How quiet is your interior?

[volkdent]

I like the engine noise, but I don't like wind noise, so one thing I did that made a major difference is I put a strip of self-adhesive weather strip up the leading edge of the door sill and the door, so that when closed it made a secondary seal. It made a huge difference and made a high speed drive quite a bit more pleasant.

jason

[SilverBullet]

Thats a good idea Jason, irritating the wind noise. I like the metallic sound of the engine too but its for my 2nd car which my wife will be driving.

[Gerrelt]

Originally Posted by volkdent

I like the engine noise, but I don't like wind noise, so one thing I did that made a major difference is I put a strip of self-adhesive weather strip up the leading edge of the door sill and the door, so that when closed it made a secondary seal. It made a huge difference and made a high speed drive quite a bit more pleasant.

jason

Thanks for this tip, Jason. A few weeks back we went on a weekend holliday with the beetle, we (wife + 2 kids) visited Sauerland, Germany.
Before we left, I did this:


It looks like crap, but that really helped! At 130 km/h (80mph) I could still have a conversation with my wife without having to shout!
The white strip looks terrible, so I am still looking for black versions of these foam strips. Then I want to put one all the way from the top of the door to the bottem of the door. That will not look bad at all, I think.

A sample of the noise at 150 km/h: Youtube video

[evilC]

Good idea Jason/Gerrelt. I was thinking that I could wear ear defenders in the bug so that I couldn't hear the car noise but most importantly the wife!!. I can then use the excuse that the bug makes too much noise for any conversation - Whoopee.

Clive

[Joel]

Gerrelt, you made my day

I've got alot of insulation in my bug and the Subaru engine runs alot quieter than VW the problem I also have is wind noise and it nearly all comes from that same area.

I hadn't thought of sealing foam in the gap

[Gerrelt]

I'm glad I could help someone on the other side of the world!

I just realized I didn't tell why I only put a short piece of foam on the door.
If you inspect the area where the door seal is pushed against the car near the hinges, you will see that it leaves two tiny holes open. This is caused by the indentation in the A pillar for the hinge.
Those tiny holes don't really matter when you're driving at 100 km/h hour, but going 120 km/h or faster will create a whisteling sound.
After I put the piece of foam in, the sound was gone at the hinge, but now I still hear a little bit of windnoise coming from up higher. About half way up the side window at the A-pillar (where my piece of foam stopped). I think air is coming past the door seal up there.

My door seals are in good condition, I think this is a sign that these cars where originally build for cruising speeds at 100 km/h.

I hope putting a piece of foam from the top of the door to the bottom of the door will get rid of even more windnoise.