[bluefront]

I've been working on sealing this ZX5 to cut down on wind noise......I think I got it now, using a few rolls of rubber "D" channel from Ace hardware. Here's what I did before.....

A seal on the rear door, that closes the air gap between the front and rear door.

And seals on the door and lower dash edge, that touch when the door is closed...

And the final set of seals on the four doors that made the biggest difference.....A seal on the door edge that touches the body seal.

After this last set of seals....a car can blast by, and you can hardly hear it. Or a jerk with his amp cranked up can go by without bothering you. This mod still lets you hear your own exhaust or music more clearly, and quiets down highway noises as you're cruising.

I like this setup.....it makes driving in traffic much easier. []

 

[FocusedEnergy]

I'll take your word on the noise reduction, although personally I can't imagine it would make that much of a difference. However, you did give me an idea for the air leak I get through my front speaker grills by sealing off the cracks of the doors (it's getting cold again and I remembered that as a slight nuisance).

Overall, good idea.

 

[Dimitri76]

Thats a neat idea, does this stuff 'crack' after a while?

 

[captcurt_18]

I know youve been doin this seal thing for a while. What have all the materials ran you?

 

[Sn4ckM4st3r]

This man is the king of mods to help with stuff and longevity.

Amazing work.

 

[bluefront]

This stuff is automotive grade soft rubber channel.....very much like seals found in many places on different cars. As to how long it'll last, and whether it will crack.....hard to say. It appears to be plenty tough. I've used it under the hood without trouble. It feels like the HD lip seal many people use, including myself.

The key is to have a clean, smooth surface. In any case, replacement is easy enough. The rolls give you 30 feet for $8. I've used four rolls so far. That last door seal job took one roll.....30 feet.

 

[bluefront]

Got to clear this up....The brand of the seal is MD, called marine and automotive weatherseal, black "D" profile #01025. From ACE hardware about $8. The roll is stated about 17 feet long. It comes with two "D" strips attached side-by-side. To make a single rubber channel like the pictures, the two channels just pull apart. So......you only get 17 feet total, when the channels are separated.

I thought you'd get about 30 feet out of a roll, but you only get 17 feet total.....but that's enough to give you another seal at four windows. Try it and you'll be amazed at the noise difference....I sure was.

FWIW....my modding goes back a long time. I've modded cars, motor-cycles, computers, etc. A few years back, I made the front page of the Wall Street Journal with my computer modding LINK, doing basically the same thing I'm doing to this Focus.....making it quieter. [thumb]

 

[tamamellie]

Blue, you ARE the man! [strongman]

I am definitely looking into this one. Unfourtunately I have a moonroof and I don't think I can do much about that, but it's not too bad. Road noise is one of the few complaints I have with the Focus.

 

[CaysE]

If you drive with your door panel removed, you'll notice that the door handles are a big source of wind noise. Try sealing those too.

 

[HawkeyeFLA]

Hmmm, I might do some of this soon, since I need to do some door work anyways. I need to pull my door panels and start doing some rattle hunting. I've got a bad one on both sides.

 

[CaysE]

Typical rattle sources I've found behind the panels are the door pull cable, and the crash foam securing tabs.

 

[mikebontoft]

wow just more and more mods [thumb] hell that's a great idea

 

[HawkeyeFLA]

Typical rattle sources I've found behind the panels are the door pull cable, and the crash foam securing tabs.

Yeah, the door handle and related parts are my first place to look. Hadn't thought about the crash foam. I'll check there as well. What works best to secure them?

 

[bluefront]

Rattles are a different source of noise, but just as annoying. The seals in the photos are mostly used to prevent wind noise, but can be used for other purposes, since they are hollow and compress quite a bit.

Concerning wind noises caused by the handles.....a possibility, but I can't say I've heard any issues here. If you take the door panels off, you'll see a big vapor barrier that covers the interior of the door itself. This thing rips easily, and is hard to remove. If any work was done inside your door, the mechanic probably just ripped the vapor barrier. If you find that to be the case, I'd really suggest you repair the thing, make a new one, or buy a new one.

In addition to keeping moisture out of the door panels, and the car, the vapor barrier also reduces wind noises. When I first removed my driver door panel, I found the previous owner had a broken window repaired.....the butcher who did the job, ripped the vapor barrier badly. I repaired it with duct tape.

I had some rattle issues from that door....and still do. When I slam the door, I can hear a "clunk" type noise, that I haven't been able to find.....but will.

 

[sjdwales]

i have to do this to my car too especially with the winter close by, you did some really good work. rep will be given

 

[phord_phocus86]

Thanks! I'll be doing this on my daily next week. I'm ganna seal up every inch of that thing, I don't wanna hear a thing! Prolly works well in the colder months too for keeping it a few degrees warmer over night.

One thing though, on a white car like yours- can you see it between the doors?

 

[bluefront]

^^^Funny you asked.....you can see a black line between the doors, but depending on the position of the sun, you usually see a black shadow there, seal or no seal. So it looks perfectly normal.

Ace Hardware also sells this particular type seal in white rubber....and I tried that first. Now that looked very unnatural. So it got ripped off.

I'll say this again....clean the surface before you place the seal. Really clean with a wax/silicone remover......Auto Zone sells the stuff I use before painting or installing seals (Klean-Strip Prep-All). Once set up, you can pull the seal off, but the adhesive will remain on the surface. It can be removed with more Prep-All without hurting the paint.

Here's a photo showing the black seal between the doors.....and the black shadow at the back edge of the rear door that has no seal. Looks the same.

 

[GrndZero]

I think I might be doing this myself. One question, cause I used to live around St. Louis. I am wondering how these things will hold up in the winter since I have seen some stock sealers freeze to the door panels due the cold.

 

[bluefront]

The inner door seals are not exposed to moisture at all, so they should be immune from sticking. The seal between the doors is exposed. So it could get covered with ice and stick.....but, if you cover it with silicone, it's less likely to do so.

That particular seal is nothing new......my friend's late model Ford P/U has a seal in exactly the same place, as do other cars. In the worst case, you'd just rip off the seal if it was stuck badly. After a hard freezing rain, doors can usually stick anyway.....I use warm water to thaw mine out.

 

[duo325]

Great idea

I used foam 3M weatherstripping and it works to..