RESOLVED Is motor whine normal?

[stjara]

It's an intentional design, not a design flaw, as we've been told.

You need to get your car checked out by service then. There should be no lane wandering. I used HA a few nights ago and it was fine, even in dense fog.

Thanks Neurio. They checked it out and found no problem. It's in for repair again as the frunk isn't closing and the weather seals are coming off around the lower curves on the doors. As I note, seems a lot of people like the whine. I respect them, but I don't like it at all. If we wanted things like fake engine noise as BMW does I'd like to be able to select "whine feedback" as an option. But I bought the car for its represented quiet cabin and cabin isolation is generally something upper end 4D vehicles aspire to. I think it's a design flaw and will likely not be in the Gravity, as another writer noted. Regarding the highway assist, I use on #684 which is pretty curvy at about 75mph and it starts okay but starts to wander on curves and seems to get closer to semis when I pass rather than distancing as the Tesla did well. I think we're all interested in the evolution of electric vehicles and cars in general. I enjoy the exchange. Btw I'm not even sure the LIDAR is set up in our systems. Does anyone know?

 

[stjara]

You know the biasing is your own self doing =) If you leave your hand off the wheel, it will stay centered like before

Thanks h. I didn't at first from the description and was disappointed, as it was a really impressive maneuver on my Tesla Y, but it feels like it moves closer to semis sometimes. I'm hoping the Gravity will speed up the software development since we have so much hardware all ready for it.

 

[Lucken]

Good ty, ty, ty. Are the negative reviews removed? People like driving their 747??? Can't even listen to music on a low level. They need to figure out an insulation addition and not tell people it's to alert pedestrians who don't even hear it.

I have the motor whine like everyone else and I’m ambivalent towards it, but it disappears at highway speed. I have virtually no wind noise unless it’s a very windy day and then all cars will have it. You yourself said your loaner is much quieter, so you can see there are Lucids that are much quieter. The last thing I’d liken noise levels in my Pure to is a 747.

Your car has issues that many others don’t. Give service a chance to make things right.

 

[stjara]

You most likely have an issue with door seals get that checked out. Also are you actually using Highway Assist? Your description does not describe it AT ALL.

Yup. The door seals kept peeling away along the lower door curves They fixed twice. I ordered some good 3M contact cement and did it myself finally. But I can't tell if the seals are lining up. Have tried slips of paper and thinking of trying construction line chalk to see where the seals hit each other. It's at the dealer now and they're checking seal alignment.

Def using the HA as I default to speed setting from it when i'm coming up on curves with traffic. My wife said it felt like the car was on ice and I documented on dash cam and gave to service. I don't think I should be assisting on a turn but keeping my hands on the wheel. Service staff is really nice but they can only do what the techs can. I have a loaner GT now and it sorta does the same wandering so I gather its software. Not sure why everyone else's car sticks to the lane so well. Maybe on straight roads it's a lot better but in the northeast we don't have straight runs. And as noted elsewhere the whine in this GT loaner is much lower than my touring. Maybe an extra layer of firewall insulation? Dunno.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

It’s interesting as the front motor in the touring is lower powered than the GT, and the motor whine in the GT mostly goes away above 35-40mph unless you decelerate rapidly, so maybe the lower power in the touring motor has something to do with more perceived whine? I do know that not isolating the front motor via mounts was a deliberate choice by Lucid, but now I’m curious if in general there is a bigger difference in NVH in Touring vs GT? As for your question about Lidar, its active, it makes the cruise control in my experience better than any other car I’ve driven, slowing and accelerating more gracefully when other vehicles jump into or leave your lane. Its adaptive cruise is superior to any Tesla rental I’ve had using auto-pilot, which lunges or lurches, my wife’s XC40 EV or my prior Mercedes. Highway assist right now in my opinion does poorly on curves above 60mph, but is mostly fine on better marked highways with minor curves. Theres room for improvement in the highway assist software, in which other automakers have many years more experience.

 

[Tesla2Lucid]

@stjara I have similar issues with HA and the whine and not happy about either. Don't let the masses here dissuade you from complaining , especially since you seem to be giving Lucid a chance to correct. Anyone who says, "then Lucid's not for you" is a dog whistle for "get lost, son!" Don't listen when they discount you either; I can read between the lines and hear your valiant tries and you ain't no dummy!

