Sealing Doors from Wind Noise

[slackerwells]

Hey guys,
Im in the process of kitting out my defender for an end of year trip down around tassie with the family and have been doing a bit of work to try and dampen down some of the noise to make some of the long highway driving a little bit more bearable for the kids.

I've line the roof and floors with dynamat and it has done a great job, but there is a lot of wind noise coming in from around the doors when im on the highway (top of the doors opening up and flapping a bit).

I was thinking of maybe trying to run a double seal around the doors to seal them up a bit better and cut down some of that wind noise, has anyone done anything similar or got any suggestions?
Cheers,
Andrew

[EastFreo]

I remember Dad driving our Cortina down from Tom Price in the 1970s. No air con but to keep out the dust he masking taped up all the doors and windows bar his.

He has suggested a similar approach could work with the Defender to reduce wind noise!

In all seriousness I am also interested to see what people suggest. Mine has had wind noise from new but thought it was at least a massive improvement on all the past defenders I have known.

[Tombie]

Gently massage the door frame towards the body.

[El Rey]

Deleted

[ozy013]

Hey Andrew,

I had the same issues when I first bought mine. You can make adjustments by moving the door striker on the pillar, which will pull the door in tighter against the seals.
It was a bit disconcerting hammering along at 100kmph and seeing daylight around the top and side of the driver's side door.
The striker only needs moving slightly, to pull the door in tighter.

[slackerwells]

Thanks Ozy i'll give that a go. If that doesnt work i'll try Tombies option of massaging the top of the door frame across a touch.
Certainly was a bit disconcerting at first seeing daylight around the door as your hammering along the highway!! it certainly freaked the mrs out a bit!!:D

[jimr1]

Some thing else to look at , the door seals do go flat with age . When you look at a new seal , compared to a old one , you can see quite a difference . I looked at seals on lots of modern cars , they are a lot better in there design . I often wonder why Land Rover never improved Defender door seals , all there other models don't suffer this problem !! Jim :)

[Lotz-A-Landies]

I have found a great way to reduce the noise in your Land Rover, buy a Discovery 4. :angel:

Still love my Defender/110/Series III /Series IIB etc! :D

[tonyf]

After I first got my TD5 in 2004, I had a lot of air space around the doors and the dealers replaced the seals with a new, heavier section rubber seal which greatly improved things. Perhaps that would help in your situation also.

[CraigE]

Another trick that does work with the seals after they go flat.
The seals are generally hollow. You can cut a small slit and slide in flyscreen rubber that will give them mass again. Works to a certain extent.
I have tried pretty much everything and while some improvement with the above and later replacing seals, adjusting striker and even additional draught stopper tape, the improvement is only marginal at best. The door assembly on these and the seals are just very poorly designed and never going to provide a decent seal.
The problem with adding additional seals is the doors then become very hard to close with internal pressure and the air having nowhere to go as there are no vents like in most cars to accommodate this pressure.
Maybe consider Dukes of Hazzard Style. Leave your windows open when out of the car and weld or seal up the doors.

[n plus one]

Not sure what year model your truck is but perhaps you could try installing the redesigned door seals off the late model Pumas?

[Beery]

Not sure what year model your truck is but perhaps you could try installing the redesigned door seals off the late model Pumas?

Even they don't work! Just a sloppy design.
A lot of the problem, from what I can see, is that there's just bugger all overlap of the lip of the door frame and the seal.

[steveG]

Anyone tried noise canceling headphones - particularly for younger passengers?

Steve

[kogvos]

Anyone tried noise canceling headphones - particularly for younger passengers?

Steve
Is that to drown out the kids or the wind noise?

[DiscoMick]

Hey guys,
Im in the process of kitting out my defender for an end of year trip down around tassie with the family and have been doing a bit of work to try and dampen down some of the noise to make some of the long highway driving a little bit more bearable for the kids.

I've line the roof and floors with dynamat and it has done a great job, but there is a lot of wind noise coming in from around the doors when im on the highway (top of the doors opening up and flapping a bit).

