Wind Noise

One common issue that Fuse owners have noticed is wind noise coming from around the cabin door.    So what should you do if you have wind noise?  How can you try and address the problem?

First thing to do is have the dealer fix it.  Checking for wind noise should be on your acceptance checklist.  The dealer can check to see if the door is properly aligned as a first step.  They can spend the time to find the air leaks and address them.   They are the professionals and should be able to get it done right.

When we test drove my Fuse 23a we immediately noticed the wind noise coming from the door along with the salesperson.  We put it on our punch list and when we picked up the Fuse and took it home, 80% of the wind noise we had been hearing was gone.   Had we not gotten in a hurry I would have sent it back to find more before we took possession. It was not bad at that point but there was still some noise.

So I did some looking. What had the dealer done to address the issue.   The dealer had put some additional weather strip material around the door hinges.   They may have done more but that was what was obvious.

So what could I do to address more of the wind noise?  On a sunny day I closed the blinds and blocked the front windows in the cab and started to look closely around the door for light leaks.  

I found some light coming in from several places especially in the step well.  I circled the areas I found the problems at.  There were some holes that did not get sealed well where wires passed.   There were some that I thought were weep holes to let water drain.  I either just covered the gap with a piece of the foam or put it in the gap and used a small screwdriver to push it in.

There were some gaps that remained between the door frame and the body of the motorhome.  There was an obvious gap above the door lock.  I added a piece of the weather strip to the door frame to help this.

The dealer used foam weather strip material so I decided to use the same.  A roll of the stuff was $5.00 at Walmart.  I used it to fill all of the gaps and holes I found.  I also purchased some gasket material that was white.  I placed a piece above the lock where we heard some air leakage earlier.

Some of these areas might have been better addressed with caulk or expanding foam or another material.  It would probably look more professionally finished.   The weather strip is a very safe option  for my purpose.  Right now I can remove it without leaving a trace if I have a better idea in the future.  This work took less than an hour, mostly me learning the best way to get the foam to stick where I wanted it.

Once I did this work another 10% of the noise was gone.  At speeds under 45 mph there is 0% wind noise in our coach.   The noise while driving at these speeds is dominated by the tires/road noise.  Above 65mph the wind noise is about the same as the road noise from the tires.  There is not a problem for the driver and the passenger to have a conversation in a normal voice going down the road at 75 mph.

It is hard to decide if the bigger bang for the buck at this point is to deal with road noise or wind noise.  I think there may also be some air leakage around the door window. I feel now that I am  swatting at gnats with the noise.

As far as noise in the cab goes.  We are thinking that floor mats will probably help with the road/tire noise.  If I was really concerned,  I would replace the tires with Michelins.  They are quiet on my other vehicles and would make a significant difference.