I have owned my car for five years. It has always had a slight but noticeable wind noise from around the driver's (right) mirror. It has got worse recently, so I had a look at where the mirror mounting connects to the car. I found that the plastic moulding had separated from the gasket and there was a noticeable gap between the mirror mount, the gasket and the window.
I decided to try and fill the gaps with some black RTV. My thinking was that if the repair is ineffective, I can remove it. I drove the car about seventy miles yesterday in a mix of open road and city driving. For the first time, there was no wind noise from the mirror area.

Below is a photo of my repair. It is a bit rough, but it was the principle of the repair that I wanted to test. The second photo is of my passenger side (left) mirror, which shows similar separation as the right side, but much less severe.

Has anyone tried to reshape the triangular mounting piece after heating it with a heat gun? It appears this piece is part of the mirror, and is not available separately. The same goes for the gasket.


Pete M

Gaps filled with black RTV

Gap on LHS


Pete M

 

I had the same issue on my X308 and reduced the noise substantially by getting some double-sided automotive tape, the sort used to hold things applied to the outside like door bumpers and the like. The tape is perhaps 2mm or so thick. I cut short pieces of the tape and applied them in the gap between the mirror and the mirror mounting point on the door frame on either side. It really knocked down the whistling substantially. Once the sun rises I can add a photo of the arrangement. I found reference to this "fix" on the 308 list somewhere.

The tape is "3M auto/advanced Super Strength Moulding tape." The part on the package is 03615.

I took a very narrow bit of tape and just blocked off the uppermost, widest area of the gap between the mirror assembly and its attaching point. It worked well. I suppose I could have filled in the whole gap, but I didn’t. The noise doesn’t annoy me any more. Here are some photos:


Mirror folded out in driving position

Mirror pulled in into storage position. Shows “shallow” depth of bit of tape needed to knock down most of the whistling noise on an X308.

 

Thanks, eliotb,
That's a good idea. That 3M tape is very strong. The X358 mirrors have a different mounting and are less integrated into the bodywork. My problem is with the triangular mounting piece that is in the front of the window aperture. Sometimes it is possible to heat plastic pieces with a heat gun and change their shape. I need to return the mount to its original shape. It may have been overtightened in the past.
On my Series 3 XJ12, there is a stainless steel B pillar cover. In the top of it is a plastic plug. It is known as the 'whistle stop', because of the loud noise that occurs when it is missing. I hope I can make my X358 as silent as my Series 3. Unfortunately, with 20" wheels the ride will never be as smooth.

Pete M

 

I have used a heat gun to reshape the plastic. There is a delicate balance between getting it soft enough to reshape and the texture of the surface flattening out. Works but need to be careful.

 

Thanks Edward,
I have tried a heat gun to reshape the covers for the brake fluid and cabin air filter. Mine were twisted and wouldn't sit flat. They seem to twist back again when they cool. Perhaps I should hold them in place until they are really cold.
I may take the mirror off and try the heat gun. It's great that someone else has gone before so I know what to watch out for.

Pete M

 

Pete,

MOST thermoplastics have a property called "memory". That's what you are fighting.

There's a higher temp point for each where the 'new' plastic condition becomes the new "memorized" shape.

Downside is that if limited to working in open air without precise control of those temps, more harm than good is likely. One might actually need a full mold to support and sustain a given shape whilst hot - as if starting from initial injection.

If it was easy, they'd not sell so many new valve covers.

If it mattered enough? For a lesser effort with more predictable outcome, one might add fasteners to a warped battery cover that pulled it flat, not much care if it took a weird shape when released.....so long as it pulled into an effective working shape when latched.

 

Found this very annoying when I bought the car so tried to isolate the noise and found that covering the leading edge with tape solved it. So after trying a few permanent solutions, I've stuffed the bigger separation with some home window insulation cut to size to fill the gap and then bought some water and heat resistant tape with a shiny finish to seal up the leading edge from top to bottom. No more annoying howl and aesthetically it looks fine, not noticeable unless I point it out. Hoping this tape lives up to the spec and doesn't shrink and go gunky when temps hit the 100's this summer...

 

Hi zenderman,
Thanks for that suggestion, it looks great. I might try that with my left side mirror which is warped, but not as badly as the right one.
All these solutions need to be non-destructive as finding a replacement would be difficult, especially in this part of the world. X350/8 Jaguars in New Zealand must number less than 100.

Pete M