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Since I've been driving Benzes since my first car right out of college (a 1983 240D manual), I am used to a complete absence of rattles and buzzes (NVH: noise, vibration, harshness) from inside the cockpit. I tolerate a bit of road noise because I don't yet know how to completely eliminate that, but if there are 2 coins in my cup holder and they start to make contact, I have to feel around for the source of the noise and somehow make it go away. I can't help it....
So since I got the E550, I've been going insane because I can't play my music as loud as I would like without activating various vibration/rattle modes around the car. Sometimes the engine or road vibration will also activate them.
I did a frequency sweep today and found two main sources which are loud enough that they may be masking other buzzing:
-the rear package deck speaker area (40 +/- 20Hz)
-the passenger side door (80 +/- 20Hz)
-driver seatbelt (not activated by audio, but still annoying)
From other threads, I gathered that possible sources of the rear speaker area rattle are the child seat retaining mechanisms, the center brake light (CHMSL), and the speaker grill itself (I believe there is a TSB on this, anyone have it?)
The passenger door noise is coming from the door card itself vibrating heavily. It's probably intermittently contacting something on the inside so I need to pull it off and apply foam to the places where this can happen. I think I saw a thread about that somewhere but I'm still looking for it.
The driver seatbelt latch mechanism by the side of the seat slides against the seat as the driver's body moves making an occasional creaking sound. I might see if putting some plastic safe dry lube on it shuts it up for a while. Otherwise, I'm not sure how to address this without adding an ugly patch of material to the side of the seat or putting a boot on the seatbelt latch mechanism.
Once I can get the speaker area and door taken care of, I'm sure I will find other culprits. I had a rattle from my center console that went away by opening the sliding cover, but that has gone into hibernation for now...
2016 E350 4Matic wagon, 2019 Ford Expedition, 2019 Chevy Bolt EV
after the brake job our indie mechanic did along with the B service at 50k or so miles, our 2016 E350 wagon's brakes have been absolutely smooth and quiet.
Re-reading this thread (and just getting hearing aids at my wife's insistence), there is something to be said for being deaf at higher frequencies.
Me at 57 years old, I can't hear above 15Khz
But most mechanical noises in our car does come close to 15 Khz....so no worry.
I have not seen old CRT TV anymore, that thing supposedly its flyback transformer is humming at +-15.75Khz.
When CRT TV or Monitor was still in use, I can hear them humming....but me much younger back then.
I have notch loss somewhere in the middle of the range, but certain frequencies also get distorted to be even more annoying. I guess I'm not old enough yet... :P
Back in the late 90s, I had a similar hearing test. Once done, I was asked why I was there, my results were normal for a man in his late 30's. I answered, "Apparently I am not hearing well, " and the audiologist replied: "you are married, correct?". I started laughing. My ex was not happy when I mentioned it to her.
Mercedes SLR McLaren 722 S Is Extremely Rare Example Modified by McLaren
Slideshow: A one-of-one U.S.-spec Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster became even rarer after a factory-backed transformation at McLaren's headquarters.
It is part number: A 000 983 71 10 and it looks like this:
