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Weather Strip Silence

The sound of sound engineering

Next time you're driving, take some time out for a second or two. Turn off the DVD player. Hang up the cell phone. Put the iPod on pause. Even though you're hurtling down the interstate sipping on your 86-ounce soda, you may in fact hear the miraculous sound of sound engineering—silence! There are many factors that contribute to a relatively silent automobile interior.

Cost of Quiet

First is expense. A top-of-the-line luxury automobile usually has enough engineering built in to silence everything short of Krakatoa from ever reaching the confines of the interior. An econobox, on the other hand, is usually built with low cost in mind. As a result, the cabins of less expensive rides are a bit more susceptible to engine noise, road buzzes, transmission whining, and wind noise—the most noisy of noises. Regardless of which end of the scale your vehicle lands on, wind noise is one of those things you will definitely notice when you hear it. Whistles, whooping and whining can be caused by worn, loose, or misaligned weather stripping. If the weather strip comes loose, a little glue can save you big money in the long run.

Thanks to strategically placed strips of rubbery weather stripping, automobiles can rip through the air while we converse about movies or argue over directions inside. Even though the outside of the car is full of seams, doors, trunks, and sunroofs, the weather strip tucked inside the seams, around door frames, under trunk lids, and in between door pillars not only keeps out roaring wind, but water and weather as well. This weather strip is usually held in place by hidden clips, or weather strip-specific glue.

Got Glue?

This type of glue is known as contact cement, for it sticks to things it makes contact with, and even better to itself. If your car or truck has been around long enough for a few presidents to come and go, or gets an unusual amount of sun, this glue can lose contact with the weather strip. Once the glue fails, the weather strip comes loose and newfound whistling and noise can make its way into the relative quiet of your cabin. Worse is that water can also make its way in. Rotten carpet, musty odors, and a rusty floor pan are right around the corner. Loose weather strip is also prone to getting pinched in the door and shearing. The fix is simple.