[RP22]

Hello Stam, thank you for your input. A door realignment, you must be more technically minded than me, please post when you know what happens. I have bought, for a few pounds, the current Technical Service Bulletin for the T-Roc, using the site named further up. There is no mention of any issue involving air noise. I thought the method used by someone [also described above] using an air line to identify the problem was interesting - one person stood outside sprays compressed air steadily all around the door-to-frame, and window-to-door seal areas. A person sits inside and when the air jet passes the weak point - the point of air entry, the noise inside changes. Not that easy if you don't have a workshop. I have driven our T-Roc around with the door and windows sealed up with blue auto grade masking tape, and around the wing mirror, it made no difference at all.

I don't know how much of a T-Roc is assembled by humans and how much by robots, but I would expect the robots to be precisely correct in assembling their parts, variation maybe with the human assembled bits. The point is all T-Rocs do not have this problem, but some do. So which bits are put on by people on the assembly line, no idea.

For information, there is also noise on the passenger side, but at a much lower level - say only about one third of the noise on the driver's side. Also, we picked up our car in April, and it has not rained much since then where we live. However, on the one occasion we were out in serious rain, I was very aware of the noise of wet tyres on wet tarmac coming up through the bottom of the doors, both sides.

We have five hours of motorway travel coming up this weekend, and I should be looking forward to driving this fabulous car. Unfortunately I cannot not hear the noise, then I get annoyed about it, then a headache starts, then it makes me tired. It shouldn't be like that. I am collecting ideas and information before I go to the dealer.

 

[Swsgm30]

Hello Stam, thank you for your input. A door realignment, you must be more technically minded than me, please post when you know what happens. I have bought, for a few pounds, the current Technical Service Bulletin for the T-Roc, using the site named further up. There is no mention of any issue involving air noise. I thought the method used by someone [also described above] using an air line to identify the problem was interesting - one person stood outside sprays compressed air steadily all around the door-to-frame, and window-to-door seal areas. A person sits inside and when the air jet passes the weak point - the point of air entry, the noise inside changes. Not that easy if you don't have a workshop. I have driven our T-Roc around with the door and windows sealed up with blue auto grade masking tape, and around the wing mirror, it made no difference at all.

I don't know how much of a T-Roc is assembled by humans and how much by robots, but I would expect the robots to be precisely correct in assembling their parts, variation maybe with the human assembled bits. The point is all T-Rocs do not have this problem, but some do. So which bits are put on by people on the assembly line, no idea.

For information, there is also noise on the passenger side, but at a much lower level - say only about one third of the noise on the driver's side. Also, we picked up our car in April, and it has not rained much since then where we live. However, on the one occasion we were out in serious rain, I was very aware of the noise of wet tyres on wet tarmac coming up through the bottom of the doors, both sides.

We have five hours of motorway travel coming up this weekend, and I should be looking forward to driving this fabulous car. Unfortunately I cannot not hear the noise, then I get annoyed about it, then a headache starts, then it makes me tired. It shouldn't be like that. I am collecting ideas and information before I go to the dealer.

Hi RP22 .. don't know if this might help you localise the problem .. a few years ago, I saw an article showing how Ford Workshops were testing for water ingress but this might also be applicable to noise .... they basically used a sound source on the inside or outside and (in their case) a microphone on the opposite position. They were using quite high frequency, barely audible, signals to find quite obscure leaks but it's led me to think that you could play e.g. a radio and listen around the door seals you may get a little closer in your quest

 

[RP22]

Thank you, Swsgm30

 

[RP22]

To finish this post off: I finally took the T-Roc to the dealership. What brought this decision on was that we have recently been doing a lot of high speed, prolonged motorway driving, and having noisy air swirling on the glass by your head hour after hour is very draining/annoying/put your own word in.

The garage technician wooshed it up a local bypass, and said straight away it was the wing mirrors. No ifs or buts. We then drove another T-Roc which unfortunately had exactly the same noise. Although we had test driven a T-Roc before buying and not noticed the window noise, this second drive today was the end of it. In fairness to the garage, there isn't anything they could have done.

The garage showed me a communication from VW, and the wing mirror noise is accepted as a feature of the T-Roc. There is no way to fix it. There is no door re-alignment possible, and no point in changing the door seals.

We have had Volvos in the past and they offer as an option laminated front side windows, and it was very effective, but I have never seen it offered by any one else, inc. VW.

It has altered how I perceive this car. It is great for poodling around town and going out on Sunday afternoon, but not good for serious motorway driving.

 

[Barnaclebob]

RP22 wrote:

The garage showed me a communication from VW, and the wing mirror noise is accepted as a feature of the T-Roc. There is no way to fix it. There is no door re-alignment possible, and no point in changing the door seals.

So this proves conclusively that the fault, as reported by myself and many others, is not a figment of our imagination. Despite my age I do have a very good sense of hearing unimpaired by any industrial cause of hearing loss - or in fact from overly loud music from either so called "high quality" sound systems with their over-powering sub woofers, or by headphones. Having said that, the only thing I can suggest to those of us who can actually hear the wind noise is to turn the music up and drown it out... LOL!!

