Wind noise in full glass roof new Model S

[daviddc]

@daviddc: looks great. Now I am going to order that product and replace mine. I noticed that the product comes in a number of sizes. Did you order more than one size and use the best one, or did you just measure the gap and pick the closest size?

I measured. But be aware my gap changes in size from left to right. Also, it does not eliminate the wind noise. It reduces it somewhat. Does your solution eliminate it?

 

[daviddc]

Robert,
I agree wholeheartedly.....I can't believe after spending 6 figures on a car owners are having to resort to masking tape and aftermarket foam gap sealant to fix an engineering and design issue that should never have left the line/factory let alone the design process. As you mentioned this would have been understandable to a degree on the earlier 2012/13 VINs but now?? At this point? I know the 'All Glass' is new but Elon should not have let this pass.
(Love your Podcast...give my best to Mel & Tom!)

Ski

I also agree completely. I think the community is generally a little more patient with Tesla because we can see what they are trying to do and we want to support that entirely new direction in the automotive industry including rapid technology innovation, eliminating the painful dealership experience, and ending the ICE. That said, it does not excuse Tesla from delivery a quality product.

 

[Joe F]

On my car, it varies. On the right side, there is more space than the left from the front windshield. The glass is not installed square.

I meant it appears your roof leading edge is proud of (sits higher) than your windshield. So wind diverted up the windshield slams into the roof glass, instead of riding over it.

I measured the space between both, and it was .125" average. Given the .236" tubing you used, it sounds as if the gap on your car is larger. Could be a factor.

Tried to show how the roof line sits below my windshield above.

 

[wattsup]

Just took delivery of my new Model S with all-glass roof yesterday.

The gap between the windshield and roof is so small (~4mm) I'm not sure I could get the proposed tubing between them, nor even if there is anything to "fix" really.

Also, the windshield and glass roof are virtually at the same level where they meet... with the roof just being ever so slightly higher on the driver's side. Hard to see, but you can feel it running your hand over the gap.

I don't think I hear any undue wind noise from the windshield/glass barrier at freeway speeds, but I don't really have anything to compare it to.

Most concerning to me at the moment is definite wind/whistling from the front of the driver's side window (where it meets the little triangular pane by the mirror mount) that seems to happen after rolling up the window. It seems the seal isn't properly made immediately after rolling up the window.

Other than that, and an issue with the headlight (that the DS actually noticed during delivery), I am hard-pressed to find anything truly amiss with my new S.

 

[Nigel Tufnel]

Has anyone else experience disturbing wind noise in the cockpit of a model S with the new full glass roof? I can't say I hear air actually getting in the car, but as soon as I'm going faster than 65 mph, and especially at 75 mpg, I feel the Tesla is louder than my Infiniti.. which doesn't quite make sense. Not quite the silent highway drive I was expecting (although it's absolutely silent and awesome at low speeds). Anyone has an Idea what could be done?

Just got a new P100D with glass roof, and the wind noise at freeway speed is annoying. My P85+ had a pano roof and I had no noticeable wind noise.

 

[avesraggiana]

SOLVED: Wind Noise On All Glass Roof

I like the solution Vortexx posted earlier but thought there should be a product that just fits without alteration. After over an hour of searching, I found it.

I bought the rubber tube below and inserted it by gently stretching and pushing with my fingers. The result is an solution that looks 95% factory original.

It looks great and can be easily removed. The bad news is that the process reveals just how poorly they installed the glass roof.

To insure the tube cannot fall out, I wrapped it around all 3 sides of the roof and wedge it under plastic below the hatch. So the hatch is actually holding it in place. I doubt it will ever come out unless I want it to.

Tesla needs a permanent fix but this is an easy temporary solution that looks great.

Here is the product link:

www.amazon.com/dp/B00NL4DCIO/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apap_yezLc5xq1


View attachment 212921 View attachment 212922 View attachment 212923 View attachment 212924 View attachment 212925

Very elegant looking solution, sir. I still think it's bull that we have to bust out our Inner-MacGuyver and come up with chicken wire and duct tape fixes like this, on a one hundred thousand dollar car. I shudder and get a little light headed, just thinking about it.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that, post temporary factory shutdown, this will one problem that will have been solved.

