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I agree with you. Mine has it as well. They kept the vehicle for a month and supposedly they fixed it. The sound is back and it drives me insane among the rattle around headliner and Around the back of my driver seat.
I also have this rattle around the headliner and back of my driver seat, exactly as you mentioned, did you do anything about it or putting up with it? If you have a solution on yours I would like to hear.
I also have this rattle around the headliner and back of my driver seat, exactly as you mentioned, did you do anything about it or putting up with it? If you have a solution on yours I would like to hear.
Had the same issue with my amg one with adjustable seats in the back
The one I have now is silent.
it has no sunroof and fixed back seats.
It also has a rubber stop which the other seats didnt have
Drivers side mirror I noticed there is a small hole but not on passenger side mirror. Can anyone check there driver side mirror if they have a small hole? Maybe that’s where the noise is coming from when driving?
had a small problem on my car and bought the covers with carbon look discussed here earlier. Painted them in cars color.
looks good and noice went away.
Can only be seen from the inside that its a cover as it does not go all the way down on the inside.
I recently had a new GLE350 courtesy loaner for half a day. It was built in March 2021 and it only had around 1,400 miles. I drove with the radio/music OFF the entire time. As soon as I got above 50mph I started to hear wind noise coming from the driver's side. Naturally, the first thing I did was roll down the window and roll it back up to see if that would do anything, but it didn't. The wind noise got worse the faster I drove. I would definitely be upset if I had just bought this car. Most of my driving is on the highway and I usually drive with the radio off.
Aside from that, the interior was nice. The SUV has a big presence on the road. It's much heavier than I'm used to. And for some reason, I had trouble accelerating smoothly from a complete stop. It's a nice SUV, but I don't think I could get an SUV again. I'm more of a sedan/coupe guy. I don't need all of the extra space and the extra weight would just kill the fuel economy.
I recently had a new GLE350 courtesy loaner for half a day. It was built in March 2021 and it only had around 1,400 miles. I drove with the radio/music OFF the entire time. As soon as I got above 50mph I started to hear wind noise coming from the driver's side. Naturally, the first thing I did was roll down the window and roll it back up to see if that would do anything, but it didn't. The wind noise got worse the faster I drove. I would definitely be upset if I had just bought this car. Most of my driving is on the highway and I usually drive with the radio off.
Aside from that, the interior was nice. The SUV has a big presence on the road. It's much heavier than I'm used to. And for some reason, I had trouble accelerating smoothly from a complete stop. It's a nice SUV, but I don't think I could get an SUV again. I'm more of a sedan/coupe guy. I don't need all of the extra space and the extra weight would just kill the fuel economy.
The whistle is a feature that has been meticulously designed to scare deer off, and thereby prevent damage to your GLE. It gets louder with speed to account for the increased rate of closure.
Interesting your Apr built dont have the same issue. Mine March has it. Mind if you post some pictures of your driver side mirror from front, side, back and from the driver seat? To see if you have a new mirror? Thanks.
Luckily our April 21 built 450 doesn't have this whistle sound. If it did and if I had to add the mirror covers, I'd be upset.
Curious to know why the mirror covers fix the noise issue.
Most likely is the difference in the gap between black plastic and the cover itself on the top side.
The mirrors with small gaps gets less air in there. The covers adds height so that thr air is passing by the gap.
I have surround view, and camera’s in the mirrors. I also have curb lights in the bottom of the mirrors that project the Mercedes logos. Both the camera and curb projection lights have separate lens on the bottom of the mirror that can perturb the airflow. I do not have the whistle.
I know the surround view camera is optional, not sure about the curb light in the bottom of the mirror.
Questions to the folks with the whistle, (1) do you have surround view (cameras on bottom of mirrors); (2). Do you have the Mercedes curb projector light (light projector on the bottom of the mirror)?
Theory: the whistle could be occurring at the bottom, the curb light and camera could perturb the laminar flow at the bottom of the mirror so the whistle doesn’t occur on the back edge, so maybe that is why some hear it, and some don’t?
It must be the gap between the housing and the mirror body. In the beginning several people put O ring material there to stop the whistle. My 2021 53 has a beveled bezel vs the flat one in my 450. Both my 450 & 53 were whistle free with the mirror camera and puddle lights. I have the Acoustic side windows so that might make a whistle less noticeable.
