2009 Murano SL AWD NOISE?

[kadit]

After reporting my wind noise problem to the Nissan customer service department and receiving a followup call from Shannon with Nissan customer service who indicated that Nissan currently has no fix for the wind noise problem, last week I received a mail request from Nissan to log into a website that surveys customers who report problems to the customer service department (the mailing had a log in ID that I used to access the website). The website had a series of questions regarding my level of satisifaction with Nissan's response to my reported problem. I was very clear in my answers to the questions that I was totally unsatisfied with Nisssan's response because Nissan has no solution to the wind noise problem. I will let you all know if I receive any further response from Nissan. At this time it is clear that those of us who are experiencing the wind noise problem are getting no solutions from Nissan.

[mo2009]

kadit and all,

After doing some search on the Internet, it appears to me the noise issue (wind or road noise) varies from car to car rather than trim to trim. If you read the reviews on edmunds, many SL owners praise the Mo as being super quiet in the cabin. I'm suspecting Nissan has poor QA especially in this regard. We need to push them HARD. We need to let them realize if they don't provide a satisfactory solution they will eventually lose more money if many potential buyers are aware of this noise issue.

Thanks!

After reporting my wind noise problem to the Nissan customer service department and receiving a followup call from Shannon with Nissan customer service who indicated that Nissan currently has no fix for the wind noise problem, last week I received a mail request from Nissan to log into a website that surveys customers who report problems to the customer service department (the mailing had a log in ID that I used to access the website). The website had a series of questions regarding my level of satisifaction with Nissan's response to my reported problem. I was very clear in my answers to the questions that I was totally unsatisfied with Nisssan's response because Nissan has no solution to the wind noise problem. I will let you all know if I receive any further response from Nissan. At this time it is clear that those of us who are experiencing the wind noise problem are getting no solutions from Nissan.

[Hmason]

2009 SL, AWD, all packages except Nav--just about silent after 15K miles.

[Czarny_Orzel]

Had our neighbors in the Murano yesterday for a bit of a drive. They own a 05 RX330, similar to the one we traded in on our Mo. They both commented on how quiet it was. The ladies opted to sit in back so they could 'chat', we had no trouble hearing what was being said - which may or may not be a good thing ;-)

[mo2009]

oh, man. You make me jealous.

Seriously what can you guys think of as to the root cause? I wonder if the window/door seals actually made the difference... Is there something we can do?

Had our neighbors in the Murano yesterday for a bit of a drive. They own a 05 RX330, similar to the one we traded in on our Mo. They both commented on how quiet it was. The ladies opted to sit in back so they could 'chat', we had no trouble hearing what was being said - which may or may not be a good thing ;-)

[brainguyus]

oh, man. You make me jealous.

Seriously what can you guys think of as to the root cause? I wonder if the window/door seals actually made the difference... Is there something we can do?

I would recommend checking ALL your seals for proper fit. Keep in mind that if you hear noise coming in from your roof that the real problem might exist elsewhere. For example, If your lift gate has a bad seal and is exhausting air (creating low pressure in the cabin) the replenishing air may be coming in through the roof thus leading you to believe the issue is the roof seal. Wind noise issues can be extremely difficult to diagnose.

If you suspect a seal is bad you can close a thin piece of paper or a dollar bill into the door and see if you feel drag when pulling on it. Sometimes if space allows you can use a bright flashlight to see if you have any gaps.

[Czarny_Orzel]

Sorry that you're having such issues. We really like our Mo and have been enjoying it a lot of late, to the point where She Who Must Be Obeyed is starting to complain a bit that her GS just sits in the garage gathering dust .

If there is excessive wind noise, so much so that normal conversation is compromised, that I would start looking at window and door seals as the most likely culprits. I’d check and see if each door was closing properly, i.e. is there still “slop” in the door after it has been latched. The window seals are a tougher issue, try running the windows down than up (tight) again a few times while moving and see if the noise decreases. Other than that, hopefully you have a good dealer, willing to stand behind you.

[mo2009]

Thanks for the suggestions!

As much as I hate about the noise I wouldn't say normal conversation is compromised. I think we can talk pretty much as normal. However, the cabin is nowhere close to silent as many LE/SL owners have praised.

Sorry that you're having such issues. We really like our Mo and have been enjoying it a lot of late, to the point where She Who Must Be Obeyed is starting to complain a bit that her GS just sits in the garage gathering dust .

If there is excessive wind noise, so much so that normal conversation is compromised, that I would start looking at window and door seals as the most likely culprits. I’d check and see if each door was closing properly, i.e. is there still “slop” in the door after it has been latched. The window seals are a tougher issue, try running the windows down than up (tight) again a few times while moving and see if the noise decreases. Other than that, hopefully you have a good dealer, willing to stand behind you.

