widetyres

Hi,

I bought a Hawkeye WRX in October - I love it for bombing down a country lane and I'm totally converted to the 4wd. However, I do a lot of motorway miles for my commute and the buffloudeting wind noise above 60mph is driving me insane!!!

It coming from the centre of the car near the base of the windshield - it's not coming from the side pods (although I did put some foam and tape inside them for good measure).
I have had the windscreen fitted twice now, I've also taken the scoop apart but didn't find anything wrong with it.

The next stage I guess would be to start taking the dash apart, but I'm a little reluctant to do that without knowing it'll help - at the moment I'm pretty convinced that it's just scoop and therefore a design issue the car. If that were the case it'd be such a shame - this car has so much potential for fun but it won't work as a daily commuter if I can't get rid the noise.

Any suggestions and experience on this would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers.

neil-h

I could be wrong but I have a feeling your chasing something you simply won't achieve in an Impreza. They aren't quiet cars in the first place, I know my hawk certainly isn't. If you want a quiet motorway cruiser then an Impreza is never going to be that car, the scoop alone does all sorts of noisy things to the airflow over the front end.

JDM_Stig

iTrader: (3)

check the bulkhead grommets are still intact, a lot of people use them for access into the car for various mods.

mazbow

Try your wiper blades mate might sound stupid but I had a similar thing happen which stopped when i changed them

widetyres

Thanks, I'll have as look at this later on this arvo.

widetyres

Yep, read that this can be an issue , I fitted Bosch aero twin retro fit flat blades ( most aerodynamic ones I could find) and it hasn't really made any difference in my car unfortunately.

widetyres

Perhaps this is the case and that's my fear I guess - for sure, I don't expect it to be silent (used to convertibles), just civilised enough that i can hear the stereo on the motorway.

InTurbo

iTrader: (3)

I've had two Hawks now and not come across this problem. As been mentioned by Mazbow and jdm-stig see if there's any grommets been damaged due to the fitting of boost gauges or amp's ect.
With the wipers you could always remove them to be fully sure there not the cause.

widetyres

This has really helped - an aftermarket alarm is on the car and some of the wiring is passing through the grommet on the passenger side - I shoved a bit of sponge into it and a good amount of the noise has gone!!!

Thanks very much for this suggestion!

I think that this has solved the issue I was first trying to solve, but there is still the buffetting wind noise that was introduced by the screen being refitted that I need to resolve.

jaygsi

iTrader: (46)

Windshield? Come on you have to be kidding me

Sell it, you know nothing at all about cars

quattroowner

iTrader: (5)

Does it look like a aftermarket /replacement windscreen. Common if it's been fitted incorrectly or lack of bond or wrong bond line to get a lot of windnoise

darren.T

I have a hawkeye sti and have recently had a windscreen replaced by autoglass, since the work has been done I have had wind noise from the bottom of the screen area which starts at about 50mph and gets louder the faster I go. I have had autoglass back out twice to try and rectify the problem but with no luck. Has anyone got any ideas what they could be doing wrong as I am going to their workshop tomorrow instead of phoning them, so the more info I am armed with the more likely I can finally get it sorted.

BrownPantsRacing

iTrader: (6)

Have a look at the shape of the windscreen rubber on the outside. Original my hawk had no wind noise, but after a recent front screen change they fitted a new rubber of a different shape and it's loud as hell. Drives me mad!

darren.T

Yeah thanks, I have been on about the rubber to the fitter that last came out to me, he admitted that it is not a genuine part. But the problem is because the noise was coming from the bottom where there is no rubber he didn't want to touch it. I took him for a test drive and he was surprised how loud it was. Did you complain about your noise? If so did you get anywhere?

