Shallow, thin door weather stripping causing excessive wind noise, weak door close seal???

[Daddydiesel]

First off let me say I love my TDi for everything I bought it for...fuel economy, space, ride comfort.

I've noticed the wind noise before but had never taken a drive more than 30 minutes.I just took my first 300 mile road trip and REALLY noticed the EXCESSIVE wind noise.

I traded a 2010 GTI and its weather stripping was more full and produced a much better closed door seal and I never once had problems with wind noise in the 2 years that I owned.

Id say this is definitely an area where costs may of been cut.

Is anybody else having this problem and if so is there any remedy that is currently available?? Anyone visit a dealer about this problem and get resolved from them reapplying new stripping or add more insulation??

Thanks for any advice or feedback!

[writeb]

Next time you're at highway speed, roll down the window to see if it's the mirror causing the wind noise. I thought the same thing with my Equinox, but it turned out it was my luggage rack cross member causing the whistling.

[vwbrvr6]

I compared my old Passat to my new one, the 2012 is missing a layer of weatherstripping around the door, so yes they did cut it out. The old Passat has 3 layers at the top of the door, and two around the frame and the door. This only has one around the frame, and two at the top. Nothing really you can do about it really. I also do notice most of the wind noise does appear to be coming from the mirrors.

[Turbonium20V]

I compared my old Passat to my new one, the 2012 is missing a layer of weatherstripping around the door, so yes they did cut it out. The old Passat has 3 layers at the top of the door, and two around the frame and the door. This only has one around the frame, and two at the top. Nothing really you can do about it really. I also do notice most of the wind noise does appear to be coming from the mirrors.

The CC, Golf, GTi, Jetta, Beetle, Eos and Passat all share the same exact mirrors so that's not the problem. The problem is the weatherstripping.

[golf18mike]

I take mine thru the car wash several time weekly. When this water jet that does the lower sides and wheels goes thru the car makes ALOT OF NOISE! The other day I came back home and took my wife's MB R350 thru and there was no noise at all. While I understand there's no comparison... it was just amazing the difference. I will goto the dealership to see what if ANYTHING I can have done to dampen the cars excessive noise. ANY TIPS ON DAMPENING NOISE LEVELS PLEASE REPLY.

[Daddydiesel]

Thanks for sharing and feedback.

I'm confident there will be some type of resolution in the near future.

BTW I listened to see if it was side views creating most the noise, and even folded them in while driving and the noise never subsided or decreased.

I gotta say when I shut the doors its almost as if they have a slight bounce back but fall short of re-opening. Maybe Ill put strips of velcro all along the seams to enhance the look and seal .

I might experiment with some type of strategically placed gasket strips, and or stripping materials. If I figure a better solution I will post for all to see.

[dcmc]

In tried taping up the entire rear view mirror, so that no air could get into it and found no difference with the wind noise. I've also taped up the enitre window and don't believe the problem is with the window seals.

I posted this in anoer thread, but this is certainly an issue across the boas with the passat. After talking to my dealer about it we took another one, brand new just delivered (4 months newer than mine) and the noise was the very same.

I do hope they come out with a service bulletin in this! If not I'll start trying to solve it myself...perhaps starting with some thicker/taller door seals to get a better compression on them. Perhaps even some of the weather stripping foam for the house till I figure out the problem area.

[Turbonium20V]

I believe the door lock mechanism can be adjusted to create more compression on the rubber seals. Somebody can try this and see if there's any difference. I know for a fact that on my previous VWs the doors were harder to close because of the heavy seals.

[CCISFORME]

We've had our B7 for nearly a month now, and taken a few 45-min trips on the freeway, and have noticed no unusual-sounding wind or other noise... This is coming from an '07 Saab 9-3 wagon to this car. We both feel like we got a bargain-priced luxury car!

[a4Quattro]

Had my TDI in a couple weeks ago where it sounded like the rear window was open just a crack. My friend is a VW Tech and he had to put some extra weather stripping around the frame and also adjusted the striker a couple mm. He said Corporate was very interested in any issues related to sound/rattling noise. He also mentioned the side mirrors as one of the biggest issues related to the higher wind noise. No info from VW about any upcoming 'tweaks'. I was somewhat happy to hear that Corporate was keeping track of any of these issues though.

[Kchorro]

We've had our B7 for nearly a month now, and taken a few 45-min trips on the freeway, and have noticed no unusual-sounding wind or other noise... This is coming from an '07 Saab 9-3 wagon to this car. We both feel like we got a bargain-priced luxury car!

same thing here. i agree with you 100 %

[vwbrvr6]

It is definitely nosier then my other Passats were, But not to the point where it bothers me. The other Passats had nearly zero wind noise. They were tanks. I can actually hear the wind flowing over the car on the 2012.

