Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnkwick
you know I'm 100% sure I have louder and louder traffic and/or surrounding noises, I can easily detect traffic from every direction because of the noise
I can barely hear what my pax were saying when we're in the busy highway or in the busy tunnel because of crazy echoes
I think I really need your help to start a new thread and discuss how to minimize the loud noise
|
I'm not sure I can point you in the right direction without doing an evaluation in person, but here are several things you can check and fix that might help, and as stated earlier, as your car ages, the "rubber" and "soft" parts breakdown first. So these are the areas you want to check first assuming your car has NOT been in an accident (if so, all bets are off).
- Check and verify that the intended "soft" parts of your car are still "soft", because if they get hard, they will transmit sound MUCH easier, so the gaskets that squeeze your door glass when they are rolled up, tend to dry out and harden (due to outgassing and UV exposure) and noise transmission will increase as these seals become harder, even if they keep the rain out. If they are hard, I'd replace purely for noise deadening reasonings and are cheaper than replacing the car. (Example P/N for LCI F10 Front Left Door: 51337182273) - NEVER BUY USED!
- Check and verify that your doors weather seal panel is intact, sometimes call a "water barrier" - BMW calls this sound insulation - it's made out of foam for a reason. Often it is left unsecure to the door, and is often ripped, or missing large pieces. It must be secured all the way around the edge for it to work (BMW did this by design), and if the black butyl sealant is not holding the panel, then replace the butyl. Failure here will allow water that runs down on the outside of the glass in to the doors interior, that may eventually lead to a wet interior carpet. If you go to realoem's website, you'll find this, and many other parts under "Interior Trim + Sound Insulation". (Example provided is listed under "rear sound insulation" = Example P/N for LCI F10 Rear Right Door: 51487366708)
- If you are getting noise from the lower doors area, there is a rubber seals that most likely are not aligned proper between the door and the door frame. Most areas around the door have a guide for placement of the door seals, except for the lower area. When new, the rubber was most likely marginally placed so that it wasn't noticeable, but over time, as the rubber forms to the door frame, it's no longer under compression, so road noise increased over time, but as the case in the X5, they weren't even touching. Test this by closing the door with a piece of paper sandwiched between the door and the door frame. If you can pull the paper with NO resistance, the seals are not making contact with the intended mating surface. If you make the paper width small enough, you can test all the way around the door and find out what area's aren't touching - using a full sheet of paper will only find "gross" issues like on the bottom of the door.
[Edit: So you have a choice of replacing the rubber seal, which will be a challenge to keep straight as it runs along the bottom of the doors, or you can add a thin layer of rubber sold as window seal along the length of this seal. This seal only runs the length of the bottom each door. If your seal the runs the whole circumference of the door does not seal correctly, it will require a complete replacement as it cannot be repaired.]
If sound is traversing from the outside of the car, to the inside, that is considered abnormal (not as designed or when it was new), then there are three primary reasons:
- There is an unintended opening or "air gap"
- Somewhere from the outside to the inside, the original isolation has hardened allowing for a more uniform material density to occur allowing for noise to be easily transmitted from outside the car to inside the cabin:
- The intended frequency attenuator (sound deadening material) is faulty
I think it's worth the research on RealOEM to assess all of your car specific parts listed as "sound insulation"...you might be surprised how much is installed on the F10, and then verify that your vehicle still has that piece installed, that it's installed correctly, and that it's still in the proper material "phase".
Hope this helps a little bit.
Cheers