This is a more extensive approach than I was thinking. A few questions:
A) Do you think sound proofing on the door skin really helped a lot, or do you think most of the improvement resulted from sound proofing on the "inside" frame?
B) Any problems getting the headliner back in?
C) What's this speaker ring, and what does it do?

I'm definitely doing this with my 07 Fit Sport when it warms up here in the spring.

-Paulson

 

By door skin do you mean the plastic interior door panel? If so I have laid b-quiet extreme on the actual frame of the door and also on the inside of the interior door panel. I'm not sure how much difference in terms of road noise the layer on the interior door panel made but if nothing else, it definitely cut down on the rattling and creaking of that panel.

 

I gutted my car down to the dashboard with just a few miles on the odometer. I wouldn't bother with the dashboard. Doing everything else thou, added 78 lbs to the car including the roof. Sound deadening changes the resonant frequency of noise and the pitch of it, but in the case of the FIT, it lowers it greatly all together. Incredible effort to get it done, but it changes the feel of the car in not being so cheap.

 

Which part of the car do you think made the biggest difference when you dampened it

 

The doors helped the stereo, and it gives one a warm fuzzy feeling when you tap on them and compare to a door without treatment, but I have some bad news for everyone: I did everything in the car, 100 hours of work, $300 in materials, every metal spot on the car except the roof and there was NO IMPROVEMENT whatsoever in the road noise. (I digitally recorded before and after) It is still like listening to a never ending thunderstorm. Now I have to get new tires and drop to 15" rims. It is the only thing left. (unless someone swears to me on their life that doing the roof was the magic bullet)

If the tires do not fix it, I will probably kill myself. (I am kidding sort of)

The thing about the doors....don't do too much. The doors get much heavier. The handle slips out of your hand when you try and open it. The hinges were not designed for too much more weight, my advice? Be sparing, go with more neoprene foam than the silver heavy crap. Just select pieces here and there. Tap test each time after.

 

Unless you have some real subwoofer action, doing the roof isn't that big of a deal. I used probably $300 worth of material in just in the front doors of my car. Maybe front and rear, I didn't keep track other than the weight in each door that I added, and yes the doors surprisingly do hold up to some added weight.
I guess it does really matter what brand you use in this stuff regardless of what people say with their budget brand of dampening. I won't mention brands here. I just helped a local Fit-er with getting material for his Fit and he is almost done and has noticed a huge improvement overall in quality-feel of his car and noise reduction.

 

Anyone ever used the Edead v3 paint on material?

I used it in the doors of my 1988 325i and it made a decent difference. 1 gallon runs about $65, and it took a little less than that for a full job on all 4 doors.

The best part is, the stuff is nowhere near as heavy as the other materials found out there.

I plan on using this all over my Fit, just wondering if anyone else has any thoughts before I start ordering.

Thanks,
-FW

 

I used a gallon of quiet coat under and all over. It makes a minimal differnce if any in road noise. After much research, I found out that all vibration dampers only cut down on the vibration AFTER the initial noise, and tend to lower the frequency of the overall noise because they add weight. Now you have a thunder sound. Adding weight sucks, yes. All the liquid type dampers need to be at least 1mm thick (3mm is preferred) to do anything and that is 4 coats brushed.

The most effective way is noise barriers. Very heavy. 1 pound per foot, foam decoupling. I already added 100 pounds of damping material now I have to add another 100 of barrier material. I took out the back seats and the spare to compensate a little, but there is no turning back now. I am on a mission from God.

One more disturbing bit of info for you, an expert said "98% of sound can come through 2% of an opening" so this means you cannot just cover certain areas, you have to cover everything if you want to make a real difference. Otherwise you wasted tons of money and time, added a ton of weight, and only reduced sound by a couple db.

 

unfit, what brand of material are you using. I think your going tooooooo far.
Yes, sound dampening will change the resonant frequency of noise. As mentioned, typically it lowers it to a lower frequency, however done properly, it lowers the decibel level of noise also.