IMO, if the new bezel didn’t eliminate the whistle it has to be something to do with the gap tolerances.
I paid special attention to this when I took my first freeway drive with my (June build) 450 today. Very strong head and cross winds and I heard nothing I would describe as a high pitched whistling sound. There was wind noise, hushed and tolerable, but again it is a very windy day.
I have surround view, and camera’s in the mirrors. I also have curb lights in the bottom of the mirrors that project the Mercedes logos. Both the camera and curb projection lights have separate lens on the bottom of the mirror that can perturb the airflow. I do not have the whistle.
I know the surround view camera is optional, not sure about the curb light in the bottom of the mirror.
Questions to the folks with the whistle, (1) do you have surround view (cameras on bottom of mirrors); (2). Do you have the Mercedes curb projector light (light projector on the bottom of the mirror)?
Theory: the whistle could be occurring at the bottom, the curb light and camera could perturb the laminar flow at the bottom of the mirror so the whistle doesn’t occur on the back edge, so maybe that is why some hear it, and some don’t?
I too have both of these lenses and no whistling noise.
Let’s see what other folks report but I think you might have the right theory.
I have both, and have the noise, quite badly. At the moment, due to the techs having broken most of the clips that hold the mirror housing on, the mirror is taped together with black electrical tape. So, I basically have absolutely no gaps between the pieces of the housing, and yet there’s still a whistle at certain wind speeds and directions.
I do not have the acoustic noise reduction glass, though. Also, when I got the vehicle, we had the front wrapped in that clear protective wrap. The mirrors are done as well. Not sure if that would make a difference or not.
I have both, and have the noise, quite badly. At the moment, due to the techs having broken most of the clips that hold the mirror housing on, the mirror is taped together with black electrical tape. So, I basically have absolutely no gaps between the pieces of the housing, and yet there’s still a whistle at certain wind speeds and directions.
I do not have the acoustic noise reduction glass, though. Also, when I got the vehicle, we had the front wrapped in that clear protective wrap. The mirrors are done as well. Not sure if that would make a difference or not.
I'm the original thread creator from over a year and a half ago. I too have both and have the noise. It's pathetic that this has yet to be resolved through MB. I bought the crappy plastic covers which look terrible but stop the whistling. I can't express how much I dislike this SUV. I just bring this up with the hopes that someone on the fence will read this and think twice. I owed the previous version of the 350 too so I have some history here. I'm sure the usual suspects will reply that they love the newer GLE and its a great truck etc...it's not. At least not in the configuration I was forced to pick back in 2019 (450s were not available). The 350 engine is embarrassingly inadequate on a $70,000 truck and the steel shocks are very harsh. However, I'm not sure if that is solely the shock's fault because I also got stuck with Cooper tires. I now have a rattle on the driver's door which just started. In addition, the windshield wiper hits the upper left frame on high speed (had this fixed one time already). When I called up MB to schedule repairs for these items the service rep said that there we several other recalls that needed to be done, I don't have the energy to research and trade it in right now for another car so I'll probably deal with it for another year or so but I'm certainly not enjoying the experience.
I'm the original thread creator from over a year and a half ago. I too have both and have the noise. It's pathetic that this has yet to be resolved through MB. I bought the crappy plastic covers which look terrible but stop the whistling. I can't express how much I dislike this SUV. I just bring this up with the hopes that someone on the fence will read this and think twice. I owed the previous version of the 350 too so I have some history here. I'm sure the usual suspects will reply that they love the newer GLE and its a great truck etc...it's not. At least not in the configuration I was forced to pick back in 2019 (450s were not available). The 350 engine is embarrassingly inadequate on a $70,000 truck and the steel shocks are very harsh. However, I'm not sure if that is solely the shock's fault because I also got stuck with Cooper tires. I now have a rattle on the driver's door which just started. In addition, the windshield wiper hits the upper left frame on high speed (had this fixed one time already). When I called up MB to schedule repairs for these items the service rep said that there we several other recalls that needed to be done, I don't have the energy to research and trade it in right now for another car so I'll probably deal with it for another year or so but I'm certainly not enjoying the experience.
