My quest to reduce road noise in my 2023 RWD Model 3

If tesla just used real "full sized" doors i think it would help. Those frameless windows just cause more issues. A bad alignment creates those air pockets. super annoying.

I have Hankook Ion Evo tires on my 22 LR and the noise isn’t bad at all. I mostly hear wind noise at 75mph+ hitting the windshield. My wife has stock tires on her 23 RWD and there is def more road noise at highway speeds. Even she notices it lol

Those Ion EVos have been on my radar. What size wheels and what tires on her RWD? I have the 19" continentals and am down to about 4/32 so new tires are in my near future.

I had these and even driving on chill mode the tires only lasted 9k miles. 20 inch m3p tho.

9k? How many miles are you getting out of your replacements? I'm at 33k on my continentals and haven't touched the wear/replace bar yet.

I replaced them with the michilen pilot sport 4s. So far 8k on those and the wear bars look fine. I rotate every 2500 or so

Yes 9k. It sucks because I did like the tires otherwise. I was flabbergasted at how little mileage I got out of them.

Get quieter tyres.

I’m at 20k + miles on my Hankooks and tread still looks great

She has Michelin something or others on 18”s. When I bought my car it had 19” wheels. When I swapped to 18” I could feel an immediate improvement in ride quality. No regrets with the smaller wheels! I sold the 19” wheels for close to $1k

Don't think it's that. Because I have frameless windows on my 19 year old BMW and it's still quieter than my Model 3. I bet even if they used normal doors, they would still find a way to keep it noisy.

If you haven’t changed tires…

Due in a couple thousand miles. So that’s next.

Going from 19” down to 18” will make a HUGE noise and efficiency difference. Pair that up with hankook ventus S1 AS, which are EV specific foam-lined tires, and came stock on the highlands. They’re super quiet and have a 50k mile guarantee so if they wear out sooner hankook will pro-rate your next set. Not sure if they fit but I have the 18” photons from my 2024 model 3 available, also have the original aero covers. Car went from Tesla —> wrap shop —> took off the aero covers day 1 and put on hurricane style WHICH SUCK. Scuffed the wheels up around the edges which is why I replaced them.

Hankooks (as well as Michelin Pilots) both have mileage guarantees. The kicker is that they do not cover tires installed when the vehicle is new, only once replaced. When I was looking for new tire/wheel combos I combed through reddit and TMC. Mostly there’s a few common factors and this is the opinion I formed: 1) A lot of people are unaware that foam lined EV tires have a 300-600mile breaking in period where fast acceleration AND strong braking is HIGHLY discouraged, it ruins the longevity of EV tires and risks damaging the insulation foam. But as Tesla Drivers what’s the first thing we do when we get our cars….light it up like John Force!! 2) People get upset when their 50k mile tire needs to be replaced at 20/30k. Happened to me and is 100% related to my driving style. Want your tires to last for 50k on these heavy ass cars then Chill mode is your friend since replacement I commute on chill only. 3) Pirelli hasn’t yet locked in on their EV tire line (as of mid-2025). Michelin and Hankook absolutely have. Pilot sport 4s are pretty well agreed upon as one of the best, Hankook Ion Evo 3s I’d say are on par. BUT people are sleeping on the Ventus (IMO) way way quieter than the EVOs, maybe not as good in the snow as Michelins, but for southern california they’re great. 4) Get a tire with a mileage guarantee, especially if you like the tire: your 50k mile tires need to be replaced at 25k? Well that’s 50% off your next set, the reason I’ve stuck with Hankook is through tire rack and discount tire you can have them remove this cost UP front, so no waiting to be reimbursed. Just takes a little more time and effort to get an inspection email the manufacturer and get a 3rd party voucher code.

I fixed my road noise by zip tying the loose plastic panel underneath the car. I think this is the problem with most people who claim they have a rattle on their Tesla.

I got the kit that includes the fender liners, frunk/hood, and under rear deck/trunk from AliExpress for $162. Haven’t installed it yet because the car was in an accident.

You mean you have theorem rims available? If so are you close to LA? I went to see a set today but the tires were jacked and the rims were hammered.

Bummer. And I spent about $225 delivered for the fenders and foam kit. Nothing for frunk or trunk. Shipping was $65! Of that

Yep they are the stock Photons off of my 2024 highland. I’ll make a post for photos. they’re 235/45R18, I would research if they fit the pre-highland model 3, I think I’ve seen a few people post swaps. https://preview.redd.it/rhelp72l9oag1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d88b6e3fdb9147ff40453663cb03375602013d1c

I put up the photos on my profile, it got split into two posts. Check out the ones where they are still on the tires so you can see the rash around the edges (all from those stupid wheel covers). The photon wheel covers do not hid the rash bc they are inserts like the aero covers.

It’s dependent. My M3P with 18s def has a lot of door/window wind noise, you can tell it’s not all aligned 100%, not really enough for me to bother with it. The standard range loaner I recently had was a lot quiter and and the gaps and alignment were a lot better around doors and windows.

Shoot me a dm. Your account t doesn’t allow me to send a dm

To really reduce actual road noise from vibration you have to apply these sound deadening tapes/pads right onto door and body metal so you have to remove door panels/trims and apply the tapes to bare metal. Tsportline sell these kits but likely gona be big pain in butt to install properly. These tapes/pads deadens vibration in metal drastically and prevent sound from propagating through car body/metal.

Do I have wax in my ear or is sound never a problem for me? I swear that was the biggest fear mongered thing for me when I got mine and it’s very quiet, though I am downsizing to 18” wheels / tires.

Yeah, a huge percentage of my noise is from there.

I rather have normal doors. The windows wont get stuck when itscold either. Those frameless windows look awesome but just so many drawbacks.

Might be road conditions or your oem tires are different or newer. If I lived in a city with paved freeways that were maintained I probably wouldn’t have the same concerns.

After the cursing I did installing the fender liners I’m not sure I could pull that off

I agree that alignment is a problem, but not because the windows are frame less. The newer teslas are quieter overall. They have improvements in the rubber seals shape and location, double pained windows and insulation in places the older models didn't have before. But the windows are still frameless. The alignment issue is a Tesla design problem. Having taken apart the my model 3 on various places. They don't account for variation in the parts they make. They just expect every piece to be the same so the holes and stuff are perfectly sized so that you can't adjust the mm you need to make it aligned.

What search term for on Ali to find that kit

tesla sound deadening mats, you’ll see the listing for the wheel well and when you click those they will have an option for a complete kit usually

Going to bring this up too: https://www.reddit.com/r/TeslaModel3/s/8frg3lqoNX

what car did you come from? Im also in LA with a 2023 model 3. The car is neither super loud or quiet. It's comparable to my civic.

previous car was a 2018 model S on 19" Michelins. Other cars to compare it to are a hyundai palisade and even a 20 year old hybrid highalnder. The latter two are in an entirely different league in regards to road noise.

I do not have much of a noise problem, but on some roads where cars vibrate a lot, then my passenger side rear door (my assumptions only) has a squeaky noise coming from it. I swear every time it does, it drives me crazy, and I cannot figure out where exactly it is coming from . Does anyone else have some issue?

Replace the stock door seals w the highland door seals. They were redesigned so it reduces wind noise quite a bit.

The door seals are dry. Buy some door seal lubricant on Amazon.

Which Ventus? There are several to choose from.

Ventus S1 AS

Is this a thing? I've only seen people retrofit the shocks in a pre-highland M3s