[brian81]

I don't have a clue if this will help; from what you guys have reported I'm convinced the noise is due to a sealing problem on individual cars.

About 10 years ago I had a Ford Escape as a company car (which was nice as I averaged 1200 miles a week in it). It had a lot of wind noise over 55-60 mph, and a friend at the company had the same problem. At a BBQ he had, we were bitching about the cars and his brother, who had a doctorate in physics and worked as an engineer (for a company that supplied OEM parts to the auto industry) mentioned that he'd seen mirrors in their wind tunnel that had dotted surfaces on the top and/or bottoms and said they were there to add turbulence to cut down noise.

We decided to check it out, and the mirrors on our cars were smooth. After a few beers we thought we could try adding some plastic "dots" that are used under glass table tops as a cheap way to see if it made a difference. We eventually found something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/3M-SJ5302-Bump..._ob_hi_title_1

The ones we found were a bit smaller, maybe 1/4" across and hemispherical. We put a couple of rows worth on the top of the mirrors with a different pattern on each car.

It worked!

Over the next few weeks, we changed up the patterns, added some to the bottoms, and compared notes. I don't remember what worked best; the biggest effect came by just adding the bumps. But it almost eliminated wind noise from the mirrors up to about 90 mph.

$0.02

[Sunrico90]

Had the same problem and VW replaced all the seals. They have another service bulletin for this problem...ask to go for a ride with the QA manager and point out all the concerns and they will get it corrected. Worked for me...

[coffeemade]

Had the same problem and VW replaced all the seals. They have another service bulletin for this problem...ask to go for a ride with the QA manager and point out all the concerns and they will get it corrected. Worked for me...

Do you have a technical bulletin number? That would help us out, cause dealers are lazy in looking that stuff up and act like they never heard of such a thing like searching.....

[But Officer....]

First off let me say I love my TDi for everything I bought it for...fuel economy, space, ride comfort.

I've noticed the wind noise before but had never taken a drive more than 30 minutes.I just took my first 300 mile road trip and REALLY noticed the EXCESSIVE wind noise.

I traded a 2010 GTI and its weather stripping was more full and produced a much better closed door seal and I never once had problems with wind noise in the 2 years that I owned.

Id say this is definitely an area where costs may of been cut.

Is anybody else having this problem and if so is there any remedy that is currently available?? Anyone visit a dealer about this problem and get resolved from them reapplying new stripping or add more insulation?? Thanks for any advice or feedback!

I'll be curious to see if VW addresses this problem with the 013 models. There seems to be no doubt that the problem exists and is widespread. Pretty much all the published reviews have mentioned it, and it's reported more often that not here too. It may be a deal breaker for me since I tend to drive all highway and at quite high cruising speeds (I can't help but assume that the faster you go, the worse it is). Some extra and/or bigger weatherstripping might do it, but I'd much rather see an engineered fix.

[brsexton]

I'm having some wind noise at my rear doors as well. I only hear it at around 70mph, but I do plan to have the dealer check it at my 1000 mile dealer check. Does anyone have a copy of the TSB for this?

[Sunrico90]

Ck PM...

[brsexton]

Ck PM...

Did you send a PM? If so, I didn't get it. Or was this in response for someone else?

[dcmc]

I would also like the tsb for this as well....I'm losing my mind with the noise in mine.

[diesel86]

I don't have a clue if this will help; from what you guys have reported I'm convinced the noise is due to a sealing problem on individual cars.

About 10 years ago I had a Ford Escape as a company car (which was nice as I averaged 1200 miles a week in it). It had a lot of wind noise over 55-60 mph, and a friend at the company had the same problem. At a BBQ he had, we were bitching about the cars and his brother, who had a doctorate in physics and worked as an engineer (for a company that supplied OEM parts to the auto industry) mentioned that he'd seen mirrors in their wind tunnel that had dotted surfaces on the top and/or bottoms and said they were there to add turbulence to cut down noise.

We decided to check it out, and the mirrors on our cars were smooth. After a few beers we thought we could try adding some plastic "dots" that are used under glass table tops as a cheap way to see if it made a difference. We eventually found something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/3M-SJ5302-Bump..._ob_hi_title_1

The ones we found were a bit smaller, maybe 1/4" across and hemispherical. We put a couple of rows worth on the top of the mirrors with a different pattern on each car.

It worked!

Over the next few weeks, we changed up the patterns, added some to the bottoms, and compared notes. I don't remember what worked best; the biggest effect came by just adding the bumps. But it almost eliminated wind noise from the mirrors up to about 90 mph.

$0.02

Haven't tried this personally, but BMWs I've had in the past have had these little bumps on the tops of the side mirrors, so there is probably something to it. Also, I know that some of the skin suits athletes like runners and cyclists also use the same technology.