 

Well I used three different brands of "damplifier" in 2-3 layers and I am saying it does not really do much if anything. And as far as "going too far" there are guys out there that have gone 100 times farther. Check this site:
Dead Space- Project logs and tutorials - Second Skin Forums

And the sad truth is that after all of that , I have yet to read anybody's results being any better than 5db. Most overkill installations only get three db. That is $1000 dollars and 100 hours of work. Take 5db off off thunderous road noise and you still have thunder. I will keep going just because I cannot stand the noise anymore. I will do everything there is to do and if after that I still can't stand it, I will sell the car or send it off a cliff

 

When I first bought my Fit, I thought I was going to spend time on sound dampening, but the more I drive it, the more I realize that on most road surfaces it's quieter than the 2003 Subaru Forester that it replaced, mostly because of better window seals and higher gearing (5AT). I lined the spare tire well with some rubber mat, and that's as far as I'm going to go. Looking back, the Fit is probably the quietest small car I've ever owned.

 

Well that just blows my mind. I have owned at least 30 different cars and this is the noisiest car I have ever been in.

 

A new owners perspective on the debate? If you want to tackle the project of attempted sound deadening? Go ahead.

I love my new Fit, but would say as a new owner that one of it's drawbacks is it is NOT a quiet car. Being light, and small for fuel efficiency coupled with an engine that is really close to the driver/passenger compartment combine to make it a rather loud vehicle in operation.

I don't think it is significantly louder than anything else in it's class. You probably shouldn't buy a Fit expecting full sized luxury car levels of quiet. So while I'd say it's NOT a quiet car, I don't plan any sound deadening projects because risk vs. reward doesn't seem worth it to me. Removing door panels, roof panels and the like, for a mere few db's of reduction just doesn't seem worth it to me. Yeh, the doors feel light and shut like a light door, but that's because The Fit is a light vehicle. Start weighing it down and I think you're looking for trouble. I mean how much time do you spend tapping your doors? Listening to the "tone" when it closes?

I don't mean to sound too adversarial. If it's a project you want to attempt, I say live and let live, and good luck, but my approach is just to realize The Fit is what it is, which is a light vehicle that transmits quite a bit of road noise.

The Fit IMO has a great stock stereo system. I can drown out the "Thunder" with anything I like, and the rest of the time it's just white noise albeit relatively loud.

It seems to me that most of the road noise is being transmitted directly from the tires. Any opinions on road noise change with tire upgrades? I need to get at least some miles out of the OEM tires, (Dunlops) but as soon as it makes at least a little sense I plan to upgrade the tires. I'm hoping higher grade tires would translate into a little more quiet when driving.

 

I was considering tearing the entire interior apart, except the dash area. Now not so much. Perhaps a good quiet tire and doing the wheel well are would be enough?

Anyone have a solid opinion on quiet tires? This is my DD so performance takes a back seat.

The new tire install is booked for Friday, so we will see if this helps any.

 

You mention the drop in noise is 8db, what was the sound level pre-project? How many hours was it to do the floor? What was the cost? I am in Calgary so where you bought the material would be helpful as well.

Planning a road trip this summer, anything I can do to take the drone away I am willing to do. Looking at new tires as well.

Cheers.

 

Did this lower your fuel economy at all? I dream about doing this, because I think it would make the ride more comfortable if I don't have a headache from the buzzing... Also, is it expensive to buy all those supplies (as a "poor" grad student, I'll have to see how long it will take me to save up for it).

 

what rubber mat did you use for the spare? Thanks!

 

go to Home Depot and get some Quick Roof... be sure to do this when weather's hot... my 6th gen Accord

 

Would I be better off just replacing my rubber mats with plush carpeting? Some people swear that they've gotten a noticeable difference, others not so much. It seems like you'll still hear road noise, but I think I would be happier with a dampened noise. If I could hear myself speak, that would be nice too. I think I'll start by doing the trunk area where the spare tire is, since it's bare metal, and see if I notice any difference after that...