 

[mrvolvo]

Has anyone else experience disturbing wind noise in the cockpit of a model S with the new full glass roof? I can't say I hear air actually getting in the car, but as soon as I'm going faster than 65 mph, and especially at 75 mpg, I feel the Tesla is louder than my Infiniti.. which doesn't quite make sense. Not quite the silent highway drive I was expecting (although it's absolutely silent and awesome at low speeds). Anyone has an Idea what could be done?

My car is "in production", so I emailed my DS about this thread asking to pass this on to the production line people, they said to him that they are currently correcting the problem.

 

[avesraggiana]

My car is "in production", so I emailed my DS about this thread asking to pass this on to the production line people, they said to him that they are currently correcting the problem.

Attaboy! Well done for being proactive. Though I’ve emailed my DS to inquire further about my estimated delivery date, of course, I haven’t yet heard from her/him. Would never have occurred to me approach my DS about this thread.

 

[TSLA Pilot]

As posted by others, truly distressing that buyers are resorting to homemade repairs on six-figure cars.

Why was this not caught in prototype stage?

Why is the factory not catching this in production testing?

Ugh.

Tesla can do better here . . . .

 

[Robwoodruff]

My car is "in production", so I emailed my DS about this thread asking to pass this on to the production line people, they said to him that they are currently correcting the problem.

I have been driving my MS 85D with a metal roof for 14 months with no wind noise. Picked up a new MS 90D with the all glass roof 2 days ago. I had been watching this thread all month and checked the car carefully at the Service center and there was almost no gap between the windshield glass and the glass roof. The glass roof was at the same height all the way across. I was hoping I would not hear any wind noise. Unfortunately, on my drive home I definitely heard wind noise coming from the center of the upper windshield where the two panes of glass meet. It was loud enough that it sounded like air was coming in but I could not feel any air movement. I picked up my wife and took her for a drive in the new car and she did not mention the noise so maybe it is not as bad as I think. She loved the glass roof, very stunning looking. I like it but will probably go buy a rubber gasket today and see if it decreases the wind noise I hear.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

Robert,
I agree wholeheartedly.....I can't believe after spending 6 figures on a car owners are having to resort to masking tape and aftermarket foam gap sealant to fix an engineering and design issue that should never have left the line/factory let alone the design process. As you mentioned this would have been understandable to a degree on the earlier 2012/13 VINs but now?? At this point? I know the 'All Glass' is new but Elon should not have let this pass.
(Love your Podcast...give my best to Mel & Tom!)

Ski

What you describe is typical Tesla. They don't think things through and changes are almost always rolled out with glitches and problems, pushing issues downstream to the customer and service. Elon Musk may be a great visionary, but he's a piss poor CEO with almost zero focus on quality. Take, for instance, all of the vibration issues caused by the new nosecone due to wind deflection issues. Obviously the new front end design was not properly tested. Someone at Tesla probably just photoshopped something together and said "doesn't this look good for the next model year?" And then someone else, equally unfamiliar with QC, signed off on it.

There is a certain level of incompetence at Tesla and it pervades the entire organization, from the top down.

 

[Sir Guacamolaf]

@AmpedRealtor Tesla is applying the software mentality - push cost to customers, you are the tester. Why invest in a wind-tunnel, when they can mount sensors on each car, or just read TMC , and the cars are being driven a billion miles on real roads. In that sense, Elon is f'ing smart! It makes perfect business sense to do this.

So I disagree that this is "sheer incompetence", it's a whole new dimension to them being competent.

However !!!!!

Smart customers need to re-calibrate their expectations. The new and shiny isn't the best since it's riddled with bugs and you really have to time your purchase well. For instance (just my opinion),

- I would not buy the Model 3 for the first year or two, given how aggressively they are pushing the manufacturing, there is zero chance that it'll be a perfect product.
- Today the best Tesla you can buy are the pre-refresh AP1 Tesla's. Not only will you get a great deal on them, you'll also get a product that is better built, and works better.
- Lets see how AP2 improves, but I'm guessing end of this year, AP2 nose-refresh would be the best Tesla you can buy.