BrownPantsRacing

iTrader: (6)

I never got a chance as life got too busy with the arrival of our 2nd child, so I've just lived with it. Is very annoying though. May still contact the insurance company.

darren.T

I agree it is very annoying, the noise is so loud you can hear it over the road noise and exhaust noise. How long ago was yours fitted? I would still contact insurance if you are not happy with it

BrownPantsRacing

iTrader: (6)

Mine was probably 6 months ago. I may still call them though.

jazzyjembreaze

iTrader: (11)

Factory windscreen on my Hawk & no noise ,, I'd say aftermarket & or poorly fitment is your problem

darren.T

That is what I'm thinking, my original windscreen no noise this one is terrible. I am convinced the screen is non genuine as I was told the seal wasn't. Just going to have to stick to my guns and demand a genuine one and see what happens. Can anyone tell me if I am right to be able to demand genuine parts? I have just rang autoglass direct and paid my £75 windscreen excess

widetyres

Hi,

I think it must be the non genuine seals - although some wind noise got removed by the grommet filing it's still pretty bad and isn't from the side window (I've taped it up completely and no difference).

On my car I had the windscreen initially re-fitted with the original screen and they put on a new seal (guessing non genuine), then I siliconed it trying to get rid of the noise (non acidic so shouldn't have been an issue) but still no difference -took it back and asked them to refit it, which they were happy to, but they couldn't stick the screen back on as the silicone residue was messing up their glue!!!! Had to pay for a new screen!!!! - was really happy with that as you can imagine!!!.

Will go back armed with this post and see what they say. Please do let me know if any of you get to the bottom of it yourselves. I will keep you posted.

Cheers.

darren.T

Having to pay for a new screen is why I didn't fancy investigating myself. It's their fault not mine. I took my car back today and they are going to refit my screen again. The guy there was actually really helpful. He is looking into the design off the window seal and said he try his best to locate a original seal. So I'm booked in for Tuesday so I'll see how it goes

widetyres

Fingers crossed!

widetyres

Bit of an update for you on this:

The symtoms on my car are exactly the same as yours Darren - noise really starts at 50mph, gets progressively worse and seemed to be coming from the bottom.

I spent a bit of time taping up various parts of the screen (one time along the sides, another time along the bottom) but wasn't getting any reduction in the howling wind noise. I'd drawn a blank then one day thought I'd tape up the top of the screen - WOW!!! What a difference! :-) The noise completely disappeared!

Yesterday I took the car to my local National Windscreens (who have been very helpful and understanding about this) and took their manager out for a drive on the dual carriage way. Once we'd taped up various bits of the car and done several runs to and fro, he admitted that there was something wrong with the non-genuine seal and that they're going to order me in an OEM one and get it refitted - great result and really pleased!!!

As I mentioned, I too thought that the noise was coming from the bottom of the screen, but it was actually the top - I do have a pic of how I taped it up, but this forum only seems to show URL linked pics and I don't have a place to link them too. Essentially, it was using decent masking tape (or I did use packing tape at one time) all the way along the back edge of the top of the seal and then over the corners too.

Good luck with your own screens - hopefully this helps.

darren.T

Thanks for the update, funnily enough I've just gone through exact same procedures and have had the same findings.
Autoglass fitter was in car with me doing runs taping off different parts to eliminate certain parts. They then finally admitted a genuine seal should solve the problem, which I suggest to them weeks ago lol.
Didn't want to post anything until the seal has been fitted and problem solved, I'm booked in next week hopefully for the last time and will update then.
Glad your issue has been sorted widetyres. Has your new seal been fitted yet?

y3L0

Be very interested to see the pic of where you taped the windscreen, I get a strange noise on my foz at higher motorway speeds sometimes.

darren.T

Y3LO, if u message widetyres he has pics, but basically all you are trying to do is tape the gap between the screen and the body. So eliminating the plastic windscreen surround.
Mine was done in stages first scuttle was removed and the whole screen was taped up and then scuttle refitted, took out for test drive noise had gone.
Then we removed the tape covering the screen seal and the noise returned, which points to the seal being the issue.

BrownPantsRacing

iTrader: (6)

Rang AA Autowindshields about the window rubber fitted to mine Sept last year and they are sending someone out next Tuesday to look at it for me. Fair play to them after all this time.

widetyres

Wow that is good service!

widetyres

Hi. Not fitted yet, but hope to get it done early next week.

widetyres

Here you go: