Wind noise

[Warren]

What do you guys do other than put earplugs in and suffer on a long trip.
There's almost as much noise with the soft top up and the soft top being down. Of primary problems are the header bow to windshield joint as well as the stupid useless gutters that surround the right and left side of the windshield.
I have been experimenting with covering the little pretend gutters in the stainless steel that face forward. I've also been getting the top stretched more and more and getting the latches to fit tighter and tighter but it's still is deafening

 

[hottigr]

WHAT?

 

[hottigr]

It's really not much better with the hard top on. The relationship of the window seals to the hard top takes some fiddling with the window regulator adjustments. I haven't had the soft top up in years; have you tried adjusting the window regulators to make the soft top seal tighter?

 

[65beam]

I've owned several British, Italian and German cars over the last 50 + years. I've found you have to live with the noise since that wasn't a concern when these cars were built. As you grow older and your hearing goes you'll find the noise goes away. An ENT doctor once asked me why I had lost 60 % of my hearing in the right ear and my response was "My wife sets on that side of the car". Try taking the wife for rides in the Tiger more often.

 

[Warren]

I've had a convertible since 1977 so I think I qualify as knowing what an acceptable amount of noise is..
The absolute dream date is an electric power top but still you have to get out and pinch and pull tuck in if you want your plastic window to last. Then there's the Italian sports car where you can throw it back with one hand driving 15 mph..
Well talk about going off topic where's my red pen
Yes I have been fiddling with the latches and yes this is not my first time I've had the top up It has been up two or three times when I got caught in the rain. I think three times in 11 years with about 2,000 mi a year is pretty fair weather driving.
Kirk , I do have a hard top It's been on once and I know it's not a lot better.
Putting up the windows the regulator adjustment would certainly help but that is not the lion's share of the air noise.

I'm looking for some fine adjustments I guess I'll just go look at Rick J's car. I'm really not into putting on some ear muffs with headphones underneath I kind of like to hear what's going on in case the car starts doing a Michael Jackson, boom Shaka laka laka boom. .

 

[Bryan]

turn the radio knob louder

 

[Warren]

The boom box is on 11 most of the time...
Yes I was lucky enough to get the hard top rubber in place . Looking for a more elegant solution than this.

 

[0neoffive]

The boom box is on 11 most of the time...
Yes I was lucky enough to get the hard top rubber in place . Looking for a more elegant solution than this.

View attachment 13751

Is that the anti-theft latch from Andersen Windows?

 

[Warren]

Is that the anti-theft latch from Andersen Windows?

Hard to say, that car was last on the road in 1977 so maybe Builders Emporium
I did start with a feeler gauge like postcard to get an idea where the leak is worst. Now have an idea of what is next. Since the metal channel is riveted to the header bow that's the last option to remove and shim that.

 

[steven]

Have you checked the wind deflecter available for convertables. A Few Tigers In Australia swear by them. With windows up and the wind deflecter fitted it drops wind noise by 80% Now the one I have pictured needs headrests to attach. A search will find a german maker that has oned for MGB that suites our cars. With that one you have to make the fittings to attach it to the B piller.

 

[grelley]

I am pleased to know that I am not alone out there. My car suffers wind noise. I normally have the hard top on as I haven't got a better place to store it. The wind noise seems better with the soft top up when I use it. Up to 60 mph with the h/top on is acceptable but anything over that starts to get quite loud. I have even driven the car with a stethoscope in my ears to try to pinpoint the the location of the noise. Most of it seemed to come in the region of where the hard top fitted across the front screen frame. I tried a couple of layers of soft rubber in there but it didn't seem to make much difference. I don't think they will ever be like a modern soft top, but that's all part of the experience of driving an old car

 

[michael-king]

I suspect one of the big issues isnt just if wind can get into the gap between the seal and the top but the alignment of the seal, header and the svreen frame. Often i notice the tops on the cars the leading edge of the seal blade is slightly forward of the screen frame.. It still seals but the air wontflow over it as smoothly and can probably deflect the leading edge of the seal slightly... Either of which would cause turbulance

 

[Bryan]

The boom box is on 11 most of the time...
Yes I was lucky enough to get the hard top rubber in place . Looking for a more elegant solution than this.

View attachment 13751

 

[Bryan]

that looks like something from the hood- not good

 

[65beam]

I've had a convertible since 1977 so I think I qualify as knowing what an acceptable amount of noise is..
The absolute dream date is an electric power top but still you have to get out and pinch and pull tuck in if you want your plastic window to last. Then there's the Italian sports car where you can throw it back with one hand driving 15 mph..
Well talk about going off topic where's my red pen
Yes I have been fiddling with the latches and yes this is not my first time I've had the top up It has been up two or three times when I got caught in the rain. I think three times in 11 years with about 2,000 mi a year is pretty fair weather driving.
Kirk , I do have a hard top It's been on once and I know it's not a lot better.
Putting up the windows the regulator adjustment would certainly help but that is not the lion's share of the air noise.

I'm looking for some fine adjustments I guess I'll just go look at Rick J's car. I'm really not into putting on some ear muffs with headphones underneath I kind of like to hear what's going on in case the car starts doing a Michael Jackson, boom Shaka laka laka boom. .

If you look closely at the area of the front hard top seal you'll see that Doug set everything so that the rubber sets at the top of the stainless around the windshield. That might help.

 

[Warren]

Thanks Steven that's part of the master plan for a screens up prepare for warp speed
A member made a hard tonneau to cover the parcel shelf area his was carbon fiber .

 

[steven]

The one I pictured is the upright only. The better quality units have 2 sections the verticle and a horizontal that sits over the parcel shelf

 

[Warren]

I basically used a piece of junk mail a nice playing card thickness 5x7 paper to slide up and down and in the crevices between the rubber gasket of the soft top and the stainless steel of the screen frame. I then removed each hold down for the top and took the rat tail file to elongate the holes by about an eighth of an inch which made a tremendous difference.
I also took some electrical tape and just put them over the a post gutter that doesn't do anything that faces forward. Just doing that takes a lot of the wind noise that is there away whether the top is down or up.. I'd like to get a clear piece of rubber or silicone to put in there to trim down to size.

 

[steven]

If you are talking about the top of the rubber that fitted to the A piller, CAT parts have a rubber that was fitted to the top of those rubbers to finish the top off.

 

[Warren]

The forward facing A pillar of the screen surround is shown in the picture.
Even with the top down there's a pile of noise that is created by that forward-facing gutter like protrusion of the stainless steel screen surround. I was trimming some rubber from another project and thought I'll cram that in there and see what that does. On the other car I just put on a piece of electrical tape but it hasn't got the road test yet.