Reducing wind noise

[kalniel]

Not a huge problem, but one thing that would make motorway trips even nicer would be to further reduce wind noise at high speeds.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

I think my sills etc are all pretty good, so I'm really looking for advice on whether any of the wind deflector type things can help. I also saw some rip off (but cheap) self adhesive plastic bits you can put on your wing mirrors that are claimed to help (vortex generation blah blah).

[Ripper]

Turn ya radio up!

[dkmech]

Increase the engine noise (yes i know I am not helping)

[Lowe]

Different tyres help too. Some type of tyres really are noisy. Others are far less so

[harry1]

decent tyres help this no end

[kalniel]

They're Michelin Energy at the moment, don't think you get a lot quieter to be honest

[Howard]

Get a hover conversion.

Oh wait

[chriswood_7]

tbh you cant really do anything about it short of buying new tyres, but that is road noise... the wind noise will still be generated by the mirrors. Some new window seals may help reduce the noise inside the cabin.

My Ibiza FR is terrible on wind noise, but im not willing to change the mirrors... LOL

Plus you dont want to be sticking tacky bits on your car, if it reduces noise it might be adding drag at the same time not helping your fuel economy!

[5lab]

all depends on the car tbh. the design of some cars simply generates more noise - you can pad the doors/cavities with foam to reduce general noise from the outside - also check the doors and (crucially) sunroof close soundly and there are no gaps in the insulation

sadly, the best way is probably buying a new car - small cars are generally a bit crap for wind noise as priority is given to weight/space, over long-distance comfort.. its rare to find a car in any class that isnt beaten for long distance relaxing levels by nearly every car in the class above (ie - a ka is always beaten by a fiesta, which is always beaten by a focus, which is always beaten by a mondeo, 3-series, 5-series, 7-series, maiiibock)

[Zak33]

I can help here

Even at lower speeds (40 -50) lower the window and put your hand around the wing mirror, use your fingers to block the air into the cracks and gaps, deflect air in different ways.

On Mk3 Astra's, Vectra/Signum's and my current Saab 9-3, I can make a difference to the noise with a single bit of black tape!

It goes over the cracks where the coloured casing meet's the black pastic and also where the pivot point is (for when a berk in a truck coming the other way whacks your mirror and it bends)

It's terrifiying how badly whistley each mirror is! Mk 3 Astra were APPALLING! (and I don't know how to spell that)

Try it....you'll be shocked.

[kalniel]

Hmm well it's a mk IV astra and already lots quieter than the mk 3 estate I used to drive occasionally. Not sure I want to cover up the pivot joint as the side mirrors on the car are my whiskers when parking - the garage is so small I literally have 1 cm clearance either side of each mirror - flicking a mirror back is much better than scraping some other part of the car Might have a look at the plastic/paint join though, ta.

The bits I saw for side mirrors we literally just small bumps of plastic that were meant to help for eg:
http://www.speeding.co.uk/acatalog/Mirrors.html

and scroll down to mirror spoilers.

[BenW]

You could try some sound insulation around the wheel arches or on the underside of the bonnet if it doesn't have any.

Wonder if anyone could help with this, we have a Mk3 mondeo (53 reg) and the passenger door whistles quietly at about 80mph, any ideas? Otherwise its wind noise free upto at least 110mph

[kalniel]

Door/window seals on the passenger side

[chriswood_7]

IMO you cant eliminate the wind noise, you can only diminish hearing it by using seals etc. This is something to take up with a car designer!

[J4MES]

at high speed the low air pressure area created around the door seals (at the top of the doors) trys to pull the doors out (or more correctly the higher pressure within the car pushes them out where they're not connected) - on a frameless door (like my TT) it pulls the windows out, but not much below 125/130...

[fuddam]

eat less beans