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I have a 580 and I’ve been impressed thus far in that the vehicle is extremely quiet and very smooth riding overall. The only thing I notice on occasion is a somewhat rough downshift from 3rd to 2nd gear. So far, so good in 3 months of ownership.
Great, thanks for telling us you don't have this problem. I'm pretty sure we are all aware that it is not a problem that exists on every GLE. Sorry in advance for being so direct, but not sure how your comment helps us that do have these issues.
Great, thanks for telling us you don't have this problem. I'm pretty sure we are all aware that it is not a problem that exists on every GLE. Sorry in advance for being so direct, but not sure how your comment helps us that do have these issues.
Sorry to hear you are having this issue too. The reason for my reply was certainly not to gloat, but because you indicated “the wind/road noise in the GLE overall is terrible” [emphasis added] which, as you just said, is not the experience of every owner. I hope you get the issue rectified.
Great, thanks for telling us you don't have this problem. I'm pretty sure we are all aware that it is not a problem that exists on every GLE. Sorry in advance for being so direct, but not sure how your comment helps us that do have these issues.
The comment helped me to put things in context. As you may have noticed, the thread has devolved into a GLC noise thing. Not to worry, we aren't offended by Topic Drift....
2011 Diamond White E550 Cabriolet P2 Sport Ash interior
Originally Posted by mbgle
No, that is not the noise I have been describing on my GLE. The whistling I hear is much more subtle and is coming from outside the driver's window. If you had music on, you would not hear it. However, it is one of those things that once you do hear it, you hear it all the time and listen for it...very annoying.
2020 GLS and mine is doing the same thing and it aggravates the hell out of me considering how expensive this vehicle is and it’s supposed to be the S class of SUVs!! I told the dealer after I purchased it but I’m two hours away so multiple trips it’s not really something I’m looking forward to!!
Purchased a 2021 GLE 450 and have the same issue with a whistling noise on the drivers side only. It starts at 55 mph and then stops at around 73 mph. Will be taking the car back to the dealer to see if they can come up with a solution.
2020 GLS and mine is doing the same thing and it aggravates the hell out of me considering how expensive this vehicle is and it’s supposed to be the S class of SUVs!! I told the dealer after I purchased it but I’m two hours away so multiple trips it’s not really something I’m looking forward to!!
Sorry but GLS is NOT the S Class of SUV's. Not even close. It's an extended GLE with perhaps fancier trim. S class WHOLE different level.
I've noticed that several varieties of the GLE have a whistling sound at a certain speed. Mine disappears when you hit 205 MPH, but it is impractical to continue that speed for long - though....holy cow is it fun!
I have noticed that debris in the foam around the front of the front doors sometimes is a little crooked. You have to straighten it. Dust/dirt/gravel can get in there as well. Once you attend to it, just put a bit of silicone spray on them and the sound goes away. Same inside the hood around the engine isolation foam.
I've noticed that several varieties of the GLE have a whistling sound at a certain speed. Mine disappears when you hit 205 MPH, but it is impractical to continue that speed for long - though....holy cow is it fun!
I have noticed that debris in the foam around the front of the front doors sometimes is a little crooked. You have to straighten it. Dust/dirt/gravel can get in there as well. Once you attend to it, just put a bit of silicone spray on them and the sound goes away. Same inside the hood around the engine isolation foam.
2011 Diamond White E550 Cabriolet P2 Sport Ash interior
Originally Posted by places
Sorry but GLS is NOT the S Class of SUV's. Not even close. It's an extended GLE with perhaps fancier trim. S class WHOLE different level.
totally agree...just quoting Mercedes. My GMC Sierra AT4 has many tech items STANDARD that the GLS does not include like heated steering wheel, HUD, heated rear view mirrors, heated rear seats, adaptive/distronic cruise....some are not even options like remote start on the key fob (cell app is useless when there is no reception), direct radio controls on the steering wheel so I can actually easily interact with the entertainment system, hill assist to keep from rolling back following a complete stop, and rear view mirror camera (so even with a loaded vehicle I can still see behind me), capless fuel fill ...real DRL/Fog lights and real dual exhaust....and no whistle. Beginning to regret getting it. The E550 was great...GLS is not impressing me.
