DIY Soundproofing

[kiddo]

Keep us posted on end result

 

[Curtly]

Just booked my Cupra 280 ST in to Sextons in London to have a Dynamat Xtreme Bulk Kit installed throughout the car. They are going to do floor and doors with a bit of the roof (although I have panoramic roof!) It is going to cost £600 all in all and I hope should make a massive difference. The road noise on the motorway drives me crazy!

It's a great mod, a touch expensive if it's done professionally but it transforms the car.

 

[SeanB]

I will be having a crack at the door cards on my sc tomorrow, hopefully ot gets rid of the rattles!!

 

[SeanB]

I dont actually find the road noisy that bad. I had a new jaguar xe hire car once and found that even worse. I remember being shocked by it as its supposed to be a 'premium car'. My bmw e90 however was quieter than both.

 

[Dougiebabe]

Looking at doing this in my car as I have some annoying door rattles but might do the boot as well.

Can you guys confirm that you only used 4 deadening mats for BOTH front doors and then 3 absorber mats for BOTH front doors? So then for my 5dr I would need 8 deadening mats minimum and 6 absorber mats?

Also has anyone done the boot and if so did you use the deadening mats along with CCF style stuff on top? If so how much roughly did you use and did you do the wheel arches?

Sorry for all the questions!!

 

[Jamesb]

It's worth noting that when I moved from 18 to 17 inch wheels the road noise was reduced significantly. The annoying rattles seemed to have reduced as well, and the jarring pot holes

I also got a sound proofing kit from Noise Killer in Oldham;

http://www.nkgroup.co.uk/product-category/vehicles/cars/

I soundproofed the boot, as mentioned before it's effectively a drum, underneath the rear seats, wheel arches and underneath the floor carpet. Did not do doors as didn't want to risk any damage to electrics. Also it came with an engine blanket.

It was around £200 and did help but the 17 wheels made a bigger difference IMO

 

[Dougiebabe]

Thanks for the info, my main concern is the doors as the rattle I can hear is driving me nuts!

I listened out today for where most of the road noise seems to be coming from and it seems to be the rear so guessing boot and arches are the main road noise culprits but the door(s) are the source of the rattles.

I've got the 18's as well and while the road noise isn't bothering me too much, my last car was a 98 and had ZERO sound proofing, the jarring from any bumps sends shivers through me each and every time!

 

[nf2029]

So I paid Sextons in Wandsworth £500 to install a Dynamat Xtreme Bulk Kit which was included in the price but I believe retails for about £150. They did the whole floor of the car, removing seats carpet etc. on my ST. By the time they got to the boot they had run out so then used a Skinz kit as well all around spare tyre area etc. They didn't do doors as they wanted me to try this first. My main complaint was road noise. I spend a lot of time driving for work and the road noise in my Cupra makes phonecall's almost impossible on the motorway.

The road noise has decreased. £500 worth... probably not but I guess it is difficult to measure! I haven't done doors as I don't think I could justify more money being spent on it for difference to be so minimal. It is a Cupra so the 19s with Michelin Pilot Super Sports and panoramic roof probably don't help either!

 

[Dougiebabe]

Ended up ordering 40 sheets of the Silent Coat 2mm, hoping this should be more than enough to do 50% coverage on all the doors, boot and arches. If I still have spare might put some on the bonnet and/or G/F's car.

Also ordered 2 packs of the 15mm Absorber to go on the door panels.

Once it's all done I'll see how it sounds and then decide if going for some CCF ontop of the deadening in the boot/arches is worth it.

Will try and get some photos taken and post them here

 

[MrJohn91]

I got round to attempting this yesterday. Once I figured out how to remove the door cards I started applying the sound proofing, see here:

http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=417453

Tools and spares used:

Trim removal tool:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SCRATCHLE...058?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item5b0ea3d9b2

Spare door clips (I used 5 on two doors, some originals were reusable):

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VW-T5-DOO...Domain_3&fits=Car+Make:VW&hash=item5d331b54e4

Seam roller:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Harris-Pr...245?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item5661ab625d

Deadening matt (I used 3.5 for front doors):

http://www.deadening.co.uk/products/silent-coat-2mm-mat-door-pack

Absorber foam (I used 3 sheets for front doors):

http://www.deadening.co.uk/products/silent-coat-absorber

The Silent coat products were recommended to me by Mike @ deadening.co.uk after I explained what problems I was having and what I wanted to achieve.

