engine and drivetrain Sound deadening (b-quiet, Dynamat, etc.)....again

[Craig74tii]

For the guys who've done it, is it worth $250 (b-quiet) or more for Dynamat?

'02's have a lot of wind noise. Does it help with that or mostly engine/road noise? Where did you put it? I remember a pic where it was all over the entire cabin. Will 100 sq. ft. be enough?

Thanks,

Craig74tii

72tii in resto

[Alpine003]

As far as I'm concerned, you are paying for brand name and the different adhesive properties when you buy the dedicated car audio brands. Bottom line is asphalt is asphalt which this stuff is generally made from. You can buy the big industrial rolls at Lowes or Home Depot for 1/4 - 1/8 the cost.

If you wanna go the extra mile, you can even get Jute carpet padding at the same hardware stores. It should only take about $15 max to do your whole car with this padding.

[Guest Anonymous]

Otis has Dynamat all over his innards -- the real stuff, sometimes even doubled up. But that was because (1) it was 12 years ago, before the product really caught on and the price shot up, (2) I was able to obtain a portion of it for free from a friend, which averaged my cost down, and (3) since I didn't own a home at the time, I didn't really know about stick-on roofing material back then. Nowadays, paying retail for the "real stuff" is wholly unnecessary. Any self-sticking weathershielding roofing material will do. Some of it flexes better than others. I'm using self-stick flashing material for my current project, and it works just fine. It's an off-the-shelf item from Home Depot, which avoids paying the branded markup to Tweeters, Crutchfield, etc.

As for wind noise, no, I haven't found that all the Dynamat in Otis (and he has a lot of Dynamat) reduces his wind noise, mostly since that noise comes from a different source/place, and is not easily eliminated. What reduced Otis' noise level, quite frankly, was the 5-speed conversion. Or let's put it a different way. My buddy has a Bradley GT. He Dynamated the entire car. But even a Dynamated Bradley GT is still just a gas tank, two seats, and an engine. Even with all that tar paper, the only thing you hear is the sound of his hopped-up Porsche engine screaming in the back of the Bradley. Our beloved 02s aren't that bad, of course, but you're never really going to quiet them down that much, in my experience with Dynamat.

Also, please note that in my case, I put most of the Dynamat in because I wanted to reduce the noise to the OUTSIDE, not the inside. Otis has 3 JL 8-inch subs firing back in the trunk, and I didn't want him booming down the road, like all those irritating SUVs that thump through the neighborhood with the bass turned to 11, rattling the dishes out of the kitchen cabinets. So, I was trying to silence Otis to the outside world, not the inside -- and for the most part, it worked. As for the inside, again, I obtained my biggest noise drop with the 5-speed.

[2002Targa]

Could you email me off forum (2002targa aht gmail dot com) I have a question about how you did your subs.

TK

[RustyRocker]

I did mine a couple years ago and it is A LOT of TIME and WORK. You end up needing twice the amount you think in order to cover everything. It adds about 50+ pounds to the weight of the car if you go nuts. If you go this route, you MUST use a plastic or wooden roller to mash the stuff down for proper adhesion. Dont forget to use dry ice to remove the factory deadening material, degrease, and rinse so there's no ugly film left that could interfere with it sticking. Wind noise will now be ENHANCED as the road noise is muffled.

Additionally, I'm in San Diego and stopped by a marine supply company and there is a liquid goo that you can slather on everything and it has the same effect as the Dynamat. They had just received it (some guy's special order) and were not sure as to its effectiveness. Apparently it's water/diesel proof as the guy was going to splooge it all over the engine bay, pumps, etc. The supply store was very curious as to the outcome and I meant to go back for the yea or nay. I'll make an attempt to go back this weekend and post regarding the final verdict.