Last edited by MuddyBlueJeans; Jan 24, 2021 at 11:06 AM.
totally agree...just quoting Mercedes. My GMC Sierra AT4 has many tech items standard that the GLS does not include like heated steering wheel, HUD, heated rear view mirrors, heated rear seats, adaptive/distronic cruise....some are not even options like remote start on the key fob (cell app is useless when there is no reception), direct radio controls on the steering wheel so I can actually easily interact with the entertainment system, and rear view mirror camera (so even with a loaded vehicle I can still see behind me)...real DRL/Fog lights and real dual exhaust....and no whistle. Beginning to regret getting it. The E550 was great...GLS is not impressing me.
E550 SOLID car. New generation GLE/GLS one of MB's worse new model releases, too much hit or miss with some misses major.
E550 SOLID car. New generation GLE/GLS one of MB's worse new model releases, too much hit or miss with some misses major.
We cross-shopped (and test drove) the GLE against the GLS, X7, Q7, and Highlander (platinum trim), and my wife loved the GLE the most (580 trim). I thought the X7 was the best, with the GLE 2nd. We'd have ordered the X7 instead of the GLE except for BMW's anemic fan speed even at Max A/C (a deal-breaker in Phoenix).
You can order them with or without RFT, just like the GLE. And tires are a consumable item that you can replace with a different brand or type, most other aspects of the vehicle are permanent.
Last week when I was driving on the highway I heard some kind of wind noise in my car and couldn’t figure out where it is coming from. I opened and closed the windows, Panoramic roof couple of times still had that sound and I can only hear when the music is off.I didn’t care about it after that day thinking that it’s onetime issue.
After I came across this thread I understood it’s not just some random noise and there are lot of people with the issue.
Its F**** crazy to have such noise, Acoustic package supposed to make the car quieter not sure what’s going on.
Some of the past. ’13 CTS V Wagon, ‘15 GL550. ‘17 GLS550. Current: ‘20 GLE580.
Originally Posted by Retired@52
Sorry to hear you are having this issue too. The reason for my reply was certainly not to gloat, but because you indicated “the wind/road noise in the GLE overall is terrible” [emphasis added] which, as you just said, is not the experience of every owner. I hope you get the issue rectified.
i have to agree that “the wind/road noise in the GLE overall is terrible” i ordered a GLE 580 above 106k sticker with acoustic comfort, the road noise is unbearable, there's so much noise coming in through windshield and sunroof, overall this product assembly gets an F if its the best or nothing this gets a nothing, i come from a 2017 GLS550 while its had its issues it wasn't even close to this looking back that car was solid, MB should step up its quality control in their US plant
My dealership refused to fix the issue in the beginning. After I told them it's one of hot topics at MBWorld forum and showed them the LI88.70-P-071478 tip I got from this thread, they did something according to the tip, but the noise didn't disappear (the dealership claimed there's no more noise, which wasn't true.).
I did the taping experiment myself. I used this one from Amazon to put tape around the side mirror. It turned out that the noise is gone with the taping.
Next, I removed pieces of tape one by one until the noise returns.
The photo below is with minimal pieces of tape with no noise. If you remove any of them, the noise comes back.
Note that there are two pieces of tape.
From another Mercedes forum (in non-English), I got to know that many people were able to eliminate the noise after the carbon-look cover is put on.
They ordered the cover for cosmetic purpose and found it fixes the noise issue as a by-product. I placed an order, put it on, and the noise disappeared!!
I am under impression that it's by pure luck. It changes the air flow around the side mirror.
I also think that the cases reporting that the dealership was able to fix it was also by pure luck. It seems that MB doesn't know how to fix it and something needs to be slightly changed around the mirror to redirect the air flow.
The cover turned out to be one way of doing that which worked for me, but may not be universally applicable to all cases (in that MB forum, there's one person who wasn't able to fix the noise issue even with the cover.).
Last edited by GLEowner; Dec 26, 2020 at 05:39 PM.
My dealership refused to fix the issue in the beginning. After I told them it's one of hot topics at MBWorld forum and showed them the LI88.70-P-071478 tip I got from this thread, they did something according to the tip, but the noise didn't disappear (the dealership claimed there's no more noise, which wasn't true.).
Next, I removed pieces of tape one by one until the noise returns.
The photo below is with minimal pieces of tape with no noise. If you remove any of them, the noise comes back.
Note that there are two pieces of tape.
From another Mercedes forum (in non-English), I got to know that many people were able to eliminate the noise after the carbon-look cover is put on.
They ordered the cover for cosmetic purpose and found it fixes the noise issue as a by-product. I placed an order, put it on, and the noise disappeared!!
