Holy Wind Noise!

[RiskyBizness]

Hi everyone. First post from a total newbie.

My wife and I have been looking at MH’s for several years and finally pulled the trigger on our first one, a 2019 Seneca.

We test drive some over the years and always liked the class C but we haven’t test driven one in the last 2 or 3 years. And we didn’t test drive the one we bought so I’m fully aware of my shortcoming in doing my homework.

We bought online and had delivered to the house, which was awesome. We messed with it for a week in the driveway and everything works as it should.

Yesterday we headed out on the maiden voyage.

We are happy with everything except the wind noise in the cab is incredibly loud. I don’t remember the ones we test drove years ago being so noisy and yes we drove them on the highway.

Any tips on what others have done to quiet it down? When we get it home I plan on taking everything out of the cab and lining with dynamat, under flooring, behind door panels, engine bay etc but I think the noise is coming through the gap in the doors.

Would better weather stripping help?

Thanks for any advice! We will be rolling from FL to CO this week and staying in CO for a few months.

[Ohiofinlander]

Good Morning! We don't have a MH, but wanted to welcome you and wish you safe and happy travels!

[Grumpy]

You have to remember your driving a truck with a house on the back. Both the E-450 and the KODIAK SENECA we had were noisy as compared to a car or van, but not a truck. Door noise was a common complaint with the 1st generation SENECAS in particular.

[RiskyBizness]

I’m aware of the difference in sound level between a car and a truck. I drive trucks weekly for work. That is not what I’m talking about.

The whistles and wind noise are far beyond the noise of a regular cab. A U Haul moving truck is not as noisy as this.

Poking around in the engine bay this am I found some uninstalled plugs in the fire wall and put them in there appropriate places. Should help a little but I’m sure I’ll find more.

[RiskyBizness]

Thanks for the warm welcome!

[Pfflyer]

Welcome to the Forum. Seems like I remember reading about a mirror or antenna mod to get rid of a whistling noise in a Seneca. I may be mistaken but perhaps another user can chime in.


Edit: Don't forget about some soundproofing in the A pillars. I hear Thinsulate works good for that and in doors as sound proofing.

[Grumpy]

Originally Posted by RiskyBizness

A U Haul moving truck is not as noisy as this.

I guess I should have been more detailed. With a regular truck cab there are limited openings to allow the air to flow through the cab. In a MH that back wall is removed, so air flows unrestricted. As I stated it was a common complaint on the KODIAK Chassis across all brands, especially the door gaskets.

[katiedog]

We have a E450 class C, it is more louder than our Chevy Class c.
Did a Dyna Mat clone from Amazon any where I could put it.
Help a lot based on Sound Meter, the only wind noise that we made a
difference on was door gasket and sealing around mirrors.

[RVermont]

The first thing to do with a Seneca on the freightliner is to either tape over the holes on the mirrors or buy plugs. These holes make a huge wind ringing sound. Then move on to the doors as the sometimes are not aligned properly. You can test by putting piece of paper in there. There should be some resistance. If not they might need realignment.

Next is the floor. The new freightliner has more matting then the m2 models but it is still not much. I pulled up the carpets and installed 3/4 inch foam. Helps will noise and heat transfer.
Then look at the location where the caps meet the roof. There have been many discussions about the amount of air flowing in these joints.

Good luck, the units can get quieter but you just have to decide how far you want to go.
Welcome to the forum and enjoy your new Seneca.

[SloPoke]

Welcome to the Seneca family and JOF. There are a lot of threads on JOF that discuss how others have solved the wind noise. I think we all have done something or other to address it. Once we get it done, it is not all that disturbing for us.

[RiskyBizness]

Originally Posted by RVermont

The first thing to do with a Seneca on the freightliner is to either tape over the holes on the mirrors or buy plugs. These holes make a huge wind ringing sound. Then move on to the doors as the sometimes are not aligned properly. You can test by putting piece of paper in there. There should be some resistance. If not they might need realignment.

Next is the floor. The new freightliner has more matting then the m2 models but it is still not much. I pulled up the carpets and installed 3/4 inch foam. Helps will noise and heat transfer.
Then look at the location where the caps meet the roof. There have been many discussions about the amount of air flowing in these joints.

Good luck, the units can get quieter but you just have to decide how far you want to go.
Welcome to the forum and enjoy your new Seneca.