Firstly, there's no need to cover the whole skin of the door. Circa 40% coverage gives the same amount of benefit as a completely covered door. Mike also said working in chewing gum size strips is probably the best thing to do if you're unsure (I tried to stick to this advice).

The 2mm deadening matt can be cut with regular scissors, careful though as you get sharp edges. It is self adhesive, just pull off the backing sheet and apply then use a seam roller to ensure you get good contact. I wrapped my hand in a tea towel and worked the matt in areas that were tight, contoured and also on the outer door skin were I couldn't work the roller:

So here's the completed driver door (inner skin):



Seeing as you can access the outer skin of the door, I applied half a complete matt here too:



Then the speakers. The passenger speaker was the source of much annoying resonance for me.

The speakers are fixed using 4 torx screws and there's also two locating pins close to the top two screws (just slot in). There's a single connecter block at the rear of the speaker.

After advice from Oliver @ deadening.co.uk I applied the deadening matt to the outer skin of the door and on any metal surfaces in the cut out too. I then applied the Absorber foam directly on top of this. To finish off I created a sort of 'gasket' around the where the speaker is fitted:



(Note I accidentally covered the top left pin screw and locator pin holes, foam was recut accordingly).

I then covered the rear of the door card with the Absorber 15 foam sheets. The rear of the door card doesn't have many flat surfaces, so I cut the sheet and applied to areas that were practical to do so and butted up any edges where possible. I can't find the photo I took of the door cards but I'll upload one when I do the rears.

The whole process took roughly 3.5 hours for both doors but the second door took half the time once I knew what I was doing with trim removal. I simply copied the pattern I did on the first door using a photo on my phone for reference.

The sound system sounds noticeably better both stationary and at motorway speeds.

The front of the car must be quieter as I'm now really conscious of the amount of noise coming from the rear seats and boot area. It's also apparent that my rear driver side door trim is vibrating.

I am going to order some more Absorber foam to complete the rear doors. I will also need to figure out how to remove the trim/carpet in the boot so that I can fit some deadening matt to the bare metal of the wheel arches as apparently that will get rid of a lot road noise.

The doors also have a more reassuring thunk when you close them and the cards now feel much more solid when you give them a good tap.

Hi JMAC, can you re-upload the pictures or send them over? i'm really keen to do this myself but I have no confidence with these door panels and could do with the pics to see how it went. (boo photobucket)

 

[ma9mwah]

I got round to attempting this yesterday. Once I figured out how to remove the door cards I started applying the sound proofing, see here:

http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=417453

Tools and spares used:

Trim removal tool:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SCRATCHLE...058?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item5b0ea3d9b2

Spare door clips (I used 5 on two doors, some originals were reusable):

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VW-T5-DOO...Domain_3&fits=Car+Make:VW&hash=item5d331b54e4

Seam roller:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Harris-Pr...245?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item5661ab625d

Deadening matt (I used 3.5 for front doors):

http://www.deadening.co.uk/products/silent-coat-2mm-mat-door-pack

Absorber foam (I used 3 sheets for front doors):

http://www.deadening.co.uk/products/silent-coat-absorber

The Silent coat products were recommended to me by Mike @ deadening.co.uk after I explained what problems I was having and what I wanted to achieve.

Firstly, there's no need to cover the whole skin of the door. Circa 40% coverage gives the same amount of benefit as a completely covered door. Mike also said working in chewing gum size strips is probably the best thing to do if you're unsure (I tried to stick to this advice).

The 2mm deadening matt can be cut with regular scissors, careful though as you get sharp edges. It is self adhesive, just pull off the backing sheet and apply then use a seam roller to ensure you get good contact. I wrapped my hand in a tea towel and worked the matt in areas that were tight, contoured and also on the outer door skin were I couldn't work the roller:

So here's the completed driver door (inner skin):

Seeing as you can access the outer skin of the door, I applied half a complete matt here too:

Then the speakers. The passenger speaker was the source of much annoying resonance for me.

The speakers are fixed using 4 torx screws and there's also two locating pins close to the top two screws (just slot in). There's a single connecter block at the rear of the speaker.