 

[Impala]

Have you tried turning the switch to fold the mirrors in to see if the noise level changes ? Not sure if you can even do that when the car is in gear and moving :?

 

[HTR]

Just to add I also have the wind noise in my week old T-Roc. However it is substantially quieter to drive than my old car and is probably only really noticeable as the rest of the vehicle is so quiet. Maybe something for VW to look at come facelift time.

 

[Tigermad]

Have you tried turning the switch to fold the mirrors in to see if the noise level changes ? Not sure if you can even do that when the car is in gear and moving :?

Yes, you can do that. Done it a few times. Its ideal down narrow country lanes etc.

 

[FamilyMan]

Have you tried turning the switch to fold the mirrors in to see if the noise level changes ? Not sure if you can even do that when the car is in gear and moving :?

Thanks for that advice Impala, if it ever stops raining I'll go out and look to find that feature. We have a one way street in town where vehicles park on both sides of the road. Some park so far away from the kerb that our UP! can barely get by in places.

 

[moxi]

Glad I am not the only one trying to work out what is causing excessive noise. When I first noticed it during a particularly windy day I seriously thought a tire had gone flat and slowed down to pull over. Seemed to come from around the passanger rear door. However if VW is insisting it is coming from the wing mirrors then I will try folding them in next time and see if that changes the sound.

My instinct when I heard it was to ensure all the windows were pulled up as it sounds an awful lot like that. I will double check that the windows are indeed fully closed and also look at the sealing and gaps between the doors and frame.

I know we will pretty much be stuck with this issue after reading that troc-on tried wind deflectors which just made it worse. Would be great if we could determine exactly what is causing this excessive noise. I am not convinced it's the wing mirrors and as RP22 states he taped cloth on the mirrors and heard no difference.

I will try silicon spray on the seals to see if it makes a difference temporarily. Meanwhile I just crank the volume on the Media controller.

 

[RP22]

Hello Maxi,

I started this thread way back, and in the end had to go with the dealer's analysis that it was the wing mirrors. It is still a problem for me, so much so that it takes the edge of motorway driving, and it is hard to reconcile it being the wing mirrors when it is different on the driver's and passenger's side, even driving up and down the same stretch of road - it always starts at 46mph [yes,it's that predictable] and is always much worse on the driver's side.

Understanding this is not helped by different people's perception of what noise is actually loud - what is unacceptable to me is accepted by others as being normal.

However, on a more positive note, higher up in the post you will find reference to using silicone on the door and window seals. I bought silicone grease from Amazon and applied it to all the seals on the front driver's side. I used grease instead of an aerosol because that gave me more control over where it went. Unfortunately it made absolutely no difference to the noise, it still appeared at 46 and got louder the faster it went. However, it did, for me anyway, improve general sound insulation around all the door frame. For example, before I did this I noticed the sound of wet tyres on wet tarmac was quite loud, coming up through the area along the bottom of the door. After the silicone grease, that was much improved. So it was worth doing, but how long before it has to be done again, who knows? Not what I signed up for.

Good luck with your endeavours, I will watch for progress!

 

[Paul 49]

It might be worth experimenting with a roll of wde masking tape round gaps round the area to ascertain the area, having said that I remember many years ago a recall on mk2 Astras to check the gap round the headlamps, if I rember it was something like between 2 and 4 Mill gap was right,to wide caused a " woofling" to narrow a whistle

 

[Clubchamp98]

I have a little theory might be wrong but .
I had this problem with my golf.
Took it to the dealers many times but nothing.
Guy in work was a sound tech.
He said " the metal in modern cars is so thin that it vibrates when it's subjected to certain stresses."
I have noticed the t roc metal is very thin in places , if you lean on it it moves.
The door panel is buffeted by wind that's been disturbed by the mirror housings.
It acts like a drum skin and can be very loud.
Badly placed damping pads can cause excessive noise in the door.
So if you remove the door panel and jam a towel or old t shirt in the centre of the door skin it might stop.
Worked in my golf , and put a acoustic pad on the door problem solved.
Hope this helps , good luck.

 

[Burakcal]

Is there any improvement with this wind noise.

 

[RP22]

Hello Burakcal,

It was I who started this post about air noise coming through, especially, the driver's window, earlier last year. I re-visit it every so often to see if there is anything new. Several people have contributed (thank you) but I have not had a breakthrough on it. There seems to be scepticism in some people's mind that it is actually the wing mirror design, and I suppose that includes me. I have two observations to make, for what they are worth:

(1) This noise is greatly reduced in rain. It is not the noise of the rain masking it, it is just so much quieter I have to strain to hear it (sad, I know). I was Googling one day and found reference to someone who had a similar noise problem with a Jetta, albeit quite some time ago, and he pointed out it went when it rained. He eventually tracked it down to a small gap in the wing mirror which he then filled with black silicon. Rather him than me, but this is the page https://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?5667896-SOLVED!-Side-mirror-whistling-noise I can't see a similar gap on the T-Roc wing mirrors, but it definitely is quieter in the rain.