Thank you for the relevant post

[Rustynuts]

Before we got our Seneca I had read about the wind noise and solutions but we had already decided we wanted the Seneca no matter what. When we picked ours up, I went prepared with some supplies and we left the dealer and hit the road and yes, terrible whistle and wind noise. I pulled over at the first rest area and broke out the gorilla tape and scissors and cut patches for the mirror mounting hole. Hit the rod and it was night and day!. I have since plugged the holes with the plastic hole plugs, most hardware stores carry them but cheaper in bulk off eBay. The sizes I used were 9/16” and 3/4”, some fit a little loose but I set them in with black silicone and they are fine.I later adjusted the cab doors like RVermont mentioned as both doors in the upper front corners the weatherstrip wasn’t even touching the doors and again made a huge difference. Past those 2 mods, I haven’t felt any more was needed as it was then quieter than our old class A gasser. I have attached the instructions for the door adjustments and did it myself, it’s pretty easy.

[RiskyBizness]

Originally Posted by Rustynuts

Before we got our Seneca I had read about the wind noise and solutions but we had already decided we wanted the Seneca no matter what. When we picked ours up, I went prepared with some supplies and we left the dealer and hit the road and yes, terrible whistle and wind noise. I pulled over at the first rest area and broke out the gorilla tape and scissors and cut patches for the mirror mounting hole. Hit the rod and it was night and day!. I have since plugged the holes with the plastic hole plugs, most hardware stores carry them but cheaper in bulk off eBay. The sizes I used were 9/16” and 3/4”, some fit a little loose but I set them in with black silicone and they are fine.I later adjusted the cab doors like RVermont mentioned as both doors in the upper front corners the weatherstrip wasn’t even touching the doors and again made a huge difference. Past those 2 mods, I haven’t felt any more was needed as it was then quieter than our old class A gasser. I have attached the instructions for the door adjustments and did it myself, it’s pretty easy.

This is awesome. We are going to work on this today!

[RiskyBizness]

Got the plugs on (I’m assuming this is what was meant) The doors actually didnt look bad - they were flush all the way around. We did notice there was a lot of room for more weather stripping so we added some. Looking forward to going for a ride and hearing how much of a difference it made. Will report back.

[Robbbyr]

Originally Posted by RiskyBizness

Got the plugs on (I’m assuming this is what was meant) The doors actually didnt look bad - they were flush all the way around. We did notice there was a lot of room for more weather stripping so we added some. Looking forward to going for a ride and hearing how much of a difference it made. Will report back.

Most of us have found that the mirror's upper brackets make most of the noise, don't neglect them!

[RiskyBizness]

Originally Posted by Robbbyr

Most of us have found that the mirror's upper brackets make most of the noise, don't neglect them!

We did the upper mount as well. Is this the location you mean? What about where the actual mirrror attaches to the bar? Anything needed there?

[Robbbyr]

G

Originally Posted by RiskyBizness

We did the upper mount as well. Is this the location you mean? What about where the actual mirrror attaches to the bar? Anything needed there?

Yes the upper as you depicted. I initially used recessed plugs but still had whistling. So I just carefully cut black Gorilla duct tape and completely covered the holes. That totally eliminated the noise from the top mounts. My theory is that if there is any "hole" remaining the air passing over them can create the noise.

Had mine on for about 3+ years now. Starting to show some tattering so this spring I will remove and replace.

And I haven't had any issues at the mirrors themselves.

[Rustynuts]

On our doors the top caps didnt lay perfectly flat as because of the angle of the mount so I took black silicone and formed smooth contours around the part of the plug that was sticking up.

As far as door alignment, check the gap by shutting paper in the door. On our I had to move the top in to make good contact. Before I started they were pretty flush up there but after I was done the front top corners were slightly lower than the cab but it made it quieter so it is what it is.

[RiskyBizness]

WOW. What a difference. I finally got to take it out for a ride today after doing what everyone suggested. 75 now sounds like 55 used to. So much better!! Thanks guys for the great advice!

[Robbbyr]

Originally Posted by RiskyBizness

WOW. What a difference. I finally got to take it out for a ride today after doing what everyone suggested. 75 now sounds like 55 used to. So much better!! Thanks guys for the great advice!

Yea!