Wind Noise

I don't have any air leaks, but agree I do notice the wind rushing around the A-pillar more so than I have on most of my past cars. It might have something to do with the frameless door window glass. My last car had full frame windows and triple door seals.

I agree it bugs pretty bad. I had an Audi before my S and it had a closed sealed door and you could feel/hear the the door close and seal in the car, very quiet.

It annoys me as well. I've had it looked at twice and each time it slowly comes back. My $35k VW E-Golf is much quieter at all speeds.

I think frameless has lots to do with it. But mine has been very quiet up to 95mph. I have no complaints so far.

Make sure you keep the rubber and mating metal surface clear of sand and grit. Turbulence around the mirror adds to the problem.
To check the seal add a coating of light oil to the rubber, drive for a short time and see if there is a continuous sign of oil on the mating surface.

I think I remember reading that there was a service bulletin for the door seals and the wind noise... maybe someone else knows the details (or maybe I'm totally making that up...)

They claim to have done the service bulletin on mine (which I had to tell them about) but the wind noise came back after a couple weeks. For me, the wind noise is coming from the little triangle window only on the drivers side.

Is what you are referring to a slight high pitched whistling sound? I've just started to notice this in my new P85D?

Sounds like I have the same problem with my 85D. It seems to come from the 2 small triangular windows in the front, but I'm not positive. I made an appointment with Tesla mid May for a diagnosis.

Tuan said:

Sounds like I have the same problem with my 85D. It seems to come from the 2 small triangular windows in the front, but I'm not positive. I made an appointment with Tesla mid May for a diagnosis.

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I did have some wind noise with my S85 early on, but an adjustment of the triangular windows fixed that. I thought it came back a few weeks after the fix, but it turned out to be tire noise (going over one of the few stretches of smooth roads caused the whistling to cease). Because the car is so quiet, tire noise appears louder than it actually is.

i started to develop a wind noise only a week after delivery and came across this thread. initially i thought it was coming from the triangular window by the driver's mirror also, but it turns out that the driver's side window does not roll up all the way. i noticed it when i stepped out of the car and realized that the window was not fully up.

I have a Signature series Model S and it has had wind noise from the beginning. I always thought that it came from the glass panoramic roof not sealing properly when closed. It sounds like it is coming from the front right corner of the pano glass. If there is a TBB I would really like to see if Tesla Service can fix it...but I am not willing to pay for the repair or for a service call. This should be a Tesla expense for the quality of workmanship of the vehicle.

STxTesla said:

I have a Signature series Model S and it has had wind noise from the beginning. I always thought that it came from the glass panoramic roof not sealing properly when closed. It sounds like it is coming from the front right corner of the pano glass.

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You may well have a pano roof seal issue. Mine will give a "tea kettle" like whistle when it is very cold I assume because a rubber seal in the roof is shrinking a bit. The whistle goes away in warmer weather.

nico1199 said:

i started to develop a wind noise only a week after delivery and came across this thread. initially i thought it was coming from the triangular window by the driver's mirror also, but it turns out that the driver's side window does not roll up all the way. i noticed it when i stepped out of the car and realized that the window was not fully up.

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That depends on whether you noticed before or after you closed the door. If you're new to the car you may not realize the windows drop 1/4 inch to clear the door trim when you open the door, and close again after you shut the door.

How serious/loud is the wind noise? I have a S85 without pano roof, and I notice a subtle noise that sounded like wind noise when I'm driving fast on the freeway - it's not high pitched, and it sounds like the fan blowing on low speed. For someone who doesn't have this problem, can you comment on how quiet the car is supposed to be?

I think there are two different issues being discussed here. One is the general noise of wind rushing around the car. Unfortunately I don't believe there is anything Tesla can do for this, as every Model S I've driven exhibits this. I've heard it in other cars as well, but in my Highlander the engine noise is louder and so masks the exterior wind noise. Then there is the high-pitched tea-kettle style whistle, which is likely a compromised seal. I had this issue early on and there was a TSB (service bulletin) to re-seal the front pano roof appliqué. I had the whistling fixed about a year ago, so don't know what else Tesla has done since then.

My 85D has more noticeable wind noise than my Audi A7 does, I think its due to the pitch of the windshield.

ljwobker said:

I think I remember reading that there was a service bulletin for the door seals and the wind noise... maybe someone else knows the details (or maybe I'm totally making that up...)

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There was. I started a thread about it when I learned there was a TSB:

Service Bulletin for Wind Noise Issue on P85D

I finally had my car serviced for that TSB, and it turned out my car already had the TSB parts applied, so they added some insulation or something, even though the tech stated he could not hear the wind-noise, which was of some concern to me. I don't know if he never took the car up to highway speed, or if he just couldn't hear the obvious wind-noise. In any case, what they did solved that problem, but now that it is solved, I can hear a lesser wind noise problem coming from further back in the car. I couldn't have heard that one while the first, louder problem existed.

I wrote to my service advisor about this, and other questions I had about my recent service, but have not yet heard back. I guess it is time to follow up.