Anyway to insulate my car from Road Noise?

[aphex]

Hindsight is 20/20. If I knew how damn loud my Mazda3 was on the highway, I would have never bought it. You almost have to yell to talk and good luck chatting on a cell phone.

So, since i'm stuck for a few more months, is there a way to deaden the noise?

Dynamat? Earplugs? Something?

 

[Mutilator]

Well, what's the noise coming from? Rattles? Tire noise? Wind noise?
And I'd recommend against the ear plugs while driving.

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: Mutilator
Well, what's the noise coming from? Rattles? Tire noise? Wind noise?
And I'd recommend against the ear plugs while driving.

Tire Noise, Engine Noise, just general lack of insulation it appears... It literally sounds like i'm driving with a hole in my car.

 

[dawp]

Other that turning up the music, nothing cost effective that I'm aware of. That's one reason I skipped on a focus when looking for a car several years ago. it's a cheap car for a reason.

 

[iamwiz82]

A car that starts at $14,000 has little insulation? :shocked:



you can buy dynamat and install it, but it won't be cheap and I would have to think it's not worth it.

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
A car that starts at $14,000 has little insulation? :shocked:



you can buy dynamat and install it, but it won't be cheap and I would have to think it's not worth it.

I dunno, the Jetta starts at $16.5 and has an infinately quieter ride.

 

[fstime]

Good tires would help assuming your running on some cheapo tires atm.

Other than that, you would need so do some DIY insulation work.

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: BouZouki
Good tires would help assuming your running on some cheapo tires atm.

Other than that, you would need so do some DIY insulation work.

Actually, I think my tires are fairly well regarded.

Goodyear F1 DS-G3

 

[giantpinkbunnyhead]

Buy a couple rolls of Dymanat from Home Depot for $20 each. Grab a couple beers, place car in garage, remove seats and console trim, drink beer, remove the carpet, put Dynamat down, replace carpet, drink more beer, install seats and console pieces.

Problem solved! Did wonders for my Miatas, but I won't be doing this with my new car because I rather like the sound of the engine+exhaust.

 

[Deathonastick]

Undercoating might be the easy 1st solution, then dynamat or similar.

 

[Aquila76]

Originally posted by: giantpinkbunnyhead
Buy a couple rolls of Dymanat from Home Depot for $20 each. Grab a couple beers, place car in garage, remove seats and console trim, drink beer, remove the carpet, put Dynamat down, replace carpet, drink more beer, install seats and console pieces.

Problem solved! Did wonders for my Miatas, but I won't be doing this with my new car because I rather like the sound of the engine+exhaust.

Winnar! I had the same issue with my Grand Am, and this worked wonders. I insulated the doors, floors, and trunk. Cost about $70 all said and done. I can't remember which e-tailer I got it from, though. It was about 10 years ago. Avoid Circuit City, Best Buy, Tweeter, etc.; their mark up is nearly 300%!

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: aphex

Originally posted by: BouZouki
Good tires would help assuming your running on some cheapo tires atm.

Other than that, you would need so do some DIY insulation work.

Actually, I think my tires are fairly well regarded.

Goodyear F1 DS-G3

Goodyear doesn't make that tire ...they are quiet though the ones you are talking about...I had them previous to the F1 Assymetricals I just had installed Friday.

Not the quietest tire on the road though, quiet in it's class. My wife's ComforTreds are really quiet.

However; my suspension is mostly solid bearings and the like so I get noise.

I did 'dynamat' the entire car and added foam underneath noisy panels and it helped a lot.

For cell phone, use a jawbone...people will swear you are in your office even if you are doing 100+.

 

[hans030390]

Originally posted by: giantpinkbunnyhead
Buy a couple rolls of Dymanat from Home Depot for $20 each. Grab a couple beers, place car in garage, remove seats and console trim, drink beer, remove the carpet, put Dynamat down, replace carpet, drink more beer, install seats and console pieces.

Problem solved! Did wonders for my Miatas, but I won't be doing this with my new car because I rather like the sound of the engine+exhaust.

Are you sure Home Depot has Dynamat, or is it some alternative insulation/sound deadening material that you used? I'm really interested in installing something like that in my car...and I'd like to save money if possible.

 

[timxpx]

if you look at this thread for steveox's matrix project, he gutted his car (another wagon) and added raammat (like dynamat but a different brand) and ensolite (foam that you spray adhesive to the raammat) -- i believe the raammat is for vibration damping and the ensolite sound deadens.

i was there helping when the car was gutted, and that took 3 of us 20 minutes to take everything apart (trim, seats, carpet -- left the headliner and hatch pieces in, that was taken down much later in the project). laying the mat out took much longer because we were very thorough and that actually happened over a few weekends in between working on other stuff. if you have help and start early enough on a saturday you should be able to get it done by late afternoon if you go through it as meticulously as we did on his car -- two layers raammat and ensolite on each door, extra layers behind speakers and so forth.

http://turboxrs.com has pictures of the different stages of the project including laying down the mat, so you have an idea of what you're up against if you consider laying dynamat or raammat.

RAAMaudio is where i believe he bought everything.

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: alkemyst

Originally posted by: aphex

Originally posted by: BouZouki
Good tires would help assuming your running on some cheapo tires atm.

Other than that, you would need so do some DIY insulation work.

Actually, I think my tires are fairly well regarded.

Goodyear F1 DS-G3

Goodyear doesn't make that tire ...they are quiet though the ones you are talking about...I had them previous to the F1 Assymetricals I just had installed Friday.

Not the quietest tire on the road though, quiet in it's class. My wife's ComforTreds are really quiet.

However; my suspension is mostly solid bearings and the like so I get noise.

I did 'dynamat' the entire car and added foam underneath noisy panels and it helped a lot.