[mo2009]

A few questions:

1. Should I try this while car is running on the road?

2. I tried to close the windows with a thin piece of receipt and it got stuck there pretty tight. When I closed that receipt with the moon roof I can easily pull it out. Does that mean there's a leak? I can barely feel any wind when I put my hand near the moon roof seals.

3. Any good sound insulation solutions out there?

I haven't checked the door seals yet.

Thanks much for your suggestions!!

I would recommend checking ALL your seals for proper fit. Keep in mind that if you hear noise coming in from your roof that the real problem might exist elsewhere. For example, If your lift gate has a bad seal and is exhausting air (creating low pressure in the cabin) the replenishing air may be coming in through the roof thus leading you to believe the issue is the roof seal. Wind noise issues can be extremely difficult to diagnose.

If you suspect a seal is bad you can close a thin piece of paper or a dollar bill into the door and see if you feel drag when pulling on it. Sometimes if space allows you can use a bright flashlight to see if you have any gaps.

Modified by mo2009 at 10:03 PM 9/17/2009

[kadit]

Mo2009--this is what I did to test the door and other seals. Get a roll of the blue painter's masking tape. Use the tape to cover each of the door, back hatch, and moonroof seams/edges on the exterior of the vehicle (I did one door at a time to see if I could identify a bad seal). Then drive the vehicle around to see if any of the wind noise has been eliminated. After I did this for all of my doors, back hatch, and circumference of the moonroof, none of the wind noise was eliminated. Thus, I again think that the slope of the roof line and the location of the moonroof result in the wind noise. But I also cannot explain why some vehicles experience the noise while others do not. I am still looking for a dual moonroof wind deflector (no manufacturers have yet to make one for the dual moonroof Muranos) to try to solve the noise problem.Let us know if you try the blue tape experiment and the results that you get.

[brainguyus]

A few questions:

1. Should I try this while car is running on the road?

2. I tried to close the windows with a thin piece of receipt and it got stuck there pretty tight. When I closed that receipt with the moon roof I can easily pull it out. Does that mean there's a leak? I can barely feel any wind when I put my hand near the moon roof seals.

3. Any good sound insulation solutions out there?

I haven't checked the door seals yet.

Thanks much for your suggestions!!

This method does not apply to the windows since the glass fits into a channel and will almost always clamp down tightly on the paper.

It's kind of a subjective process. As long as you felt at least a slight drag on the paper you used when you tested the moonroof than the seal should be fine. You're looking for gaps where the seal does not make contact at all.

Another idea I had was using something like carbon paper or the stuff the dentist makes you bite down on when testing tooth contact. If there were something like this that could be used to test for seal contact that would be ideal. Anyone have any creative thoughts? (something which could be done with baby powder or something?......There's alot of sharp people on this board, maybe we can whip up some ideas.)

[kerrton]

Some Rogue owners had wind noise and some traced it a gap between the side mirrors and the mounting surface. To them it sounded really loud as though the door didn't seal properly, but the dealer removed the mirror, added some foam tape and re-installed and the noise was gone.

Others traced the problem to the roof rack main rails, but I don't think they discovered a good solution. The roof rails on my Rogue occaissionally make a startling, loud squeeling noise if there is the right cross wind, but it doesn't happen often..

Just some ideas of other areas to consider as potential sources, good luck.

[mo2009]

I followed brainguysus's method and checked all 4 doors and the tail gate today. Here are the results:

1. The two back doors sealed/closed much better than the two front doors and the tail gate.2. The seals around the windows are the most loose part. The lower half of the door seals are much better. I can EASILY pull out the piece of paper from the top of the door after the door is closed with front two doors giving the minimum drag (I wouldn't say there's no drag at all though). If I close the paper at the lower half level of the door, I can feel much stronger drag.3. The tail gate doesn't seem to be closed very tight since I can easily pull out the paper.4. For the front doors, if I put force on them seems they can be closed tighter.5. Again, the moon roof doesn't seem to be closed very tight as well.

Any comments?

BTW, I haven't tried kadit tape method yet.

Thank you all!

This method does not apply to the windows since the glass fits into a channel and will almost always clamp down tightly on the paper.

It's kind of a subjective process. As long as you felt at least a slight drag on the paper you used when you tested the moonroof than the seal should be fine. You're looking for gaps where the seal does not make contact at all.

Another idea I had was using something like carbon paper or the stuff the dentist makes you bite down on when testing tooth contact. If there were something like this that could be used to test for seal contact that would be ideal. Anyone have any creative thoughts? (something which could be done with baby powder or something?......There's alot of sharp people on this board, maybe we can whip up some ideas.)