There are some amazing people on this forum, some who are not treating you on this thread so nicely, but that's because they're overly protective of the brand! I was the first dozen car deliveries in the the world to get my Air! Yes, I can hear the peanut gallery saying, "ya, ya, we know", and also the first 0.25K people to get a Tesla so know the journey! I have seen amazing things from Lucid and the growth of the company and also their steadfast desire, from the top, to take care of their customers on this bumpy journey. Sometimes the local service centers don't live up to the VP's expectations so that's when its time to escalate. Contact the admins on ways to do that. @hydbob or @borski are helpful a ton!

Also, this is the best dam DRIVING car I've ever driven, and there are a lot of cars in that denominator! It doesn't mean that the experience can not improve!

1. "Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants" --Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis

 

[Leftlane]

The front motor whine was def a contributing factor for me to cancel my reservation - I would prefer insulated quietude. I still really like the Air but not that sound - I would love my wife to check out the Gravity but if it also has that whine it would be an immediate dealbreaker for her.

 

[Sid432]

The front motor whine was def a contributing factor for me to cancel my reservation - I would prefer insulated quietude. I still really like the Air but not that sound - I would love my wife to check out the Gravity but if it also has that whine it would be an immediate dealbreaker for her.

Have you tried Pure RWD. I have heard it’s much quieter because the whine comes from front motors?

 

[Bunnylebowski]

My car has been in service so many times I’ve lost count, but IDGAF cuz it’s still the best car I’ve driven in most ways that matter to me, and better at road tripping than everything I’ve owned. Yes, even better than my departed 1986 Volvo 240GL wagon which was in the shop more than the Lucid, and I considered that car a friend in spite of all the times it betrayed me. So to me a rude seatbelt chime is personality, so is the motor whine, because it’s not like somebody made a mistake, but instead those things are that way due to deliberate choices which some of you just don’t like. That’s ok, but it doesn’t mean the car is wrong. If your interior noise levels are averaging above 65dB on 19” wheels at 75mph as I measured in my car, maybe that’s wrong (if the touring is on 20” Michelins those are louder tires!) as low NVH is something quality auto makers universally strive for and Lucid could improve there, and I know they read these posts and take note and often incorporate suggestions into future updates, and maybe some suggestions even alter manufacturing. I do criticize them. Hell I’ve been asking Lucid since day 2 of owning the car to make cross traffic braking have an alert only option instead of just violently braking if it detects an approaching car, and yet they haven’t fixed that, which I actually do consider an annoying flaw and a simple feature offered by every other car I know that has automatic braking. It never occurred to me that I should also add that such an oversight is unbefitting of a luxury vehicle, as the car is still really damn nice, and drives through traffic like a ghost floats through walls. I figure they know what they’re doing over there in Casa Grande and Newark, and are trying to correct issues as they arise and hopefully preventing them in future cars. If they weren’t, well we know what that looks like and it’s called Fisker. The Lucid has Crazy long range, amazing storage space, shockingly good performance given the weight, great looks, better charging than many competitors, great massaging seats and the best 360/mirror cams I’ve seen….. but the sound the motor makes from 1-40 mph and the noise that goes away as soon as you buckle up as required by law are too much to handle? Mmmmmmkay.

 

[Bobby]

The front motor whine was def a contributing factor for me to cancel my reservation - I would prefer insulated quietude. I still really like the Air but not that sound - I would love my wife to check out the Gravity but if it also has that whine it would be an immediate dealbreaker for her.

I like the sound, very futuristic, Way better than the fake sounds many cars now have.

 

[Cosmo Cruz]

The front motor whine was def a contributing factor for me to cancel my reservation - I would prefer insulated quietude.

Rolls Royce

 

[borski]

@stjara I have similar issues with HA and the whine and not happy about either. Don't let the masses here dissuade you from complaining , especially since you seem to be giving Lucid a chance to correct. Anyone who says, "then Lucid's not for you" is a dog whistle for "get lost, son!" Don't listen when they discount you either; I can read between the lines and hear your valiant tries and you ain't no dummy!

For what it’s worth, I’m not super thrilled with the “go away” responses either, but I can understand where they’re coming from. I’m a New Yorker by upbringing and personality lol; @stjara comes off a little aggressive, albeit almost certainly unintentionally, which in turn puts others on the defensive almost instantly.

