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Sound Deadening Material - Recommendations..?


Kuro

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Hi folks,

 

Given that my Spring project will be a series of audio upgrades, I'm wondering what recommendations there are (if any) for decent sound deadening material.

 

I notice that caraudiodirect have stopped selling Dynamat and stock Second Skin instead...?

 

I've also heard reasonable reports for Brown Bread too?

 

Does anyone have any experience in this field? I'm definately doing the doors, perhaps the boot as well if there's a good case for it.

 

Thanks all :)

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Why so much audio??... you should only need it for the TA announcements on the radio... after this just listen to the ROARRRRRR :yahoo:

 

:blush: Sorry to sound ignorant, but what is the purpose of sound deadning materials?

-Reduce noise going outside of cabin?

-Reduce booming, reverberance in the cabin?

( does it really work in such a small enclosure? :dry: )

-Make the car heavier? :thumbdown:

 

 

As cheapie (and effective) solutions...For RR Road Noise

 

Take the trim plastic out (gentle persuasion, required, but not difficult), plug every hole you see open on the body metal, with TAPE. Some are an open noise path from the wheel arch and floor! ( yes really!)

Open the RR strut Brace Trim, fit some foam type material (old mattress anyone? ;) )

 

Test it and then decide if you need to buy expensive mats...etc.

 

Put too much and you might isolate that beautiful exhaust note...

 

Another recommendation I heard is to put some dampening material on the Subwoofer Face ( between inside face of the trim and subwoofer face. This reduces the booming effect, makes for a better bass feel and means you can hear it better at motorway speeds...

 

This is only some comments I heard, you audiophile gods will probably know more about this kind of stuff... I personally find the Bose SubWoofer makes me sick in certain songs with too much bass... re-arranging my internals... humm maybe I am just too old...

Where's my Norah Jones CD...

 

:D

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  • 5 weeks later...
Why so much audio??... you should only need it for the TA announcements on the radio... after this just listen to the ROARRRRRR :yahoo:

 

:blush: Sorry to sound ignorant, but what is the purpose of sound deadning materials?

-Reduce noise going outside of cabin?

-Reduce booming, reverberance in the cabin?

( does it really work in such a small enclosure? :dry: )

-Make the car heavier? :thumbdown:

 

:D

 

The point of sound deadening is to reduce road noise - it could be used to reduce exhaust noise (not that you would want to do that in the 350z as its awesome)

Another point is to reduce panel rattle and tinny sound you often get when you put speakers in the doors. The front doors will benefit from sound deadening as they are fairly flimsy weak sheet metal.

Does it make it heavier - yes but IMO it makes my enjoyment better than the 0.1 second slower it is. Personally its no different to being a stone heavier and driving it.

 

As for all the branding its a much of a muchness IMO. There is a difference I have found between the likes of Dynamat/Second Skin and the flashing. Personally if I was going things like doors I would use branded stuff as it seems to stick much better as you don't want deadening on the window on a hot day!.

For areas like the boot etc then its worth just going for a couple layers of flashing tape as it can get quite expensive as its a fairly large area.

 

As has been mentioned to get the best result you want to strip ALL the interior panels out of the back and then go round covering off all the holes between the panels. There are quite a few.

 

DON'T cover the air vents in the boot though otherwise your liable to burst your ear drums if the airbags go off!.

 

I've done the first stage of mine - will probably do the next once its nice and dry as I can't really strip it over the weekend with the weather as it is.

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I am currently in the middle of studying how to reduce the road noise ...

I was planning on summarising my results later on once I tried several items and decided the best combination.

 

Currently

 

1. acquired 2mx2m of black felt type material ( similar to what halfords sell for 22 quid) around 5mm thick.

 

2. Removed the trunk carpet

 

3. Cut a a exact shape of the carpet and laid it underneath the original.

 

RESULT: No significant difference on road noise, but water splash sounds a tiny amount muffled. :dry:

 

4. Next I Plugged every visible hole, without removing any trim.

(this is mainly all the holes in the front part of the trunk). I plugged them using a patch of foam/felt and duck tape ( I know , but it is only a trial... i'll do it tidy when i decide what is best)

 

RESULT : Noticeable noise reduction and water splash from the RR arches. Much more noticeable the exhaust sound. :)

(Note my missus who i have not told her anything about what i was doing , noticed the difference! )

 

5. Next applied the Underlay for the trunk mat and the patch holes combined.

 

RESULT : The road Noise is what I would class acceptable, now I can hear the road noise with a Bias towards the front of the car. But best of all the Audio now works at motorway speeds! (without increasing the volume to silly levels :yahoo:

 

 

6. I applied another layer of this felt stuff under the spare tyre cardboard cover, but this had no additional effect ( at least noticeable)

 

This is where I am at right now...

 

Next stage :

 

7. Remove RR strut brace trim and pad it out completely to eliminate the Noise path from the road->Road to Wheel to Hub to Knuckle to strut to suspension mounting body metal. From there it must go straight into the "resonant box" that is the RR Strut brace trim.

I am hopefull this will make the road noise level almost dissappear

 

8. Then test the effect of a Tonneau Cover (alone and with each of the above ideas individually and finally combined) (but this cost money... I am trying to do this on a budget... :D

 

9. Then it is a matter to address the FR road noise. But right now I am very happy with the level of the car. (Maybe add some dampein material to the wheel arch liners ( inside) but I am not sure because they'l get wet, can fall off etc... maybe not very good to do

 

For the Audio Side and Doors, I am not sure of the benefits and for me it sounds like too much trim, mechanism removal.... :headhurt:

 

I'll keep you posted and maybe finally I can send post a "service bulletin" (with the photos!!!! I know.... ;) ) with ideas for improving noise , cost and time to do the job...

 

I'll be interested on hearing your results also, and share the best ideas

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Out of all the products, I'd use Dynamat Xtreme. Better deadening, lighter than standard Dynamat, and dead easy to use.

 

As for how much it sound deadens, I didn't have the hand held SPL meter before the work, but my old show car was HUGELY quieter than the standard car I had parked next to it for daily driving.

 

One little thing, what's with remarks about someone wanting to put some audio in THEIR car?? :wacko:

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I was joking... everyone can do what they want or dont want ... With my comment above I was being a bit anorak-sarcastic about enjoying the "purity" of the car... :p

 

you'll find from other posts that anything that involved parts removal, cables and technology, is not my thing ...

 

However reducing noise and making it "comfortable" at motorway road speeds, is my thing at the moment.

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I haven't tried it yet, but I would suggest a role of Dynamat Xtreme would go a long way to helping. It does two things. Reduces noise in, and also makes for a firmer foundation for the speakers to produce their best sound (when used in doors for example).

 

The trick in reducing road noise, is trying to locate the loudest sources and covering those.

 

Note, do not use on exhausts!! ;):p

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  • 3 months later...

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