Whistle Sounds: Types, Causes & How to Fix

@all,

My Passat 3B Variant, with 187,000 km and first registered in December 1998, is whistling. (You know, like the first Passats and Audi 80s used to.)

For the past several thousand kilometers, there has been a faint whistling sound on the driver's side, in the area of the windshield and/or driver's door, at speeds between 140 - 160 km/h. Initially, the speed at which this occurred was closer to approximately 110 - 135 km/h.

Does anyone else have a similar problem? Are there any possible solutions?

It's just incredibly annoying.

I've already tried taping the window frame and the mirror to try to locate the source, but it didn't help.

HELP!

Greetings.
Peter.

How about applying vinyl wrap to the A-pillar and door frame? You'll have to get in through the passenger seat to do it.

"At my company's Passat, a colleague in a hurry pulled half of the weather stripping off the body during freezing temperatures... After that, I started hearing a whistling noise. However, the problem went away after I replaced the damaged part."
Perhaps exchanging [something] will be helpful, but it's not exactly cheap. I unfortunately don't know the exact amount yet (!?).

Or always treat it properly with rubber care products. If the seal is more elastic, this problem will not occur. With well-maintained seals, the door seal will not freeze to the metal either. Before replacing it, I would definitely try treating the seal with a care product for two or three days, regularly. However, this should be done at temperatures above freezing .

Good luck, Peter.

hey Mc_Givertechnik


Okay, I understand. I definitely do that with my car. But even if it freezes (which is surprisingly different between a Golf and a Passat; the Golf has the seal so deep inside that the door rests against the roof in a kind of felt-like thing), it's possible to avoid damage if you're careful. However, if you drive your car into a car wash at -6 degrees Celsius, leave it outside overnight, and then in the morning, in a hurry, rip the door open like a maniac, there's nothing you can do except have that guy take the keys away.

@matthiasTDI96,

On my company Passat, a colleague in a hurry pulled half of the seal out of the bodywork during freezing temperatures... Afterwards, I also had the whistling sound. However, it disappeared after replacing the aforementioned part.
Perhaps the exchange will help you, but it's not exactly cheap, and I unfortunately don't know the exact amount yet (!?).

Bingo, the candidate receives 100 points.

So, the whistling sound is probably coming from the seal.

I once placed a cord (with a diameter of 4-5 mm) under the seal (all the way around). And voila: the whistling stopped.

Now, I need to take care of a permanent solution. Any ideas?

Thank you. Such a thing can drive a person absolutely crazy .

Greetings.
Peter.

Hi,

Is the door properly aligned?

@marco,

Hi,

Is the door properly aligned?

Does the door seem misaligned? I've had the car since it was new (first registered in December 1998) and it hasn't been in any accidents or anything like that. It's just that, for the past several thousand kilometers, I've been hearing this whistling noise.
It's more likely related to window frames. You can't really adjust those, right?

Greetings.
Peter.

The door is already misaligned if the wind catches it and slams it open. Or drivers who always open the door all the way until it hits the frame.

Either the door seal has a tolerance issue and needs to be replaced, or the door needs to be professionally bent (this is not a job for amateurs!).

Hi Perly,

Over time, the entire body of the car can warp. While driving, a suction force is created that pulls the upper part of the doors outwards. As the speed increases, this suction force becomes stronger. Eventually, air can start whistling in at the A-pillar, or even water can leak in (which I personally experienced with my G4).

Okay, apparently there were even some '3B' models where the body panels were so warped after 45,000 km that the doors wouldn't close properly. I once read that the '3BG' model was 30% stiffer.

Best regards, WarLord.

Replacing the seal would definitely help and certainly wouldn't hurt. Unfortunately, it's relatively expensive. Bending the door back into shape also sounds plausible, but I'm not sure who I should take it to. So, my first step would be to replace the seal!

A car body repair specialist can usually do this very well. Bending doors back into shape is a common occurrence, but it's really something that should only be entrusted to a professional. Otherwise, you risk causing irreparable damage.

Ah, I think I'm in the right place!


Since Christmas, I've been experiencing an extremely annoying noise, which strangely started only after a windshield replacement by Carglass (due to a stone chip).

It sounds a little like a phone call on a mobile phone, if you have poorly shielded audio equipment... it's a bit of a clumsy description, but I think you know what I mean...

This noise starts at approximately 140-160 km/h and is very loud at around 185 km/h, to the point where I can hear it even with the radio turned up. I should probably rule out the windshield, because...

a) so far, no water has leaked anywhere.

b) It seems the noise is coming from the ventilation system. It gets louder and quieter depending on the ventilation level, but it's never completely gone.

Does anyone have any idea what this could be, or how I can best pinpoint the source of the problem without taking the whole car apart?


Sure, here is the translation of the text from German to English:

'Hello,'
MisterX.