W202 Door Seals

[chord]

Wanted to know if it's worth replacing the door seals on my C36 and what if any benefit I'll get.

I get a lot of road/tyre noise in the cabin, especially on poor surfaces. New tyres help, but it still there. Considering the seals are likely to be 15 years old will new seals help with the road noise?

Thanks

 

[vincenz]

Chord, unless theres an actual hole / void in the seal they won't help with external noises.
They do degrade overtime but the purpose of them to prevent water from entering the cabin.

Do you feel the noise has gone up since owning the car or are you just comparing it to more modern vehicles?

The way manufacturers actually cancel out road noise is the use of noise vibration and harshness pads (NVH) and they are bitumen like squares about the floor pan and doors.

It gets quite complicated when trying to cancel out exterior noise as it comes down (fundamentally) to the mass of the vehicle and there are only certain locations you can put the pads in to make a difference.

 

[chord]

Do you feel the noise has gone up since owning the car or are you just comparing it to more modern vehicles?

Thanks for the helpful explanation. I've had the car for over a year now and the noise has always been there, I guess I am comparing it to modern cars and it is a bit more noisy with regards to wind and passing traffic noise. I guess I'll have to live with it or get a more fruity exhaust

 

[Will]

Sometimes worth checking the door fit/alignment/panel gaps etc.

If it's had a door replaced or knocked at some point, it might not be sitting 100%.

A guy at work had a door pranged on a 1 month old VW, and after it was replaced the seal where it meets the 'A' pillar wasn't sitting quite right - I'm sure that would give you a bit of noise at speed very close to the driver.

Also might be worth checking the seal around the door mirrors?

Will

 

[walsi]

Hi ya, you can buy the self adhesive bitumen noise canceling material on rolls quite cheaply form any good audio supplier. I bought some last year to do a vito and it was very effective at cancelling road noise and body boom

Cheers Martin

 

[BlackC55]

what make tyres do you have?

Are your engine mounts ok?

 

[chord]

what make tyres do you have?

Are your engine mounts ok?

Tyres are Michelin Pilot Sport MO, not sure about the engine mounts olly

 

[stevesey]

How much does it vary with road surface?

Any noise I get is basically down to tyre roar - the M4 has a good variation of road surface between J17 and J18. You can really hear the difference, on the newly laid sections most of the road noise disappears and you have just a little wind noise, then as you go onto an older section the road noise increases significantly.

Not really sure how most if gets into the car - via the suspension bushes, or just up through the floor.

Need new tyres soon, so noise will be a factor in chosing them.

 

[vincenz]

Hi ya, you can buy the self adhesive bitumen noise canceling material on rolls quite cheaply form any good audio supplier. I bought some last year to do a vito and it was very effective at cancelling road noise and body boom

Cheers Martin

Thats what NVH is, all you need to do is find somewhere to found it behind the door card under the carpets etc, but as I said in the post above its only effective in particular places, you could go full belt and braces and massacre all areas with it but its then getting the fit of the carpet / door cars back!

 

[chord]

How much does it vary with road surface?

It varies a lot depending on road surface, the worst is the A50 just before you get to Stoke on Trent. Unfortunately most of the road network is pretty crap, so just thought I'd try and do as much as I could.

Agree with tyre wear, get's noiser the more the tyres are worn.