There are some amazing people on this forum, some who are not treating you on this thread so nicely, but that's because they're overly protective of the brand! I was the first dozen car deliveries in the the world to get my Air! Yes, I can hear the peanut gallery saying, "ya, ya, we know", and also the first 0.25K people to get a Tesla so know the journey! I have seen amazing things from Lucid and the growth of the company and also their steadfast desire, from the top, to take care of their customers on this bumpy journey. Sometimes the local service centers don't live up to the VP's expectations so that's when it’s time to escalate. Contact the admins on ways to do that. @hydbob or @borski are helpful a ton!

Thanks for the kind words; I think the crux of this confusions is that the experience described differs so vastly from our own, and from the majority. Whine notwithstanding (as that’s obviously just an opinion/preference), the described issues with HA swerving across lanes, crappy sound, and so on are very different from our lived experiences.

So that leads us to believe something is wrong with this specific vehicle, not suddenly the model as a whole.

I think it’s good to remind everyone that we all have the same goals here. We all want to drive this badass car and love it.

Also, this is the best dam DRIVING car I've ever driven, and there are a lot of cars in that denominator! It doesn't mean that the experience can not improve!

1. "Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants" --Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis

Amen.

 

[stjara]

It’s interesting as the front motor in the touring is lower powered than the GT, and the motor whine in the GT mostly goes away above 35-40mph unless you decelerate rapidly, so maybe the lower power in the touring motor has something to do with more perceived whine? I do know that not isolating the front motor via mounts was a deliberate choice by Lucid, but now I’m curious if in general there is a bigger difference in NVH in Touring vs GT? As for your question about Lidar, its active, it makes the cruise control in my experience better than any other car I’ve driven, slowing and accelerating more gracefully when other vehicles jump into or leave your lane. Its adaptive cruise is superior to any Tesla rental I’ve had using auto-pilot, which lunges or lurches, my wife’s XC40 EV or my prior Mercedes. Highway assist right now in my opinion does poorly on curves above 60mph, but is mostly fine on better marked highways with minor curves. Theres room for improvement in the highway assist software, in which other automakers have many years more experience.

Ty B.Appreciate it. I didn't know the motors were different vs just detuned. Seems to explain the difference in volume as the GT whine is acceptable for me. It is the worst at 38, but I'm getting the sense that any mitigation falls to me as they say it's normal. Seems the same for aligning the door seals. The Touring is seeming more downscale than I thought as far as details. Hoping and waiting for the software fixes for HA which are certainly gonna come.

 

[hydbob]

Ty B.Appreciate it. I didn't know the motors were different vs just detuned. Seems to explain the difference in volume as the GT whine is acceptable for me. It is the worst at 38, but I'm getting the sense that any mitigation falls to me as they say it's normal. Seems the same for aligning the door seals. The Touring is seeming more downscale than I thought as far as details. Hoping and waiting for the software fixes for HA which are certainly gonna come.

Until you run the decibel test outlined above, you can't really know if your car is out of spec or not.

 

[donfenn]

Ty B.Appreciate it. I didn't know the motors were different vs just detuned. Seems to explain the difference in volume as the GT whine is acceptable for me. It is the worst at 38, but I'm getting the sense that any mitigation falls to me as they say it's normal. Seems the same for aligning the door seals. The Touring is seeming more downscale than I thought as far as details. Hoping and waiting for the software fixes for HA which are certainly gonna come.

Just a couple of comments.. I have AWD on Pure. At first whine was a new thing, slightly annoying for the first few days, but got used to it --and now I actually like it. It is quieter than many high performance internal combustion engines. I don't understand your downscale comment between models, unless you are referring to content, options and interior finishes... The build quality and fit/finish on my Pure is as good or better than the four GT loaners I have had during minor service issues... My observation is that the quality of assembly seems to be same for all models.. Door seals are the same on every Air... BTW, I did have one loose seal when I first got my car, but it was an easy fix...

 

[Bunnylebowski]

I’d add the the Michelin 20” standard on the touring are known to be noisier than the 19” PZeros. That may be contributing. I do notice the sensation of a little cold air entry at higher speeds toward the front corner of the drivers door close to the mirror. I stuffed a microfiber towel in there to see if that would affect sound levels, but noticed zero change in the noise levels though, so I think the wind noise sound is actually air turbulence going over the mirrors and is just audible through the glass.

My comment on the whine possibly being more noticeable on a lower power motor (touring vs GT), is that motor whine seems to occur within a lower range of RPMs and goes away at higher RPMs, so a lower powered motor is going to spend more time at lower RPMs thus maybe making the whine more noticeable? This is a total guess of course.