... but by then they'll have new beta stuff for you to test.

Long story short, you really need to reconsider that "latest is greatest" is no longer true, even in cars (and software).

 

[Nigel Tufnel]

I thought I was being selfish buying this car, Sir...turns out I'm serving others by helping de-bug their future Tesla.

 

[bakchod87]

I have been driving my MS 85D with a metal roof for 14 months with no wind noise. Picked up a new MS 90D with the all glass roof 2 days ago. I had been watching this thread all month and checked the car carefully at the Service center and there was almost no gap between the windshield glass and the glass roof. The glass roof was at the same height all the way across. I was hoping I would not hear any wind noise. Unfortunately, on my drive home I definitely heard wind noise coming from the center of the upper windshield where the two panes of glass meet. It was loud enough that it sounded like air was coming in but I could not feel any air movement. I picked up my wife and took her for a drive in the new car and she did not mention the noise so maybe it is not as bad as I think. She loved the glass roof, very stunning looking. I like it but will probably go buy a rubber gasket today and see if it decreases the wind noise I hear.

Keep us posted if you install the gasket and see any improvements. I will do the same then

 

[Patroradio]

I've inspected the car a bit more closely, and got to try all 4 seats at highway speed. I'm not sure anymore that the noise is only related to the roof. Actually, at highway speeds, I can hear and feel some air (easy to distinguish when the car temperature is +25 C, ventilation is off and it's -10 C outside) coming around the windows. When I inspect the windows from the outside, their curve doesn't exactly match the B pillars' curve. The rubber seals aren't flush with the windows everywhere. The gap is only a few mm, but it's not everywhere, and interestingly, the areas where I hear/feel the noise/air seem to correspond to where the window/rubber isn't flush.

I'll have to compare to other Teslas in order to determine wether this is normal or not. I have emailed my service center. Not sure what they can do. It's truly annoying. I bought the car with pretty much every option so that I would get a silent and comfortable ride with autopilot and high quality sound. I can live with Autopilot 2.0 being late, but they won't be able to remove the annoying noise with over-the-air updates...

Another problem is that the cabin just cannot hold its temperature at speed, whereas there's no problem when driving slower...

 

[Robwoodruff]

Another problem is that the cabin just cannot hold its temperature at speed, whereas there's no problem when driving slower...

My wife does complain that the car won't stay warm when it's below 10 degree F while driving fast. I've found you have to put the heat up to high and turn off AC and have all the air come from the feet. Recurculate keeps the car warmer but fogs quickly. Her right foot gets cold because no air blows to the right foot, it all goes across to the left. I copied some of the other posters and put a piece of cardboard to deflect some of the air to the right. Helps some.

 

[Patroradio]

Does she complain of wind noise as well?

 

[FlatSix911]

My wife does complain that the car won't stay warm when it's below 10 degree F while driving fast. I've found you have to put the heat up to high and turn off AC and have all the air come from the feet. Recurculate keeps the car warmer but fogs quickly. Her right foot gets cold because no air blows to the right foot, it all goes across to the left. I copied some of the other posters and put a piece of cardboard to deflect some of the air to the right. Helps some.

The Seat Heaters are your friend for a warm wife ... and a good life

 

[Patroradio]

My point is: if theres a bad window seal, there's gonna be air infiltration in the cabin, and at speed, it's gonna be cold.

 

[TSLA Pilot]

My point is: if theres a bad window seal, there's gonna be air infiltration in the cabin, and at speed, it's gonna be cold.

FWIW, also check your exterior door handle gaskets are installed correctly. We had a loud wind noise on our '15 that we thought was coming from the Pano Roof. Actually, it was sound bouncing off the roof from the front passenger door. The entire gasket for the exterior door handle was apparently left uninstalled thus allowing both noise and wind into the car unimpeded. (This can be checked with the window down and a bright flashlight, if you know what to look for.)

Lots of downstream hassle trying to diagnose problems when the cars aren't built right at the factory. Too bad they can't track it down to the specific guy on the assembly line for the shift that built our door, or perhaps they can?