I am under impression that it's by pure luck. It changes the air flow around the side mirror.
I also think that the cases reported that the dealership was able to fix it was also by pure luck. It seems that MB doesn't know how to fix it and something needs to be slightly changed around the mirror to redirect the air flow.
The cover turned out to be one way of doing that which worked for me, but may not be universally applicable to all cases (in that MB forum, there's one person who wasn't able to fix the noise issue even with the cover.).
In that last pic there’s a white strip between the cf and the black trim. Is that the white paint from the cap underneath?
In that last pic there’s a white strip between the cf and the black trim. Is that the white paint from the cap underneath?
Yes, it's the white paint of the original mirror body. The white paint is visible when you look at it from the behind but barely visible when you stands sideways.
Overall I like the look. It doesn't look fake.
Hi SEPicks, yes, the cover comes with double-sided 3M tapes already taped inside. Just peel the release liner (paper portion) out and put the cover onto the original side mirror.
It comes with additional 3M tapes but I managed to put the covers on at the first attempt. It's a little tricky to position the cover right but not that difficult.
I am not sure if any residues would remain if the covers are removed later.
My suggestion is to confirm that the noise is gone with some taping first to make sure the air flow around the side mirror is the cause.
You also need to drive with the side mirror folded. That's actually the 1st thing to try.
Note that the side mirror won't be folded while driving fast, so you need to slow down enough (almost stopping) to fold it and speed up to test.
It's a little dangerous to drive onto the freeway ramp with the side mirror folded. Please drive extremely cautiously. That's what I did.
Last edited by GLEowner; Dec 26, 2020 at 12:12 AM.
Hi SEPicks, yes, the cover comes with double-sided 3M tapes already taped inside. Just peel the release liner (paper portion) out and put the cover onto the original side mirror.
It comes with additional 3M tapes but I managed to put the covers on at the first attempt. It's a little tricky to position the cover right but not that difficult.
I am not sure if any residues would remain if the covers are removed later.
My suggestion is to confirm that the noise is gone with some taping first to make sure the air flow around the side mirror is the cause.
You also need to drive with the side mirror folded. That's actually the 1st thing to try.
Note that the side mirror won't be folded while driving fast, so you need to slow down enough (almost stopping) to fold it and speed up to test.
It's a little dangerous to drive onto the freeway ramp with the side mirror folded. Please drive extremely cautiously. That's what I did.
I wonder if the covers will work for the GLS X167 as well.. on the website they say it does on the title. I have a black car and the covers actually would look nice and won't show the white strip how you have it on there. If it is just 3M adhesive then it'd be easy to get all the residual off.
The issue on my car is definitely coming from the mirror housing, so maybe this fix can be a two birds with one stone fix. Do you mind linking or DM-ing me the link to the foreign language forum that they talked about this housing cover fixing the wind noise? I would like to read more on that. Thanks!
I purchased a 2020 GLE350 a few months ago. Has anyone else noticed a whistling sound outside the drivers window when driving above 70mph? I don't hear it at lower speeds but once I get on the highway, I can certainly hear it. It's not overwhelming but certainly noticeable and annoying. I had a 2017 GLE and this was not an issue. I didn't order the acoustic comfort package but I didn't think I would hear so much noise outside the window on a $70,000+ car.
I have a 2020 GLE350 with similar noise issues. I had the car at the dealer for a month and they apparently changed out the drivers side mirror. However, the whistling noise has persisted and is very annoying.
I am not sure what to do?
I wonder if the covers will work for the GLS X167 as well.. on the website they say it does on the title. I have a black car and the covers actually would look nice and won't show the white strip how you have it on there. If it is just 3M adhesive then it'd be easy to get all the residual off.
The issue on my car is definitely coming from the mirror housing, so maybe this fix can be a two birds with one stone fix. Do you mind linking or DM-ing me the link to the foreign language forum that they talked about this housing cover fixing the wind noise? I would like to read more on that. Thanks!
I DM'ed you, but there are not much information there, so don't spend too much time to try to read/translate there. This thread has much more useful information.
I would check with the dealership if the side mirrors of GLE and GLS are exactly the same. If so, it's safe to try the covers.
You are not alone .. just bought a 2021 in Nov and with less than 1K miles the high pitched whistling started. First attempt by the dealership was to adjust the housing cover with seal tape based on a MB technical bulletin . . well that didn't work. Apparently MB is familiar with the issue and the next step is the replace the housing cover from a factory direct part . . stay tuned!
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