I have to admit that I am overall not thrilled with our experience with this vehicle. We had the previous model of GLE, which was only 2 years old at the point we traded it in. We had the horrible musty smell from the air conditioning, and the dealership here claimed that there was nothing wrong with it, and that we just had to turn off the air conditioning 5 minutes before turning off the vehicle in the summer in order to prevent water buildup, etc. Which sounds like a lot of "Mercedes couldn't be bothered to fix a design flaw so it's now your problem" kind of thing. Other than that, absolutely loved that vehicle. When the new models came in, one of the salespeople called us and let us take their first demo out for a weekend, and we loved all of the upgrades. The new screen, wireless charging, new look, etc. So we ordered one then and there.
I like the styling. And I like the way the vehicle drives and handles. We got the 450, so we have the better engine experience (from what I've read on these forums) and I have no complaints at all about the auto-stop-start feature. It's seamless and I don't even notice it. The fuel economy on our GLE is amazing considering the way it handles and the size of the vehicle. It's comfortable, we like the electronic features, and if it weren't for the ongoing little problems, I'd say I love it.
However, we have the wind noise. We had the jerky engine that would occasionally rear its ugly head. Finally, a few weeks ago, we got lucky and the error message in the system pinpointed what it was and they swapped in a coil pack from a different unit from the lot to the problem cylinder and now the engine runs as smoothly as when we bought it, and there's no jerkiness. Took a year to sort out, however, and we ended up stranded on 2 occasions. We had issues with the automatic distance feature for distronic (where it monitors car distance in front of you and adjusts accordingly) with the feature constantly getting turned off, but a few software updates fixed that. I find that the vehicle thinks I'm not steering when in fact I never take my hands off the wheel and it pops up the warning symbol, but my spouse never has that issue. Maybe I'm just too smooth with my driving. Who knows. We also find that the automatic dimming of the headlights is REALLY unreliable, and it often will flip the brights back on and flash oncoming traffic, but the dealership says that there are no issues with the diagnostics. Add the fact that we bought the full expensive lighting system which at the time referenced LED multibeams on Canada's M-B web page (but we didn't GET full multibeam functionality, even though they're legal here) and now M-B Canada says it's an extra feature or something on their web page. And just last week I've noticed that the artico material in our seats is cracking on the drivers side, even though covid has made it so we hardly drive it the past year. We have less than 17,000 km on it in 2 years of ownership. So I'd say our experience is way less than desireable.
I like the vehicle, generally speaking, but the number of issues we've had has made me think that we'll be very seriously considering other brands when we buy our next car. For the price point, and the difficulty we've had getting all of this crap sorted out has really soured me on giving M-B our hard earned money again.
Sorry about the long post, but I think I generally agree with you that it's a great vehicle on paper, but there are a lot of issues that M-B has to sort out. Both with the quality and the service level. Especially at this price. Hopefully those of you who didn't take the plunge when they first released it like we did, and are just buying now, will have a much better experience.
I have to admit that I am overall not thrilled with our experience with this vehicle. We had the previous model of GLE, which was only 2 years old at the point we traded it in. We had the horrible musty smell from the air conditioning, and the dealership here claimed that there was nothing wrong with it, and that we just had to turn off the air conditioning 5 minutes before turning off the vehicle in the summer in order to prevent water buildup, etc. Which sounds like a lot of "Mercedes couldn't be bothered to fix a design flaw so it's now your problem" kind of thing. Other than that, absolutely loved that vehicle. When the new models came in, one of the salespeople called us and let us take their first demo out for a weekend, and we loved all of the upgrades. The new screen, wireless charging, new look, etc. So we ordered one then and there.
I like the styling. And I like the way the vehicle drives and handles. We got the 450, so we have the better engine experience (from what I've read on these forums) and I have no complaints at all about the auto-stop-start feature. It's seamless and I don't even notice it. The fuel economy on our GLE is amazing considering the way it handles and the size of the vehicle. It's comfortable, we like the electronic features, and if it weren't for the ongoing little problems, I'd say I love it.
