2) Rubber loop around roof glass. This helped a lot with wind noise above the car.
(3) A-pillar seal. This helped with wind noise on the left and right.
(4) Trunk insulation under ceiling. Very minimal reduction in road noise.
(5) Frunk insulation under hood. No effect at all.

I guess I can try putting the sun screens up and see if they help with noise resonating around the cabin. The wheel well insulation seems like you probably want to jack the car up and remove the wheels to make it easier to do the job. I'm not sure how much this helps, some people say it doesn't do a lot but it doesn't seem like a commonly done thing (for pretty obvious reasons) so I don't have a lot of good info about it.
 
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#13
UnknownSoldier said:
Well, in order of most effect to least for me, at least the stuff I've done:

(1) Door seals. Huge, huge impact on both wind noise and road noise. This is the best bang for buck by far.
(2) Rubber loop around roof glass. This helped a lot with wind noise above the car.
(3) A-pillar seal. This helped with wind noise on the left and right.
(4) Trunk insulation under ceiling. Very minimal reduction in road noise.
(5) Frunk insulation under hood. No effect at all.

I guess I can try putting the sun screens up and see if they help with noise resonating around the cabin. The wheel well insulation seems like you probably want to jack the car up and remove the wheels to make it easier to do the job. I'm not sure how much this helps, some people say it doesn't do a lot but it doesn't seem like a commonly done thing (for pretty obvious reasons) so I don't have a lot of good info about it.
Click to expand...
Just to balance things out, I have done 1-4 on this list with virtually no appreciable difference in road or wind noise in my 6/18 vehicle.

Some people see large improvements with some of these and others not so much unfortunately.
 
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#16
PNWLeccy said:
Just to balance things out, I have done 1-4 on this list with virtually no appreciable difference in road or wind noise in my 6/18 vehicle.

Some people see large improvements with some of these and others not so much unfortunately.
Click to expand...
There is a wide variance in quality of the 2018 builds. You probably already have a relatively quiet car for 2018, but mine was like a wind tunnel inside.

In general, this 3 is the last Tesla I'll ever buy as new production. When I eventually trade it in for a Y, I'll have waited for 2 years of Y production before jumping in so most of this stuff will hopefully be worked out by then.
 
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#17
UnknownSoldier said:
Supposedly the MIC 3's have the new wheel well liners. I wonder if you need to jack the car up to install those.

I've ordered the insulation material kits for under the trunk ceiling and under the frunk hood. We will see if those help I guess.

Is there any place where people rate tires on how quiet they are? I have the 18" aero wheels at the moment.
Click to expand...
Rear wheel liners are different on my 20 vs. 19 - the 20 overall is quieter. Frunk hood insulation wont reduce noise. The exterior panel gaps needs to be addressed where air travels. I used rubber tubing in the gaps at the bottom of the A-pillars and it does reduce some noise at highway speeds. I'm still planning the trunk liner with sound insulation and if it doesn't reduce noise - at least it gives the trunk a finished look.
 
#18
A "Next Door" neighbor reported that she had a puncture in her new "Y" and that a local tire shop couldn't repair it (through the inside) because of "foam," possibly introduced for noise suppression or to add run-flat capability. Does anyone know what models/configurations have this "foam?" Can a tire so equipped that experiences a minor puncture be repaired with one of those external puncture repair kits? If not, does the tire become history?

We had a puncture in our S, while traveling cross country, and a shop removed the tire and did a first-class job of an internal repair, but of course no "foam" was present.

Roger Bohl
 
#20
Another easy mod that seems to make a difference and also prevent some early build aeroshield watee saturation followed by sag/ tear/drag issues.... is to replace the mid splash shield (aero cover) from the Model 3 with the injection molded and better reinforced Model Y equivalent. No more metal brackets that are found on the material Model 3 one.

Its a direct swap as one of the Munro live Model Y tear down vlog episodes shows

Munro Live

Part number needed from Parts dept is below, no VIN check so grab and go, PnP.

Screenshot_20200610-175458_Gallery.jpg
 
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