DIY Floor/Door Sound Dampening?

jderdock

I have my Civic sedan all pulled apart right now to run the usual power/IC/turn-on stuff and am thinking about trying to kill a bit of road noise while I'm at it. I know some manufacturers sell big, thick audio specific mats at a premium, but there has to be a low-cost option out there. Anyone have any good finds? What about thick home carpet padding?

Also, I plan on doing a dynamat door kit on each door. It couldn't hurt anything to pad the back of the door panel with something, could it?

Basically, I want my Civic to feel nicer than a Civic. Thanks in advance for suggestions.

exalted512

some people use peal n seal from home depot...its roofing stuff. Personally, id go to second skin audio and pick up some of their spectrum. Its a liquid dampener thats really cheap and works great
-Cody

98thumpin

what is the most cost effective sound dampener there is cheap but works good im going to be runnig two audiobahn flame q 450w 12 and two audiobahm flame q 450w 10 inch subs wired in parallel, i dont want my trunk to sound like a bag of aluminum cans being rattled, any ideas. i can stand a little rattle but not that much also i have seen people with awesome systems but they sound like **** cause of the trunk ratteling so much

jderdock

Looks like this is the same thing as Dynamat without the aluminum:

http://www.mcmaster.com/

Search "9709T19"

$14.62 for 32"x54"/12 square feet

Has anyone used this?

1996blackmax

At a certain point you get what you pay for. Many people have tried other sound deadening product that were less expensive, only to find out that it did not work very well.


jderdock, adding Dynamat and then some padding material would help. I have actually used old rags in the past to stop tim panel noises. I did this on my A-pillars and the squeaks have gone away. The best thing to do would be to use deadner on the whole door, and some padding after that.

jderdock

1996blackmax wrote:

jderdock, adding Dynamat and then some padding material would help. I have actually used old rags in the past to stop tim panel noises. I did this on my A-pillars and the squeaks have gone away. The best thing to do would be to use deadner on the whole door, and some padding after that.

My question was, is this in fact the same exact thing as Dynamat without the aluminum layer. Not similar, but the same exact thing? I've seen speculation elsewhere that suggests this.

For what it's worth, I'm more interested in lowering the noise floor just to make my Civic more civil and refined, not for thug-life G-ride bass rattling prevention. I've recently decided to hang onto this car for another 60-70k miles or so, so adding 50 bucks worth of sound dampening material to the floor and doors while I have everything torn apart would be in my best interest. Spending a few hundred dollars on a 100+k mile '96 Honda Civic doesn't interest me.

1996blackmax

I do not know if it is or not. I do know that people have tried using less expensive alternatives similar to this without much succes, but like I said, I do not know how good it is. I have both Dynamat and Dynamat Extreme in my car, and I can tell you that both of those did make a difference.

I used Dynamat not just because of my music, but also to reduce the overall noise floor in my car. My car has alot more miles than yours, and since I will be keeping it for a while longer, I plan to add the rest of my Dynamat I have in my garage.

If you want give that stuff a shot, and let us know how yuo think it turned out. I myself am always open to saving money.

jderdock

1996blackmax wrote:

If you want give that stuff a shot, and let us know how yuo think it turned out. I myself am always open to saving money.

I think I might order 30 dollars worth and I'll let you know how it goes. Unfortunately, I have never applied Dynamat before so I won't have a legitmate comparison. I'll try to show it to someone who would know for a more expert opinion.

1996blackmax

If it works you should notice a reduction in noise. Keep us posted .

neomagus00

i would not apply that in a high-heat area... for your floor or whatever, it should be fine - maybe not quite as effective as the real deal, but still good - but i wouldn't put it in an area that might get hot... engine compartment and firewall are out, as are the doors (they get like an oven, and they're vertical - the stuff could peel right off)... basically i'd stick to the floors, but that's where most of your noise comes from anyway...

what i'd do is buy a few square feet and put it over the front wheel wells (on the inside, under the carpet and whatever other stuff is there - you want it on bare metal)... if you don't notice a difference from putting it over the wheel wells, i don't think the product will be worthwhile...

deepinya

Do not use peel n seal or any aphsalt based product where it will get hot. Not only will it fall off but your car will smell like aphsalt/tar.

