Hi all,

I'm chasing a wind/resonance noise on my 2025 Octavia IV Combi 2.0 TDI 150 DSG and hoping someone here has seen the same.

Symptoms:

- A droning/booming sound that starts around 125 km/h and gets louder with speed.

- It's strongly temperature-dependent: only appears above ~25 °C outside. On cooler days it starts much later (140+) or not at all.

- Sounds like it comes from the front. Headwind makes it worse; drafting behind another car makes it disappear.

- It was NOT there for the first few months — it appeared later.

I recorded it and ran a frequency analysis. It's a narrow tonal peak at exactly 129 Hz. The frequency stays fixed at 129 Hz regardless of speed — only the loudness changes. It also continues unchanged when I shift to neutral and coast, so it's not linked to engine revs.

What I've already ruled out myself:

- Tyres: swapped the complete wheel set (summer Hankook → winter Michelin). Noise still there, same 129 Hz.

- Wheel bearings (no change when swerving), balance (factory, smooth), ventilation (no change with recirculation or fan off), roof bars (removed).

- Taped over many seams: hood seal, plenum cover, headlight gaps, windscreen sides, front of the roof rails — no change.

The fixed frequency + temperature dependence + speed relationship all point to an aerodynamic cavity resonance to me, rather than anything mechanical.

Two questions:

1. Has anyone had this and actually solved it?

2. I've noticed everyone I've found online with this exact symptom has the Combi (estate). Can anyone with a hatch/liftback confirm whether they get it too, or is this a wagon-specific thing?

Thanks in advance — happy to share the frequency plot once my account can post images.

Second data point for you — and unfortunately it's another Combi.

I have a 2026 Octavia IV Combi 2.0 TDI 150 (facelift). Same thing:

- Booming/droning starts around 140 km/h and gets louder with speed. At 160 it's noticeably louder but it's the same tone — the pitch never changes.

- Shift to neutral and coast: engine drops to ~1000 rpm, the drone carries on completely unchanged. So nothing to do with revs or the drivetrain.

- Fuel level makes no difference. I thought at one point it only did it with a full tank, but I retested properly and that was a red herring.

I can't answer your hatch/liftback question, but at least you now have a second Combi with an identical signature, on a different model year and in a different country.

One more thing that might be relevant. Separately from the drone, my fuel pump is clearly audible at idle — louder than the engine — but only when ambient temperature is above about 25 °C. Below that it's silent. Same 25 °C threshold you're describing for the drone. Might be coincidence, might not.

That temperature threshold is what I keep coming back to. The thing on these cars that changes state right around there is the active radiator grille shutter. It stays shut at speed when there's no cooling demand, and opens once it's hot and the A/C is working. Open shutters at 150 km/h means flow into the engine bay and a cavity that can resonate at a fixed frequency. It would fit everything you've described: front-ish location, headwind makes it worse, drafting behind another car kills it, nothing below 25 °C, and it appearing after a few months rather than from new.

A few questions so we can look for a common part:

1. When you removed the roof bars, did you take off the longitudinal rails themselves, or just the crossbars? The rails sit in a channel with end caps and those are worth taping over.

2. Panoramic roof? Tow bar? Wheel size?

3. Have you had a look at the grille shutter position via VCDS or ODIS while driving? If it reads open exactly when the drone is there, that's most of the answer.

4. Has the dealer actually driven it with you, and did anything come back from a TPI search?

I'll record mine and run an FFT so we can compare — if I land on 129 Hz too, that's a very strong argument to take to Škoda. Two documented cases in two countries is a lot harder to wave away than one.

check undertray/arch liners etc. Have had one that was slightly loose and made a weird howling sound at specific speeds. Must have caught it on something and ripped a couple of screw fixings. As it plastic it may be slightly softer when weather hot so might change speed it resonates at.

Alasdair