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Plastic piece in Honda rims

What is the plastic piece in Honda rims?

Shops are noticing a plastic piece installed in Honda rims. plastic noise dampener in Honda rimsThese plastic pieces are acoustic dampeners to reduce pipe resonance.

What is pipe resonance?

Pipe resonance is generated when the tire hits a bump or pothole in the road. The noise is simlar to the sound produced when you bounce a basketball or volleyball on the floor. When a tire hits a bump or pothole, the pipe resonance is transmitted into the cabin, resulting in objectionable noise.

Pipe resonance is directly related to the shape and capacity of the air space

Since the tire size and air space are a known quantity, Honda determines the resonance frequency for the that Honda rim. The acoustic dampener acts to cancel out that frequency, thus suppressing pipe resonance.

Honda accoustic tire noise dampener

Honda uses Helmholtz resonance concepts

The Helmholtz resonance concept is found in vehicle exhaust systems to eliminate the droning sound. For more information on Helmholtz resonance, see this article.To reduce tire noise, Honda designed a plastic resonator that wraps around inside rim. The acoustic dampener generates the same frequency as the pipe resonance generated by the tire.

When the tire noise is generated, the dampener resonates at the same frequency, causing the air  disturbance near the vents to pass through and cancel out the pipe resonance sound.

How the Honda acoustic resonator is attached to the rim

The resonators are made from lightweight resin and are snapped into the rim structure without using any bolts or adhesives.Honda also relies on Centrifugal force to secure the resonators to the wheel more firmly.


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