 

[Lucken]

I’d add the the Michelin 20” standard on the touring are known to be noisier than the 19” PZeros. That may be contributing. I do notice the sensation of a little cold air entry at higher speeds toward the front corner of the drivers door close to the mirror. I stuffed a microfiber towel in there to see if that would affect sound levels, but noticed zero change in the noise levels though, so I think the wind noise sound is actually air turbulence going over the mirrors and is just audible through the glass.

My comment on the whine possibly being more noticeable on a lower power motor (touring vs GT), is that motor whine seems to occur within a lower range of RPMs and goes away at higher RPMs, so a lower powered motor is going to spend more time at lower RPMs thus maybe making the whine more noticeable? This is a total guess of course.

Not sure that’s the case since there seems to be so much variability in reported wind noise. I have very little and what I do have is generally the result of strong headwinds. My gut tells me if it was air turbulence over the mirrors, everyone would be reporting essentially the same noise levels.

 

[stjara]

@stjara I have similar issues with HA and the whine and not happy about either. Don't let the masses here dissuade you from complaining , especially since you seem to be giving Lucid a chance to correct. Anyone who says, "then Lucid's not for you" is a dog whistle for "get lost, son!" Don't listen when they discount you either; I can read between the lines and hear your valiant tries and you ain't no dummy!

There are some amazing people on this forum, some who are not treating you on this thread so nicely, but that's because they're overly protective of the brand! I was the first dozen car deliveries in the the world to get my Air! Yes, I can hear the peanut gallery saying, "ya, ya, we know", and also the first 0.25K people to get a Tesla so know the journey! I have seen amazing things from Lucid and the growth of the company and also their steadfast desire, from the top, to take care of their customers on this bumpy journey. Sometimes the local service centers don't live up to the VP's expectations so that's when its time to escalate. Contact the admins on ways to do that. @hydbob or @borski are helpful a ton!

Also, this is the best dam DRIVING car I've ever driven, and there are a lot of cars in that denominator! It doesn't mean that the experience can not improve!

1. "Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants" --Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis

Thanks so much for the info and defense, T2L. The pathology of the internet is unfortunate, and weird. Especially so when I'm a member of their "club". In CT a week ago I had a guy in a white pickup start calling me a liberal commie a-hole at a traffic light because I was driving an EV. No words exchanged, no political window or bumpers stickers, 9:30 at night. Dark. But def nicer to be defended than attacked. Clearly a more effective way to talk about stuff.
Yeah, the car def drives better than either of the Teslas I had - 2015 S and 2022 Y. There seems to be a lot of weatherstripping but it doesn't seem to be meshing. They have the car now so we'll see but the GT seems to have been better finished than my Touring and comparing sound levels is apples and oranges. Def looking forward to software updates. S

 

[stratus]

Thanks so much for the info and defense, T2L. The pathology of the internet is unfortunate, and weird. Especially so when I'm a member of their "club". In CT a week ago I had a guy in a white pickup start calling me a liberal commie a-hole at a traffic light because I was driving an EV. No words exchanged, no political window or bumpers stickers, 9:30 at night. Dark. But def nicer to be defended than attacked. Clearly a more effective way to talk about stuff.
Yeah, the car def drives better than either of the Teslas I had - 2015 S and 2022 Y. There seems to be a lot of weatherstripping but it doesn't seem to be meshing. They have the car now so we'll see but the GT seems to have been better finished than my Touring and comparing sound levels is apples and oranges. Def looking forward to software updates. S

If he didn’t try to cut you off and blow black smoke in your face , he was being civil.

 

[stjara]

Just a couple of comments.. I have AWD on Pure. At first whine was a new thing, slightly annoying for the first few days, but got used to it --and now I actually like it. It is quieter than many high performance internal combustion engines. I don't understand your downscale comment between models, unless you are referring to content, options and interior finishes... The build quality and fit/finish on my Pure is as good or better than the four GT loaners I have had during minor service issues... My observation is that the quality of assembly seems to be same for all models.. Door seals are the same on every Air... BTW, I did have one loose seal when I first got my car, but it was an easy fix...

thx D. Bunnylebowski pointed out that the motors were different, which I didn't know, so I assumed the mounting and such also were different so comparing them as equals seemed pointless as far as sound. They can't make my Touring as quiet as the GT since it's a different animal so to speak. And 61 db in the GT at 38-41 mph. Will check my touring next week when i get it back.