I think I may have identified the source of the flutter. Yesterday, I finally got around to laying on the ground and looking to see if the grommets were installed in my car, and they were. While down there I decided to look around for a possible cause and when I touched the plastic "under guard" I noticed a tone similar to the flutter so I started tapping it and running my hand across it which made it sound very much like it's the source.

This under cover is probably for aerodynamics but it's not very solid and I think at higher speeds it flutters and the sound seems to come from the door because it's directly under the door.

Does anyone want to investigate this further to see if they can confirm that this is the cause and possibly come-up with a solution? Other than removing it, I don't know how else to "tighten" it or stop it from make the flutter (if it's even what's doing it).

What do y'all think?

 

Well why dont you try this:
have your wife drive the car on the expressway while you tether yourself with a dolly that has extra strength wheels under the front end of the car.
As she ramps it up to about 70mph, you can probably get a real good feel for where the noise is coming from.
I recommend impact resistant eyewear, and a good wind breaker.
helmet is optional, and hopefully your wife wont be in a pissy mood when you give her the keys.

LOL LOL
Just havin some fun.

 

I noticed that too as a potential source of the flutter. But it really sounds like it is coming from the door. Or perhaps it is just turbulence.

The onset is at about 80mph, but will sometimes happen at a slower speed if the wind is strong at a certain angle.

Has anyone gone faster to find out if it disappears at higher speeds?

It's a real mystery.

Rob144

 

*waiting to hear the sonic boom*

I think it may be the rubber gasket that surronds the doors for weather & sound insulation. On the bottom edge of the front doors, this gasket is split into 2 flanges (run your hand along the bottom edge of the door). I noticed a flutter only once, when I was traveling across the bay bridge right at 80mph with cross breeze. As soon as the causeway banked , the flutter stopped. I have not heart since.

I don't know how to replicate this one, but since it only happened to me once, I won't fret. But this does sound like a job for NAVYDOC! (da, DAH Dum!)

 

Here's a question. Does anyone hear it on the passenger side?

Try as I might, I can't figure this one out. And since you've got to travel at high speeds to hear/reproduce it, it is hard to experiment without fear of getting a ticket..... "Well, officer, I have this flutter, see, and well, it only occurs at high speeds and I just tried taping up my weatherstripping to see if I made it go away...."

Rob144

 

I'm pleased to report that the dealer's tech checked for the 4 grommets during first "A" service and found that they were in place. I complimented their delivery process. The SA replied, "At least we're doing SOMETHING right!"

Love this car...

 

Faster than an RL owner wind testing his weather-stripping....More powerful than a 300..errr...290hp VTEC... able to leap into an GS300's trunk without hitting my head...it's a Thunderbird...it's a hydroplane... it's...it's... NavyDOC!

 

What's up Doc? Geez...I have been paging you all weekend. Where have you been? You see...there is this flutter....

Now get 'er done & report back to base camp.

 

I took the day off for a drive around northeast San Diego county (I-8 East to the Sunrise Highway North, to route 79 South back to I-8 for the drive home).

I thought I'd troubleshoot the wind noise out on the open road. I put strips of corduroy into the lower driver's door weatherstripping and the inner door to try to keep the clips from wiggling or the rubber from flapping. Going east, I thought I had the problem licked, where speeds up to 90mph produced very little flutter.

However, there must be some directional component, because I heard the flutter come on at around 75mph when going west.

My conclusion is that the flutter comes on at an average speed of 80mph in any direction. So there must be something having to do with wind direction and pressure around the car. I even folded the driver's mirror at 80mph to see if it made a difference, but it didn't.

Making it all the more exciting was the fact that the roads were crawling with law enforcement. Highway patrol with laser units on state roads; Sherrifs on the freeway; highway patrol on the freeway. One even pulled a u-turn on the highway as I drove by. Fortunately, I was not stopped.

At one point, though, I stopped to take a picture and when I got in the car the NAV screen was completely dead. No info would display. I shut down and restarted to no avail a couple of times and was all set to go to the dealer when I did a final shutoff for a minute and the screen came back on. Weird, and a little unsettling.

Rob