After advice from Oliver @ deadening.co.uk I applied the deadening matt to the outer skin of the door and on any metal surfaces in the cut out too. I then applied the Absorber foam directly on top of this. To finish off I created a sort of 'gasket' around the where the speaker is fitted:

(Note I accidentally covered the top left pin screw and locator pin holes, foam was recut accordingly).

I then covered the rear of the door card with the Absorber 15 foam sheets. The rear of the door card doesn't have many flat surfaces, so I cut the sheet and applied to areas that were practical to do so and butted up any edges where possible. I can't find the photo I took of the door cards but I'll upload one when I do the rears.

The whole process took roughly 3.5 hours for both doors but the second door took half the time once I knew what I was doing with trim removal. I simply copied the pattern I did on the first door using a photo on my phone for reference.

The sound system sounds noticeably better both stationary and at motorway speeds.

The front of the car must be quieter as I'm now really conscious of the amount of noise coming from the rear seats and boot area. It's also apparent that my rear driver side door trim is vibrating.

I am going to order some more Absorber foam to complete the rear doors. I will also need to figure out how to remove the trim/carpet in the boot so that I can fit some deadening matt to the bare metal of the wheel arches as apparently that will get rid of a lot road noise.

The doors also have a more reassuring thunk when you close them and the cards now feel much more solid when you give them a good tap.

Fixing images

 

[MrJohn91]

Fixing images

That's this weekends job sorted. Really appreciate that, thanks!

Sent from my E6853 using Tapatalk

 

[Nautilus]

So I paid Sextons in Wandsworth £500 to install a Dynamat Xtreme Bulk Kit which was included in the price but I believe retails for about £150. They did the whole floor of the car, removing seats carpet etc. on my ST. By the time they got to the boot they had run out so then used a Skinz kit as well all around spare tyre area etc. They didn't do doors as they wanted me to try this first. My main complaint was road noise. I spend a lot of time driving for work and the road noise in my Cupra makes phonecall's almost impossible on the motorway.

The road noise has decreased. £500 worth... probably not but I guess it is difficult to measure! I haven't done doors as I don't think I could justify more money being spent on it for difference to be so minimal. It is a Cupra so the 19s with Michelin Pilot Super Sports and panoramic roof probably don't help either!

Road noise has a main culprit: tyres.

Modern tyre construction is pretty different from 30 years ago. Or 50 years ago. Rubber compounds made for summer harden like stone after 3-4 years on the road. Tyre looses mass and cushioning by wearing out. Just by swapping old tyres for new ones, same model, same size, it feels like a different car.

Afterwards comes the poorly insulated bodywork. There comes the Dynamat Xtreme. People say Dynamat works by adding mass. Which simple maths says it's not true. Dynamat Xtreme is about 0.45 lbs / sq ft. 1.5mm sheet metal is around 2.2 lbs / sq ft and structural sheet metal used in the floor plate, central tunnel, subframe or safety cage around the cabin is far thicker than 1.5mm. Mass of Dynamat is insignificant.

Dynamat works by dissipating vibration through visco-elastic mass. The same way soft materials added to a room (carpet, drapes) dampen noise and vibration, but in a more efficient way. Doors should have been done before the floor plate.

 

[silles]

I read it somewhere that Seat improved sound proofing in facelift leons.

Can someone confirm this?

 

[DEAN0]

I read it somewhere that Seat improved sound proofing in facelift leons.

Can someone confirm this?

Would not say my Cupra 300 (MY18) is any quieter than my 184TDi ( MY15 ) on 18" wheels

 

[silles]

Would not say my Cupra 300 (MY18) is any quieter than my 184TDi ( MY15 ) on 18" wheels

hmm.

I read it here
http://www.worldautoevolution.com/2017-seat-leon-facelift/

 

[saharv2]

Hey guys ! what kind of glue did you use for the acoustic foam ? couldn't find a glue which can match with the foam and the plastic and also be heat resistant

 

[spaceboy]

I ordered an acoustic engine blanket from www.noisekiller.co.uk but still need to fit it. Has anyone fitted one to a Leon?

https://www.nkgroup.co.uk/product/vehicle-acoustic-engine-blankets/

 

[Deleted member 103408]

Spaceboy, do they say what the blanket does to engine temp,

 

[spaceboy]

That's a fair point, I'll ask them.