I was thinking of maybe trying to run a double seal around the doors to seal them up a bit better and cut down some of that wind noise, has anyone done anything similar or got any suggestions?
Cheers,
Andrew

I have tried running an extra door seal around the front doors. I got the seal from Clark Rubber - peel off backing and stick on. Used it on the front doors and the rear door. Can't actually say it's made a lot of difference to the wind noise, but less dust seems to be getting in. I think some of the noise is made by the big mirrors.

[Lotz-A-Landies]

Popped into a RR/LR repairer the other day. A customer with a Puma Defender was concerned that the bottom of the door had no seal and wanted one fitted.

An apprentice went out and fitted a seal to the door sill but couldn't close the door. That's when they realised the Puma have the bottom seal on the door! :D
Anyone tried noise canceling headphones - particularly for younger passengers?

SteveFunny you should say that, a friend solved the noise problems in his Perentie by using a regular pair of industrial ear muffs for less than $10 from the hardware.

[DiscoMick]

At first the seal I fitted was much too think and held the door out too far, making the gap worse. Then I got a very thin seal, just enough for the gap, and that worked better.

[manic]

Start with good genuine door seals and puma bottom seal. You can only put the striker a little way back before the door starts to bounce.

If top edge still catching wind, put a plastic shim between the top hinge and door. This should add a bit more clamp to the top front. Too many shims and you may fix the top but create a gap on bottom seal.

Still not sorted? Bend the top door frame slightly inwards. (With the window down!)

I had to do all the above and double up the puma bottom door seal with the older sill seal before I got the front doors to properly hold shut at speed.

Have fun!

[DiscoMick]

If top edge still catching wind, put a plastic shim between the top hinge and door. This should add a bit more clamp to the top front. Too many shims and you may fix the top but create a gap on bottom seal.

Just curious. How does that help?

[MLD]

not sure if anyone has stated this but these parts from Britcar UK work a treat.

1 x LR029307, WEATHERSTRIP - DOOR - LOWER (2nd Row)

1 x LR029308, WEATHERSTRIP - DOOR - LOWER (2nd Row)

2 x LR029309, WEATHERSTRIP - DOOR - LOWER (Front Doors)

they only seal the bottom and up each side by a few inches but made a big difference on my 2010 defender.

MLD

[DiscoMick]

Thanks for that. It's the top of the driver's door that's my issue. Does extra sealing on the bottom force the top of the door in by twisting it on the hinges? Maybe I just need to adjust the striker.
The other doors are fine. The rear door had bent a bit at the top from the weight of the spare wheel before I got it onto a wheel carrier, but I used extra rubber strips and filled the gap.
I drove across a river with water above the bottoms of the doors and no water came in, so that's a good sign.

[manic]

If top edge still catching wind, put a plastic shim between the top hinge and door. This should add a bit more clamp to the top front. Too many shims and you may fix the top but create a gap on bottom seal.

Just curious. How does that help?

Shims under the hinges (door side, not bulkhead) will push the front of the door further into the seals when closed . Its common for the top leading edge of the front door to not get pushed into the seal enough to stay put when getting pulled at by 100kph+ wind. Shims on top hinge tilt and push the leading edge further into the seal.

[Beery]

Is there a good method for bending the window frame in? I.e. wind the window down, put your knee against the inside of the door and gently pull the top of the frame?

Or is there a better way of doing it?

Cheers
Tom

[MLD]

Is there a good method for bending the window frame in? I.e. wind the window down, put your knee against the inside of the door and gently pull the top of the frame? Cheers Tom

I buckled a front door when i put the truck on its side. The buckle was a good 7mm gap at the top of the frame. i tried putting a knee into the door centre and pulling the top frame back into shape. I tried a variety of pressure points. It just caused the corresponding part at the bottom push out of shape. I gave up and soon it was just another unique characteristic of defender ownership. Interesting for the passenger when the gutters overflowed and water run unimpeded into the cabin.

MLD

[slackerwells]

Cheers for all of the input guys. i've got a couple of options to give a go first and then worst case might be noise cancelling headphones for everyone with a microphone link so we can hear each other talk!:D

[Beery]

Cheers for all of the input guys. i've got a couple of options to give a go first and then worst case might be noise cancelling headphones for everyone with a microphone link so we can hear each other talk!:D

Could pull the intercom out of an old Cessna, including the headphones 😆