(2) I started wondering that if it actually is the wing mirrors, then could you somehow change the profile of the wing mirrors? To this end I started looking at VW Accessories, and in the accessories for the new Golf 8, they do custom wing mirror caps - they are not cheap, and have to be fitted by the garage, according to the brochure ( https://www.volkswagen.co.uk/files/live/sites/vwuk/files/pdf/Brochures/volkswagen-accessories.pdf page 46). However, it just raises so many unknowns. For example, to fit new mirror caps would they just remove the existing mirror caps and put these on? Would Golf mirror caps fit a T-Roc (i.e. are Golf 8 wing mirrors the same as the current T-Roc wing mirrors?), our T-Roc is Black Pearlescent, and so 'Black' replacement caps would presumably look different, and then there is functionality - for example, would changing the mirror caps remove any functions of the existing mirrors, such as demisting?

There is no point going for an online chat on this because it is way too specialised, and I am reluctant to spend £170 on a maybe basis. Perhaps some of the more knowledgeable members out there might have input. If so, I thank you in advance.

 

[Burakcal]

Thank you very much for your reply. I do not hear the wind noise that much on nowadays. My previous car was Golf 7 and I think the noise is not much different than Golf 7.

 

[Guest]

Perhaps some of the more knowledgeable members out there might have input. If so, I thank you in advance.

I'm not knowledgeable but your problem is bugging me 🤔
Why isn't everyone complaining of the same problem?
Maybe your hearing is more sensitive than everyone else?

Anyway here's a thought!
Put a smear of silicone grease on the door rubbers and see if that seals it? (it's quite expensive stuff)

If you see gaps on the mirror housing temporarily put duct tape or insulating tape over the gaps.

 

[RP22]

Hello Vernerbongo2,

I always welcome helpful suggestions, thank you very much. The silicon grease and masking tape approaches were both tried long ago, they are described above. This post has been running a long time, and there have been many suggestions. As you can probably gather, this noise lessens my enjoyment of the car, but I do still really like getting in and driving it. As regards why more people don't comment, try Googling phrases likes wind noise, driver's window, wing mirror, T-Roc. You may well be amazed at how many professional reviewers comment on it, and be equally amazed at how well-known reviewing sites don't pick it up. Look earlier on in the post, there's a list of reviewers. Different sensitivities, different priorities, who knows. Or maybe something is not set quite right on some cars.

So, if I may just use this post to get this out there. I wonder if ANYBODY from Quality Control at VW has the job of reading Forums like this and then starting a process to deal with issues. I would like to think that they do, but I am not convinced. These cars are not cheap but anyway, here the rule should be that whatever you buy, whether it was a luxury or value purchase, it should work as described or get fixed for free. There are indeed lots of useful things on this forum, like explaining how manoeuvre braking and the automatic handbrake differ, how to find useful things in the various menus and so forth. However, off the top of my head I can think of kangarooing, mooing from rear brakes, Car -Net going AWOL - these are just a few things that, in my opinion, should have been sorted the moment they surfaced. It is apparent from this forum that they have caused VW customers an awful lot of personal aggro. For example, I feed into Car Net via a Huawei wingle (which works beautifully - it never faulters and I test it by reliably running my laptop with it, using it on a nearby 4G signal) but in our T-Roc the Car Net WLAN icon just disappeared a few weeks ago on the screen, just disappeared and went. It then re-appeared at 1030 last Thursday morning, and it was absolutely nothing to do with me. Just like that. It's shocking really, in our T-Roc I could do a hands-free blue tooth phone call to my Auntie Mabel in Australia, if I had one. I can use adaptive cruise control and lane guidance to, at a basic level, let the car take some of the driving strain, absolutely fabulous, but I can't have the radio, music or any form of media on at over 50 m.p.h., because I just can't hear it over the noise coming through the window. I also now accept that I will not fix it.

There, I feel better now, Regards, RP22

 

[twist]

...but I can't have the radio, music or any form of media on at over 50 m.p.h., because I just can't hear it over the noise coming through the window. I also now accept that I will not fix it.

That's insane. Did you demonstrate the noise to the dealership at 50mph or over? If it's enough to drown out music and phone calls it's not the same whistle that most of us get. I can have music on very, very low and it drowns out the whistle entirely.

Again, I am left disgusted with VW's attitude to not having built a car to an acceptable standard and fobbing off the customer.

 

[Guest]

If it's enough to drown out music and phone calls it's not the same whistle that most of us get. I can have music on very, very low and it drowns out the whistle entirely.

I can't say I've noticed wind noise in my car, maybe I'm just oblivious to it 🤔
I must keep an ear out for it :?
Did your last TRoc have it?