[brainguyus]

I followed brainguysus's method and checked all 4 doors and the tail gate today. Here are the results:

1. The two back doors sealed/closed much better than the two front doors and the tail gate.2. The seals around the windows are the most loose part. The lower half of the door seals are much better. I can EASILY pull out the piece of paper from the top of the door after the door is closed with front two doors giving the minimum drag (I wouldn't say there's no drag at all though). If I close the paper at the lower half level of the door, I can feel much stronger drag.3. The tail gate doesn't seem to be closed very tight since I can easily pull out the paper.4. For the front doors, if I put force on them seems they can be closed tighter.5. Again, the moon roof doesn't seem to be closed very tight as well.

Any comments?

BTW, I haven't tried kadit tape method yet.

Thank you all!

I don't have any wind noise issue, so I went out and tested my seals the same way just to compare. I get good seal on all doors. Around the windows is not as tight. I get fair drag on the inner seal, but the outer seal around the edge of the window frame gives only slight drag. The seal between the front and rear door window frames makes only very very light contact. You may want to try tape the gap between the front and rear window frame since I could see how this could make noise if this seal has a gap.

I didn't get heavy drag on the liftgate but it was enough to tell me I had a good seal.

Keep in mind these are soft seals, so they're not going to bite down on the paper very hard.

I'll check the moonroof when I have more time and post again.
Modified by brainguyus at 5:33 PM 9/20/2009

[mo2009]

Thanks for the reply.

What do you guys think about the road noise? This is something wife hates even more actually. We drove the Mo over the weekend on some local highways. We heard A LOT OF road noise. The tires we have are Goodyear Eagle LS. After this weekend trip, we hate more about the noise! This vehicle is NOWHERE close to quiet at all!

Not sure what we can do at this point...

[nafddur]

What do you guys think about the road noise?

Wow, so sorry for you 09 owners. We just took another trip in our 04 SE last weekend - the first on our recent Cooper tires - and the car remains super quiet after 67K miles. Nary a peep (road noise) with the original GY's and now with the new Coopers, and we've never had any wind noise to speak of.

We're looking forward to our drive from New England to NC in a couple of weeks!

[testguy34]

I don't have road noise with my Bridgetone tires for my 09 Murano.

Previously, I mentioned of having too much wind noise when I reach >65mph, but suddenly I do not have that wind noise now. I really don't know what happened and I didn't do anything special. I am thankful that it is so quite now at 4500 miles.

[Czarny_Orzel]

The Goodyear tires that are OEM are noted for being noisy. What's worse is as they wear, the noise level increases. We had similar issues when we had OEM Goodyear's on our Lexus RX, the difference was amazing when we changed to the HP all-season Michelins. Our LE has the Toyo's and we get a little road noise, but a lot depends on how coarse the pavement is and how worn. You may also want to check you tire pressures, when transported, the manufacturers pump up the pressure to insure against flat spotting of the tires, unfortunately the dealers often forget to lower the pressure on delivery.

[kadit]

Hey everyone. After reading some of the testing techniques in your postings, I revisited my rear hatch seals and performed some additional tests. While I got mixed results in how tight the paper would pull through different parts of the seal around the rear hatch, I was concerned that the hatch was not closing tight enough.I noticed there are two rubber booted screw-type adjustment posts on the left and right side of the hatch (you can see them when the hatch is fully open). I pulled back the rubber boots and adjusted the screws so that the posts were a little shorter thereby resulting in a tighter fit around the bottom of the hatch and the ability to close the rear hatch without slamming down so hard.Next I used some 2" wide blue painters masking tape and covered the entire rear hatch seam around the exterior of the vehicle and went for a drive on both city streets and the freeway. What a difference--about 75% of the wind noise was gone. I still had some wind buffeting in the windshield/moonroof area but the cabin was significantly quieter.Before I take my Murano back to the dealer's body shop to have the rear hatch seal permanently fixed, I'm going to Home Depot and get some weatherstriping to put around the interior edge of the rear hatch opposite the rubber seal in an attempt to eliminate the gap between the rear hatch and the rear hatch seal (I think the surface of the rubber seal is not making close enough contact with the surface of the rear hatch along the roof line). This is a cheap temporary fix and will let me determine that, if by tightening the fit of the rear hatch seal, the improvement in cabin noise is permanent.I'll report back after I have driven a few days with the temporary fix.By the way, the gap between the rear roof line and the edge of the rear hatch on my Murano is just over 1/4" wide. Is this consistent with your Muranos? If my gap is too wide, maybe the recent batch of 2009 Muranos have mis-aligned rear hatch hinges resulting in bad seal contact and wind noise.Finally, the tires on my new Murano are Bridgestone Dueler H/T 687's (18" rims). I think they are quieter than the Goodyear Eagles that I had on my 2008 Lexus RX 350 but not as quiet as any of the Michelins that I have had on my other SUVs.Thanks for all of your input and ideas.

