I am thinking of soundproofing mine but don't know where to start. I am thinking of using second skin damplifier pro (http://www.secondskinaudio.com) but I have some concerns.

1. How do I take off the chairs and carpeting?
2. Won't the airbag system be affected if I took off the chairs?
3. How much damplifier should I order for a full soundproofing (less the roof)?
4. Is it a DIY project?
5. Is it a good idea to soundproof the doors too because of the wirings in there?

Does anyone have experience with this product?

 

My vehicle is dynamated with inner and outer layers in all the doors and the boot / hatch including boot floor and the rear wheel arches.

Pulling all the trim off carefully and reassembling is extremely time consuming. Done professionally it took over half a day to do the boot, half a day for the rear doors and half a day for the front doors. Used a couple of bulk packs but if your wanting to do all the floor area and everything else except the roof (why not the roof?) you'll need more than that.

Removing the seats has no impact on air bags.

As for wether its DIY. Its not that its hard just time consuming. Can you do without the car while its apart? Do you have heaps of time?

Doors are usually the highest priority if soundproofing for car audio followed by wheel arches, boot including hatch for bass and the floor and then ceiling.

 

The roof just doesn't seem like a place where noise came from but maybe once I get done I will who knows.

I'll start with the doors (inner and outer) first. If the result is good, then I will do other parts. Do you know which part are the easiest to do? I might choose to do it along with the door cause I need my car, especially in this winter season.

How much should I order? Will the shop pack (80 sq feet) be enough for the entire car (excluding the roof)?

 

Hey, we all gotta learn sometime right

It is more advanced for my mechanical level, that's why I'm collecting information from people who are more knowledgable. I don't know much about cars, but I'm willing to learn.

About the airbag...isn't the side airbag attached to the front seats? Are you saying that removing the seats won't do any harm to it?

 

Was there a noticeable difference in sound quality before/after dynamat?

 

Significant improvement to midbass as they are housed in the doors. Reduction in road and external noise means less amplification is required for the same volume and a lowering of the noise floor such that there is an increase in dynamic range. The boot was the most disappointing though but still an improvement. Expected it to improve the sub the same way but didn't make very much noticable difference in my case. Wheel arches definitely cut tyre noise.

If at all serious about car audio just get as much dynamat in as you can afford. If your spending thousands on a decent SQ system then dynamat is great bang for buck to improve the system even more.

 

I unplugged the battery when I remove the seats just to be safe. I read somewhere the airbag light will be on if I remove the seats without unplug the battery. This project is labor intensive especially when it come to the doors. There are many brands to choose from. However, if you want to use Dynamat, I recommend Dynamat extreme. I was able to cover floor and two front doors with 80ft.

 

I sound proofed my Acura RSX and it made quite a noticeable difference. I would recommend considering b-quiet products. Check out there website.

B-Quiet sound deadening material

I recommend reading up on the differences between vibration dampening and sound absorbing so that whatever product you decide to use you get the results you are trying to achieve. ie. vibration dampening material will have much less effect on road noise than sound absorbing material. Good luck with your project.

 

i recommend elemental design's edead. they have different types of deadening material for different applications. you can read the reviews vs. other brands for yourself.

i got rid of my Dynamat and replaced it with various eDead stuff. its just plain good shit.

true audiophiles know eD is good shit. they do not sell retail, they sell direct.

Elemental Designs

 

also, if you want sound deadening from the outside noise. Expanding-foam from Home Depot/Lowes work REALLY good too.

Just spray inside the hollow innards of the chassis.

 

Here's a link to someone that did a very thorough job soundproofing his Fit. info

 

As many people have mentioned above, there are various types and brands of sound deadener to choose from - and the differences between them are distinct and important to understand before choosing which is right for you.

Check out this link...it'll give you more info than you'll ever need to know!

Sound Deadener Showdown

 

Yes the Airbag light will be on if you LEAVE the connectors unplugged. I know because I had to do some errands while doing the soundproofing =O

The project took me 4 days during my work week, 2 days for the floor for 6 hours a day. I did that on the weekend, then 2 business days i spent 4 hours on each.