Spend a little extra and go with Damplifier/spectrum from http://www.secondskinaudio.com. Im currently applying damp pro and spectrum. This stuff is great to work with and damn does it stick. I gotta post up pics of my progress.

deepinya

Heres a review of different products currently on the market.

http://www.sounddeadenershowdown.com/

MacLeod

Cool article. I was suprised to see Second Skin come out on top!

neomagus00

yeah, pretty cool, 'specially for the price you pay

jderdock

I've been a little concerned about being the guniea pig for the other stuff. I might just order 20 sq feet of Damplifier and 23 sq feet of Overkill.

I'd like to hit the doors once and maybe a little on the floor. I hope that will be enough as I'm not really interested in spending much more.

exalted512

MacLeod wrote:

Cool article. I was suprised to see Second Skin come out on top!

thats why i always recommend them
-Cody

neomagus00

jderdock wrote:

I've been a little concerned about being the guniea pig for the other stuff. I might just order 20 sq feet of Damplifier and 23 sq feet of Overkill.

I'd like to hit the doors once and maybe a little on the floor. I hope that will be enough as I'm not really interested in spending much more.

you might want to do it the other way 'round... lots on the floor, some on the doors... you'll get a little more resonance in the doors, but you'll have removed more road noise, which is the primary concern above like 35 mph...

1996blackmax

I am planning on removing my vehicle carpet and putting in some a new one. I will put down some serious deadener when I do this .

jderdock

neomagus00 wrote:

you might want to do it the other way 'round... lots on the floor, some on the doors... you'll get a little more resonance in the doors, but you'll have removed more road noise, which is the primary concern above like 35 mph...

really? i believe i'll have sr6500's mounted coaxially in the doors.

1996blackmax

I would play around with tweeter positioning before commiting to a location. You would be surprised at how much things can improve by doing this.

jderdock

Yeah, tweeter placement can definitely make a big difference (I spend way too much time with toe-in on my home setup), but I go to 2 or so concerts a week in some very sketchy areas of Baltimore and DC and would like things to look as stock as possible. Hopefully one of the angled mounting options suffices for this car.

exalted512

1996blackmax wrote:

I am planning on removing my vehicle carpet and putting in some a new one. I will put down some serious deadener when I do this .

second skin is the way to go:D

I got my last and final shipment in today...unfortunately no one was here to get it so its locked up in the apartments office until tomorrow morning. I wont have any time to do it this week...aside from thursday-saturday nights. Hopefully I can get a little bit done sunday but im installing a remote start on my friend's standard f-150 sunday so it depends. But hell be helping me...lol.
-Cody

1996blackmax

That is the way I am going, with Second Skin. I have used Dynamat because it was the only stuff that was reallyaround at that time, and besides I got it for a nice discount. My friend use to work at an audio shop . I got my Dynamat Extreme door kit for a little under $29 dollars, not bad for completely covering my front doors. The rest of my regular Dynamat I got for very cheap as well. My buddy actually gave me a bunch of regular Dynamat before he moved to Arizona. I wil use that for the rear doors or something.

I may go with the Damplifier Pro for the floor, what do yo think?

exalted512

If its possible to wait and let it dry, i would chose sludge. Its cheaper and works better. Plus, the only prepping you have to do is vacuum:D
-Cody

1996blackmax

Will have to think about that one. The car gets alot of use. How much drying time is inlvolved with the sludge?

exalted512

i put it about 4mm thick, takes about 3 days to dry enough to put the carpet back in. But then again, ive been doing it when theres not much sun and its cold. Might just take a full day to dry if its a hot day with a lot of sun and you leave your windows down.

It takes about a week to get the full effect, but like i said, only about 3 to where its safe to lay the carpet back down. So if youre able to take most of your car apart one weekend, finish it friday night, install it all saturday, youd be back on the road by monday night if the weather is good
-Cody

1996blackmax

Thanks for the info Cody .

exalted512

in the words of aaron
"I try to do my part to contribute to the forum!"
-Cody

deepinya

I went with damp pro on the floors and 4 coats of spectrum. For the trunk wheel well I went with damp pro and 6 coats of spectrum. Back seats had factory dampening of some sort so I hit it with damp pro and 2 coats of spectrum. I figure the seats themselves will also do a bit of dampening.

Still got a lot left to do!

exalted512

dont we all...i still have to do my doors, finish the floor, and the fender wells

-Cody

1996blackmax

There is a guy on another site that I frequent that has also done some very extensive sound deadening to his car. Kind of like you Cody .