For cell phone, use a jawbone...people will swear you are in your office even if you are doing 100+.

Huh? Who makes it then? http://www.tirerack.com/tires/...reModel=Eagle+F1+GS-D3

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: aphex

Originally posted by: alkemyst

Originally posted by: aphex

Originally posted by: BouZouki
Good tires would help assuming your running on some cheapo tires atm.

Other than that, you would need so do some DIY insulation work.

Actually, I think my tires are fairly well regarded.

Goodyear F1 DS-G3

Goodyear doesn't make that tire ...they are quiet though the ones you are talking about...I had them previous to the F1 Assymetricals I just had installed Friday.

Not the quietest tire on the road though, quiet in it's class. My wife's ComforTreds are really quiet.

However; my suspension is mostly solid bearings and the like so I get noise.

I did 'dynamat' the entire car and added foam underneath noisy panels and it helped a lot.

For cell phone, use a jawbone...people will swear you are in your office even if you are doing 100+.

Huh? Who makes it then? http://www.tirerack.com/tires/...reModel=Eagle+F1+GS-D3

You posted DS-G3's hence the smily and my comments that I owned D3's.

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: alkemyst

Originally posted by: aphex

Originally posted by: alkemyst

Originally posted by: aphex

Originally posted by: BouZouki
Good tires would help assuming your running on some cheapo tires atm.

Other than that, you would need so do some DIY insulation work.

Actually, I think my tires are fairly well regarded.

Goodyear F1 DS-G3

Goodyear doesn't make that tire ...they are quiet though the ones you are talking about...I had them previous to the F1 Assymetricals I just had installed Friday.

Not the quietest tire on the road though, quiet in it's class. My wife's ComforTreds are really quiet.

However; my suspension is mostly solid bearings and the like so I get noise.

I did 'dynamat' the entire car and added foam underneath noisy panels and it helped a lot.

For cell phone, use a jawbone...people will swear you are in your office even if you are doing 100+.

Huh? Who makes it then? http://www.tirerack.com/tires/...reModel=Eagle+F1+GS-D3

You posted DS-G3's hence the smily and my comments that I owned D3's.

DOH!

 

[giantpinkbunnyhead]

Originally posted by: hans030390

Originally posted by: giantpinkbunnyhead
Buy a couple rolls of Dymanat from Home Depot for $20 each. Grab a couple beers, place car in garage, remove seats and console trim, drink beer, remove the carpet, put Dynamat down, replace carpet, drink more beer, install seats and console pieces.

Problem solved! Did wonders for my Miatas, but I won't be doing this with my new car because I rather like the sound of the engine+exhaust.

Are you sure Home Depot has Dynamat, or is it some alternative insulation/sound deadening material that you used? I'm really interested in installing something like that in my car...and I'd like to save money if possible.

I'm pretty positive it was Dynamat, but their website turns up nothing. Of course, their website has the absolute shittiest search function known to man so I'm not surprised. I bought it there about 5 years ago, at a store in Alaska but I would think that all the stores carry the same stock most of the time. Even if they don't have Dynamat, there are other similar brands that are just as good. Any associate in the store (hopefully) should be able to direct you to where they stock the sound deadening material.

 

[alkemyst]

Home depot carries a product similar to the original dynamat. It's extremely inferior to things like RAAMat and Damplifier (both of which I have used, I haven not tried the newest RAMMat though that's butyl based).

Most of the home centers carry peel and seal which looks similar but is not. There are many head to heads online.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: aphex

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
A car that starts at $14,000 has little insulation? :shocked:



you can buy dynamat and install it, but it won't be cheap and I would have to think it's not worth it.

I dunno, the Jetta starts at $16.5 and has an infinately quieter ride.

corollas are also quieter.
many road test mags/consumer reports i think include cabin noise in db as part of their reviews.

as for dynamat type stuff..oh jesus. you can go hog wild with that stuff but its a lot of material and labor expense. ripping open doors..and if you are whole hog the carpets and taking everything out you can. that'll do it. but well..as you can see, its better to just buy a car from the factory thats built right.

be careful on trying to save costs. there were a few sites that reviewed the stuff. some would ooze/peel/detatch from the heating/cooling in the sun and stuff.

 

[Dunbar]

The Corolla is like a mini Lexus, it's quieter than my '03 Accord V6. I think you can reduce road noise significantly but you need to use a combination of the foam and dynamat type stuff. And you need to do the whole car including the doors and trunk.

 

[kalrith]

This thread has some great info in it. I have a 2001 Mazda Tribute that has a bunch of road noise. I don't mind the engine noise (kind of like it), but I hate the wind noise on the highway. I might try some of this after I get caught up on some other stuff I've been putting off.

 

[bigpow]

just an FYI, tires with good tractions DO have tend to be noisy.
As for isolating the noise, there are a lot other products competing with Dynamat.
I think you have to isolate which part is leaking noise the most.
Is it the engine hood/firewall? The doors? under the backseat? the trunk?

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

I bought a car a few weeks ago (an 03 Hyundai Elantra, which will be a different thread) and didn't want to spend more than $150 on quietening it.

I can do a progress report, and will see if I can find a db meter to do some "real" tests. I have some stereo and speaker stuff to install, so it'll be a multi-weekend project since I work Saturdays.

I bought:

100 sq ft of eDead v12
54 sq ft of ensolite
Spray can of undercarriage deadener for wheel wells, etc.

The car is pretty quiet as it is, but plan on doing:

4 doors
Carpet
Entire Trunk
Firewall

I'm right around the $150 mark.

 

[Dubb]

Has anybody ever had this done professionally? what's it cost and what types of places do you look for?

I don't really have the space or the time or the tools to do this myself, but it needs to be done.