 

The most effective areas for sound proofing a vehicle would be to use some sound ABSORBING and Heat shield material on the hood of the vehicle as a lot of sound is transferred from the hood to the windshield right to your ears.

Then do the firewall.
Then the spray the outside wheel wells
Then sound dampen the inside of rear wheel wells
Then the doors
Then the floor

Those would be the most effective order of sound proofing steps

 

Add the roof as the last item, as they cause a lot of noticeable sound that you will notice once everything else is silent.

roof is the last thing you should do, as it's not as bad as everything else.

 

I went the extreme cheap route and used Peel n Seal from Lowe's and Great Stuff. PnS is an asphalt-based adhesive, vinyl or something, and an aluminum skin, so it's pretty similar to eDead and such. DB for dB, pro products would probably outperform, but at 1/10 the price ($15 for 12.5 sq ft), I'm all in.

I get the feeling people filled the door hollows with foam, but I didn't want to mess with the window and don't know what they were talking about. It's a massive cavity with all sorts of important things going through it. Foam batting like at a craft store for couch stuffing is a different story though, I might grab some when I get new tweeters. I just put Great Stuff on the inside of the plastic door panel. If you're careful and delicate (practice on some cardboard first!) it's only a little trickier than laying caulk, so you don't need any masking. It expands like mad, so I had to cut a crapload off, but it carves easy with a steak knife.

I noticed a substantial difference in road noise and door thunking, at only $23 bucks for the front two doors ($4 per can of GS, 1 can per door). Granted, I'm only trying to impress myself, not bring home any prizes. I'm doing the rear doors today, and will maybe put some leftover PnS under the carpet if I have time/energy to spare. Totally worth the money and effort for me, but you have to tailor for your application.

 

Has anyone ever bought a $25 sound dB meter to actually test the sound before and after sound insulation? I'm talking about levels under different operating conditions, at ear level, along the same roads and same speeds, to complete a semi-scientific test? It bothers me to read "it sounds quieter" or "not as noisy", without any real proof. Remember, these products also change the frequency of sound transmission. What appears to be a lowering of sound may only be a "change" in sound to different frequencies. And, I am not saying the evaluations are not true, but, for me, before I invest a lot of time and money in doing a project, I'd like to see the cost/improvement ratio. That's the engineer in me.

 

I'd agree with that. I could tell that the sound deadening lowered the frequency and sustain of the door panel vibrations without doing much for actual noise level when doing a knock test.

The road noise could have just shifted to a lower range, but on the other hand, the noise was originally in the mid-high range where the ear is pretty sensitive, so if a detailed analysis would have only shown a frequency shift in the car, there would still be a definite amplitude drop accounting for my ear's frequency response.

I suppose numbers are superior for decision making, but at the same time perception is what sells. Existence is permanently stuck behind a pair of eyes and ears, so it all comes down to how sensitive they are. I took the gamble based on testimonial and spent the other $25 on Corona and a rack of ribs, and I'd call it money well spent.

 

Do you mean the various holes in the underside of the vehicle? It's an interesting idea; that metal is thick enough that the expanding foam isn't going to harm anything, and I don't think any wires, etc. pass through the areas that would be foamed. It's definitely a place where noise can get in, as Honda uses 4 oblong rubber plugs for just this purpose.

Can anybody think of any downsides to this sort of foam treatment?

 

I've used one of those Radio Shack sound meters, and wasn't very impressed with it. It's not a good tool to get repeatable results. It's both really sensitive and listens to far too broad a frequency range. Not only that, but my results differed depending on small changes in battery level. I returned mine before my 2 weeks was up.

What you'd need is a decent microphone, hard mounted & damped, leading to either a full spectrum analyzer (or a laptop running spectrum analysis software). Even still, drastic improvements after soundproofing 1 or 2 areas of the car may not show up as any differences at all, since there are SO many sources of sound in a car. A microphone is a lot more picky than our ears.