However, we have the wind noise. We had the jerky engine that would occasionally rear its ugly head. Finally, a few weeks ago, we got lucky and the error message in the system pinpointed what it was and they swapped in a coil pack from a different unit from the lot to the problem cylinder and now the engine runs as smoothly as when we bought it, and there's no jerkiness. Took a year to sort out, however, and we ended up stranded on 2 occasions. We had issues with the automatic distance feature for distronic (where it monitors car distance in front of you and adjusts accordingly) with the feature constantly getting turned off, but a few software updates fixed that. I find that the vehicle thinks I'm not steering when in fact I never take my hands off the wheel and it pops up the warning symbol, but my spouse never has that issue. Maybe I'm just too smooth with my driving. Who knows. We also find that the automatic dimming of the headlights is REALLY unreliable, and it often will flip the brights back on and flash oncoming traffic, but the dealership says that there are no issues with the diagnostics. Add the fact that we bought the full expensive lighting system which at the time referenced LED multibeams on Canada's M-B web page (but we didn't GET full multibeam functionality, even though they're legal here) and now M-B Canada says it's an extra feature or something on their web page. And just last week I've noticed that the artico material in our seats is cracking on the drivers side, even though covid has made it so we hardly drive it the past year. We have less than 17,000 km on it in 2 years of ownership. So I'd say our experience is way less than desireable.
I like the vehicle, generally speaking, but the number of issues we've had has made me think that we'll be very seriously considering other brands when we buy our next car. For the price point, and the difficulty we've had getting all of this crap sorted out has really soured me on giving M-B our hard earned money again.
Sorry about the long post, but I think I generally agree with you that it's a great vehicle on paper, but there are a lot of issues that M-B has to sort out. Both with the quality and the service level. Especially at this price. Hopefully those of you who didn't take the plunge when they first released it like we did, and are just buying now, will have a much better experience.
The AC musty smell is probably a truthful explanation. There are drains but condensation will build in the coils and over time bacteria/mold/etc create a smell. It’s not Mercedes specific…we had the problem with Lexus and I know of several friends with other brands-same complaint. There is a spray(can’t think of the name) that you can circulate through the system that helps a lot. In high humidity areas, with hot summers, it seems to happen faster. I was told to turn off AC a few minutes before parking…stupid…no one will think to do that. Unfortunately, there just isn’t a brand today without issues.
Drivers side mirror I noticed there is a small hole but not on passenger side mirror. Can anyone check there driver side mirror if they have a small hole? Maybe that’s where the noise is coming from when driving?
Interesting your Apr built dont have the same issue. Mine March has it. Mind if you post some pictures of your driver side mirror from front, side, back and from the driver seat? To see if you have a new mirror? Thanks.
I could post pictures but my mirrors look exactly the same as the ones posted on this thread.
So far, we know this about the noise:
1) Surround view cameras on the mirror has no effect (members confirmed presence of the noise with the camera).
2) Some people are either filling or covering up the 'gap' and that seems to either reduce or eliminate the noise. However, one member reported he has the noise even when the gap is completely covered so
3) Only other thing I see we can explore is the small 'hole' shown on post #278. I need to double check but I don't think mine has this hole.
Ok - so this is what my tape job looks like. It's completely sealed, and no air is getting in between the white housing and the black frame of the mirror. It did it quite tightly, so there's a bit of a dip, but that shouldn't result in any whistling, I would think. It's like this all the way around, except where I cut a couple of tiny slits so that I could press it down where the accent light meets the mirror frame on the far outside of the mirror. It's also taped around the white casing horizontally as well, there the top and bottom halves of the mirror join. Didn't provide a pic of that since it looks just like this does.
Next is the same spot where another person has that large gap... I finally figured out where on the mirror that would be. We have almost no gap compared to that other picture. You can see a tiny little bit there, but I have my doubts that is what's causing it. The dealership, when they were first trying to sort all of this out, had the entire window taped while they were test driving the vehicle for the noise, and they still heard it even with this part fully taped over. Can't be totally sure, though, as I've never tried taping it over myself.
OK, I have no noise & no hole. It’s possible that the noise might be coming from different places.
Here are some thoughts that you might try. Duct tape leaves a nasty glue residue so I would use clear 1 1/2-2” wrapping tape & remove it after testing.
1. See if you have the new bezel with a tapered edge vs the old one that was flat. (2020 models &?) Apply tape to close the gap on top & sides.
2. Check to see if you have a rubber gasket at the mirror swivel point. I have a gasket on the mirror base. Tape the gap in front.
3. Check where your mirror housing attaches to the car body for gaps. Tape any gaps.
I would do one at a time to try to isolate the source. Those are my thoughts others might have tried something else besides the AM housing cover. Last year some used an O ring in the gap to fix their car.
06-07-2021, 03:10 AM
