New here. Wind noise?!!

[Sparkysmum]

Hi total newbie to this but getting desperate for an answer/solution.
Our Polo is 1 litre blue registered November 2017 and bought new at that time. From the outset we heard a lot of wind noise when driving at speed. Say 60mph plus. The noise is like rushing wind and we can only equate it to it being like a window being very partially open so you feel that you want to put it up. Or like there is some sort of soundproofing missing?
When the noise happens I pull the switch and the window does sound like it moves a fraction up!
Dealership has had both doors off and checked but no difference.

Any help/ advice really appreciated
Thanks

[Sparkysmum]

Thanks very much Peter for your PM. I’m unable to PM you as I have just joined the forum.

We don’t know what these things are so attached 2 photos. Are these of any help?
Helen

[peter_dk25]

If it is a Blue Motion you have, then they all ready have been removed?
Try Google to se how they look like. I can give you the part numbers later if needed.
Left side: 6R0854327A5AP
Right side: 6R0854328A5AP

[RUM4MO]

My wife's August 2015 VW Polo 1.2TSI 110PS SEL, again Bluemotion as it has Stop/Start, also has I'd say, wind noise issues, I think that I have tried, while sitting in the driver's seat, opening the window and pressing the outer seal in along the top of the door frame, and I think that that improved things - for that journey, I'd need to try doing that again to see if I'm correct there. These cars could be a lot quieter than they are, with very effort from VW Group!

Edit:- what were Peter's suggestions, in case I could try them?

[Sparkysmum]

Hi RUM4MO,

Sorry to hear that your wife's car has the same problem. I have the same model etc but registered November 2017.

What you said about opening the window and pressing the outer seal in along the door frame is exactly where this noise is coming from! We've just tried this and there doesn't seem to be any "give" to press it together.

I Googled the parts number that were given but unfortunately they didn't appear to return any results - so I'm not quite sure what I'm looking for however the post said that these parts may have been removed already.

Hate to say this however I'm feeling defeated by this issue..

[veteran]

If at present there's a gap at the top of the doorframe seal - however small - that you think is causing the noise, could you not test for that by sitting in the driver's seat and getting somebody to drizzle some clean water over that top edge of the door? You'd obviously need to have a rag or tissue to hand to mop up inside. In other words, I'd have thought that if there is indeed a gap, then not only could it cause a noise nuisance but also it'd let rainwater in.

Incidentally, a year or two ago I found on my own Polo 6C (2017) that several pillars, upper parts of front wings, etc are stuffed in places with pieces of high-density foam contained in polybags. These are incorporated at the factory and form part of the vehicle's tweaking to reduce acoustic resonances.

[cheba]

I Googled the parts number that were given but unfortunately they didn't appear to return any results - so I'm not quite sure what I'm looking for however the post said that these parts may have been removed already.

These are the parts in question, I found lots of pictures of them when googling the part number:


It's the black rubber strip that runs along the edges of the windscreen. You see them on all the more expensive models like the Golf and Passat for example, but the only versions of Polo 6R/6C that came with these from the factory are the BlueMotion and BlueGT. I have retrofitted them on my Polo for cosmetic reasons (makes the car look more "finished").

[veteran]

cheba,

Well, that's a surprise! I didn't think that that was the part being referred to. Unless I misunderstood, RUM4MO had been suggesting that it was the rubber seal around the driver's door that was the likely culprit.

That said, this windscreen seal that you've shown is interesting, because you reckon that this was fitted only on 6C Bluemotion and Blue GT models, and yet my Bluemotion Match 1.2 didn't come with it. Instead, there's a whacking great gap down the windscreen's sides.

I must say, though, that ever since I first took charge of my Polo, the impression I had was that the windscreen rubber seals you normally find on cars these days were missing. The windscreen area therefore looked unfinished and my immediate thought was that the abrupt gapping around the glass would inevitably cause turbulence and wind noise. But since then I've not done sufficient long journeys, particularly motorway journeys, to test for that. I think I checked at one stage with RUM4MO, via a PM, whether there should be rubber sealing all round the windscreen, and he replied no; his wife drives a 2015 Polo 1.2 SEL. I therefore assumed that mine, a 2017 Polo Match 1.2, shouldn't have them either.

A look at the appropriate engineering drawing on the nemiga or ifinterface website might give some insight into this, and if the part is shown there should be an actual part no.given.

Is there provision for a seal to be fitted across the top of the windscreen as well (the gap there being much smaller but nonetheless abrupt)? And BTW, does the seal at the windscreen's side extend on to the roof?

I notice that on these later Polos there's no guttering as such, and consequently you find that, unless you keep the windows shut, rainwater (especially massed droplets left on the roof after rain has abated) pours off the roof and into both your lap and the window- switches! Hence my query about whether the side-seal extends on to the roof, to become guttering (that's to say, a means to stop rainwater from just pouring down the sides of the vehicle).

[RUM4MO]

The thing probably is, "Bluemotion" was originally a model in its own right with various "streamlining" parts fitted, maybe slightly lower suspension, narrow section tyres/wheels and "smooth" wheel covers, but with time by the time 6C came along, it just referred to the fact that these cars had Stop/Start and regenerative braking/smart battery charging - so all 6C Polos, I think, get the Bluemotion or Bluemotion Technology badge on them.