[pretzelogik]

I would also like the tsb for this as well....I'm losing my mind with the noise in mine.

I think this is one of the factors contributing to the wind noise...(Went to my local new car auto show this weekend. Point on the new VW Jetta/Passat. They only have one layer of door seals on the frame of the body. Every other car line that I looked at from super rich to dirt poor had double layer seals...one on the door and another on the frame. (This includes my B6 by the way) Is this a cheap way to save costs or what?)...These double layer seals became ops. normal for most cars decades ago. Now VW marches forward..to the rear???

[racecrmike]

In my MKV Jetta, I went to Home Depot and got some weatherstrip material and added a second layer myself. Wasn't factory, but it worked.

[cnnpress]

I think this is one of the factors contributing to the wind noise...(Went to my local new car auto show this weekend. Point on the new VW Jetta/Passat. They only have one layer of door seals on the frame of the body. Every other car line that I looked at from super rich to dirt poor had double layer seals...one on the door and another on the frame. (This includes my B6 by the way) Is this a cheap way to save costs or what?)...These double layer seals became ops. normal for most cars decades ago. Now VW marches forward..to the rear???

I brought the car back to my local dealer yesterday, and the guy was aware of the problem. He quickly helped me to adjust the leakage. No more hissing sound.

[coffeemade]

I brought the car back to my local dealer yesterday, and the guy was aware of the problem. He quickly helped me to adjust the leakage. No more hissing sound.

Was it a TSB, what did he do? My dealer is clue less and but on wed. I am going to drive with them and I would love to know how to show them how to fix it.

[cnnpress]

Was it a TSB, what did he do? My dealer is clue less and but on wed. I am going to drive with them and I would love to know how to show them how to fix it.

In my case, it is the both rear windows making the sound. They installed a blower at the shop, so they can pinpoint the blower to wherever they want. The tech guy then sat inside the car, used the stethoscope to hear where the sound came from. The leakege was from the edge of the window where the angle was at.

[fremont]

Mine is going back tomorrow for the wind noise. It's unacceptable . I was driving on the highway at 65mph trying to talk to my wife & I had to raise my voice over the wind noise & those crappy Hancook tires. I'm working on changing the tires to the Michelin Primacy ( My wife has them on her Accord & they are super quiet. I hope my dealer Vacaville VW can straighten this out.

I can't believe VW cheapened the noise instillation & the weather stripping, because they would have a great car. I guess they would of not met their price point of $19,995. But looking at all the Automotive reviews. They all said the same thing. " It is a noisey car. I guess if you are hard of hearing, it really doesn't matter. I'll keep you posted.

[vwbrvr6]

When I got my car, they had another car in a different color with the continental tires parked next to mine in the lot. I had them switch the tires with the car I wanted because it had the optima tires. Glad I did, now all I have is wind noise.

[fremont]

Okay, went to the dealer today & complained about the wind noise. They took the car in, gave me a rental. At 5pm they called and said the car was ready. I asked them what they did and they said " they had to adjust the door. " They looked at another new passat and noticed that the seam on my door was a little off. I never noticed that . I took it for a ride and it was a lot better. The door they adjusted was the drivers side front door. Now all I have to do is get rid of those crappy hancooks and then I'll be happy. Now I can talk to my wife in the car without raising my voice.

[CCISFORME]

How can so many people be having this problem, but we're not?? Were the planets aligned just right or something when our car was manufactured? Like I've said before, we've had Land Rovers, Audis, other VWs and a Saab - this car is the quietest one we've had yet.

[brsexton]

In my case, it is the both rear windows making the sound. They installed a blower at the shop, so they can pinpoint the blower to wherever they want. The tech guy then sat inside the car, used the stethoscope to hear where the sound came from. The leakege was from the edge of the window where the angle was at.

I would love to know exactly what he did as well. My dealership says "Normal" which doesn't cut it with me. Mine is only the rear windows and have a slight "hiss" sound just like you. Mine starts around 60-65mph.

[cnnpress]

I would love to know exactly what he did as well. My dealership says "Normal" which doesn't cut it with me. Mine is only the rear windows and have a slight "hiss" sound just like you. Mine starts around 60-65mph.

Sounds like the same problem. Ask your service guy to check the edge of the window. The air is leaking through the tiny hole.

[dcmc]

Where about is this hole? Got a picture you can point it out on?

[bgglook]

I have been very unhappy witht the excessive wind noise at highway speeds. Being a former BMW Tech I knew the techs at the dealer could not fix what was a design flaw so I decided to try and fix it my self.
I used some left over felt tape on the areas of the car body and door frame where vw should have put a seal. The tape does not touch itself when the door is closed. I was a woundering if I was just wasting my time, but the result was great. A big reduction in wind noise. I would post pics, but can't save my pics to a URL!!

[BudPytko]

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