Your best is to call Carl (he might have to ask Tony since he was the one that told me) at LJ Independent. Apparently, the older 5 or 6 series BMW's have a factory sound deadening mat under the carpet that is thin, lightweight and works. You can just pull it out of these cars at a junkyard (maybe you can purchase them new?) and trim them a little to fit in a 2002.

Regards

[Mike Self]

1. Buy (or scrounge for free) scraps of nice thick "rebond" 5/8" carpet padding from a carpet store--they'll often give you scrap pieces. Don't use jute--it will hold water forever and rust your floors out if you have a leak. Use the carpet padding under your...carpets--including up the firewall, in the side cowl panel areas, hang behind the back seat etc.

2. Scrounge some flexible foam padding (scrap from an upholstery shop or as used to pack computers) and fill the space under the back seat and behind the rear seat back. Even bagged styrofoam peanuts will work! That will kill diff/drivetrain noise and booming from the trunk

3. Remove door and rear quarter upholstery panels and make sure the original factory asphalt paper is still in place, and add some more if you wish.

Cost? Little or nothing. Effectiveness? real good. Not as quiet as a new car (it won't help wind noise at all) but much quieter than stock.

cheers

mike

(thrifty, NOT cheap!)

[Alpine003]

1. Buy (or scrounge for free) scraps of nice thick "rebond" 5/8" carpet padding from a carpet store--they'll often give you scrap pieces. Don't use jute--it will hold water forever and rust your floors out if you have a leak. Use the carpet padding under your...carpets--including up the firewall, in the side cowl panel areas, hang behind the back seat etc.

I guess this is the stuff I meant. I got use to calling every padding under the carpet as "jute". But the modern stuff is really light and looks like a bunch of tiny foam bricks fused together, while the original Jute is made from compressed fabric type materials.

One thing about asphalt is that it is really to create the additional mass to provide less rattles or to change the resonance characteristics on panels. While these attributes can block some noise, it is not 100% effective at blocking noise.

What I found in past experience was that I could use smaller strips of this on various sections of panels and have it be just as effective as doing the whole car.

I've seen the spray on stuff and it works marginally better than any generic undercoating spray you can buy. The last car I had, I took off all the panels and sprayed undercoating material on the panels which helped out as well.

A good compromise for sound vs weight in my opinion would be to strategically place asphalt strips where there is unwanted resonance on the chassis/panels. This way you're not doing any unnecessary dampening without rhyme or reason. Two people can do an easy experiment by pulling off the panels/seats/carpeting and having the other person drive while the other listens throughout the cabin for unwanted resonance/rattles. Once you isolate it, place the strips and test again. After all the asphalt has been laid, get the carpet padding and cut to specs. As an extra measure, I would dampen both side panels(front door and rear section) with spray on stuff. If you plan on running a sub or have door speakers, I would dampen the door panels too. Just my $.03

[Guest Anonymous]

Just don't make the mistake on the doors that I made with my E-30. Years ago, I started in with the Dynamat, and attacked the door panels with the stuff, figuring it would help the sound of the custom speaker pods that I made to replace the map pockets. So, dummy here applies the Dynamat directly to the door metal, right over the plastic. About five years later, I hear a "clunk" and the driver's side window falls down -- pretty standard stuff, no problem, thinks me. Except . . .

When I go to fix the window, the Dynamat blocks my path. Whereupon I became an expert in the nuances of removing Dynamat (to briefly summarize -- the stuff doesn't come off easily or willingly -- good for audio, bad for door repairs). This in turn leads to learning exactly how many 4-letter words can be strung together, when one realizes how much ruined Dynamat costs the dummy who applied it, without making it removable.

Whereby after fixing the window, I reapplied new Dynamat by following the plastic, and not touching the metal. I'd follow the same idea with an 02 -- make sure you maintain/retain access to all the door goodies -- that is, make the soundproofing removable, otherwise, you'll wind up sitting on your driveway on some hot summer day, covered in sticky asphalt residue, looking all the world like Cool Hand Luke in the road paving scene (for you old-movie fans).