Edit:- the issue with water dropping into the car when you open a door, I've had that in the past with front wheel drive Ford Escorts, first version and same with first version of the Orion which was just a saloon version of Escort, the second version of Orion I seem to remember had an extra rubber-plastic-felt section of seal fixed to the body at the door opening to minimise that happening. On these Polos, that second inner seal, where it exists, is fixed to the door, maybe for other reasons - I've forgotten if this version of Polo actually has that inner seal as well as an outer seal, I know my 2011 Audi S4 has an inner and outer door seal system.

[wolfie]

I notice that on these later Polos there's no guttering as such, and consequently you find that, unless you keep the windows shut, rainwater (especially massed droplets left on the roof after rain has abated) pours off the roof and into both your lap and the window- switches! Hence my query about whether the side-seal extends on to the roof, to become guttering (that's to say, a means to stop rainwater from just pouring down the sides of the vehicle).

Same here, bane of my life come the wet drizzly morning. My drive has a slope and is canted slightly to the right. When I reverse down with the drivers window open, if there is any water laying on the roof it becomes a waterfall over my right arm and window switches. It's worse still if the car has just been waxed, it's like Niagara falls. It's not limited to the Polo, like most modern cars that have no gutters, they all suffer to some degree. Progress

It has crossed my mind to fit some Heko or Climair wind defectors just to see if that helps at all. Thought not sure I like the look.

[veteran]

RUM4MO,

On the matter of rainwater, roofs and doors, I think you're missing a trick here. Whilst there may well be a fit or wear issue concerning the rubber seals around the various door openings, the point I was making in this particular discussion was that, because there's no incorporated guttering to prevent it, rainwater on these models will simply cascade off the vehicle's roof and in many instances may pour down the driver's side, or the passenger side, of the car. If therefore the window is open at that time, gravity does its thing and the water goes straight into the driver's lap and all down the inside parts of the door. I've had it happen to me several times.

Wolfie's description is spot-on. It's very typical of what happens and supports my contention that there's been a glaringly bad omission in the design of these 6C Polos, namely that there are no roof gutters or anything on the roof's edges that prevents rainwater from pouring off the roof and into the cabin when any of the windows are open. Going back some years, hatchbacks certainly used to have a pliable, rubberised gutter along the roof's sides, preventing this sort of thing, but it rather looks as though for reasons of drag, wind-noise, or maybe sheer pennypinching, this practise has ceased. Instead, you're expected to have a dirty shower every now and then!

You might argue that, if it's raining, you shouldn't have any of the windows open anyway. Well, sometimes it's valid to quickly open a window a small amount, to reduce fogging on the window caused by a sudden cold downpour from the heavens. Using the AC for that instead may seem right but AC takes a while to get going.

Ironically, you tend to avoid ending up with a lapful of water if it rains during a journey. It's particularly when the car's been standing and has been rained on that you've this quite different situation, because in the 'been standing' case the water on the roof will consist of a huge mass of globules. But then if you get into the car, start it up and drive it away, turning left or right or whatever, that roof-full of water globules suddenly merge together and centripetal force flings the whole lot off one side of the roof or the other and straight into the cabin. If, as driver or front passenger you happen to have your best suit on at the time, you're not going to be too pleased at the result, I can assure you. Annoyingly, the situation's made worse if you've kept the car's paintwork clean and have applied polish to it; more and bigger globules will collect on the roof, and these will then readily collect and slide off, to the roof's edge.

Another counter-argument would be: Well, why don't you just wipe the roof dry with a cloth? Hmm, 'nuff said. You can perhaps guess my reply to that!

It'd be highly interesting to learn whether any of the post-2014 Polos have had built-in guttering. The specific Bluemotion model and the Blue GT have been mentioned, but are we to presume that those two models did, in fact, have proper roof guttering? Maybe some members with those models could reply or send in pictures of their Polos?

[RUM4MO]

Veteran, my comments about rain channels was aimed at indicating that some cars do have water management measures built in and some of them also reduce wind noise, which is the real topic of this thread, in a world where all or nearly all new cars don't have any roof edge guttering, water will always end up flowing into the car, when you open a door, or open a window while water is present on the roof area of the car, any water management measures will at best only work when the car is parked on level ground. It is just lack of thought or lack of rain where car body designer live?

[Sparkysmum]

Hi all
Hey thanks for all your comments. I’m just a woman so barely understand it all . BTW my Polo is 1.0 l TSI bluemotion reg November 17.

Also BTW we tried the garden hose on the outside of drivers door with window closed. Not a drop of water inside . Also pleased to say never had rain water dropping inside when doors open. Well maybe a wee bit..

However what I’m hearing is that the non existence of the rubber thingy along the edge of the windscreen leaves a gaping big gap which probably causes wind turbulence and this awful rushing wind noise when I’m driving at 50+mph?!!

And therefore there’s no solution?

I found this on a previous board

viewtopic.php?t=68930#p514715

[peter_dk25]

Why not buy a set at VW and try it out? Just taped on.
They are not that expensive…...

[RUM4MO]

Sparkysmum, maybe just to confirm, on my wife's 2015 Polo, I am hearing the wind noise coming from the top of the driver's side door only, I have been a passenger in that car a couple of times and there is no wind noise coming from the passenger side front door top.

When I opened the driver's side window and manipulated the door seal further into its space along the top of the door, then closed the window and drove away, there was now no wind noise for the rest of that journey.

Is it the top of the driver's side door that you are hearing the wind noise coming from - or from the edge of the windscreen?

I am also hearing other outside road noises from there as well, obviously, which also reduced greatly when I pressed the door seal further into its slot.