[Czarny_Orzel]

Great, wonderfull news!!!! Maybe just an adjustment of the hinges and latch will take care of the issues. Glad that you were able to find the culprit, hopefully this will cure the problem and you can continue to enjoy your Murano in blissful quiet. This should also provide others with a means to track their wind noise problems.

[mo2009]

Great job, kadit!! I will try to follow your method as soon as I get a chance.

How do you rate your road noise? My wife actually pointed out the other day that the road noise is a bigger problem (guess I wasn't clear about the difference between wind noise and road noise. ) Did your method reduce the road noise significantly as well? In other words, would you consider your cabin as "silent" after the fix?

Cheers!

Hey everyone. After reading some of the testing techniques in your postings, I revisited my rear hatch seals and performed some additional tests. While I got mixed results in how tight the paper would pull through different parts of the seal around the rear hatch, I was concerned that the hatch was not closing tight enough.I noticed there are two rubber booted screw-type adjustment posts on the left and right side of the hatch (you can see them when the hatch is fully open). I pulled back the rubber boots and adjusted the screws so that the posts were a little shorter thereby resulting in a tighter fit around the bottom of the hatch and the ability to close the rear hatch without slamming down so hard.Next I used some 2" wide blue painters masking tape and covered the entire rear hatch seam around the exterior of the vehicle and went for a drive on both city streets and the freeway. What a difference--about 75% of the wind noise was gone. I still had some wind buffeting in the windshield/moonroof area but the cabin was significantly quieter.Before I take my Murano back to the dealer's body shop to have the rear hatch seal permanently fixed, I'm going to Home Depot and get some weatherstriping to put around the interior edge of the rear hatch opposite the rubber seal in an attempt to eliminate the gap between the rear hatch and the rear hatch seal (I think the surface of the rubber seal is not making close enough contact with the surface of the rear hatch along the roof line). This is a cheap temporary fix and will let me determine that, if by tightening the fit of the rear hatch seal, the improvement in cabin noise is permanent.I'll report back after I have driven a few days with the temporary fix.By the way, the gap between the rear roof line and the edge of the rear hatch on my Murano is just over 1/4" wide. Is this consistent with your Muranos? If my gap is too wide, maybe the recent batch of 2009 Muranos have mis-aligned rear hatch hinges resulting in bad seal contact and wind noise.Finally, the tires on my new Murano are Bridgestone Dueler H/T 687's (18" rims). I think they are quieter than the Goodyear Eagles that I had on my 2008 Lexus RX 350 but not as quiet as any of the Michelins that I have had on my other SUVs.Thanks for all of your input and ideas.

[kadit]

Well here is the update since my last post. Unfortunately the results are not as good as I had hoped.First, I put 1" wide by 1/4" thick foam weatherstriping around the lift gate to create much better contact with the rubber seal. The result is a much better fit of the entire lift gate and virtually all road/wind noise has been eliminated from the rear of the cabin.I truly believe that the cabin is now free of all significant road noise and I am very pleased with the absence of road noise throughout the cabin.However when my speed exceeds 35 MPH, I still have the whoosing wind sound somewhere in the windshield/moonroof area that is very annoying. I have very closely inspected the engine compartment, windshield wiper area, windshield rubber seal, moonroof rubber seal, and all areas around the two front doors and I cannot find anything that appears to be creating resistance that would cause the wind noise.I'm going to test some ideas to deflect the wind flowing up the hood and the windshield to see if the wind buffeting can be eliminated.I'll let you all know if I have any success. I would also like to hear any of your ideas as well.

[sunny_fl]

I am having exactly the same problems with my Murano.

Two weeks back I bought 2009 Murano SL with dual panel sun roof..

It was a pleasant experience till I take that for a long trip..The wind sound is deafening..It is quite till 50..bearable till 60..after that is unbearable..Now planning to take the vehicle to my dealer next week..

Today I had a 200 miles drive and Now I am having a bad head ache because of that terrible sound..

Will update you on this after that...

[kadit]

sunny_fl:Did you get any answers on the wind noise yet?I continue to have unacceptable levels of wind noise on my 09 SL with the dual moonroof but I have tried everything I can think of to mitigate or eliminate the noise and have had no luck at all.I still keep checking with Nissan dealers and aftermarket manufacturers to find a moonroof wind deflector that will fit the dual moonroof but nothing is available yet. A deflector may or may not work but at this point I will try anything.