[Stan2]

I have a 95 4x4, 5 speed, crew cab with full rubber flooring. It has the fibrous underlay but that is it for sound protection.

I have been researching many different products but all are very expensive (Canadian dollars and shipping are puting any mat material at or about $4/sq ft and I figure I need about 120 sq ft) and I don't know if they will work or how much noise they will cut out.

I live and work on gravel roads so have constant road noise, and plan on doing exhaust modifications which will further increase the in-cab noise factor.

Does anyone have some real world experience in doing this modification and how much noise it reduces? What product did you use and is there a cheaper but reasonably effective alternative?

Any help advice is much appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[milner351]

One not usually thought of possibility is rhino liner bed lining sprayed on the underside of the cab floor.

A friend in the landscaping / snow plowing business tried this, sprayed the whole underside of his truck with it, inside the wheel wells, the works. His truck is the quietest I've ever been in.

This process is not cheap if you don't have any connections with the rhino lining dealer, but, if you do the clean up / rough up of the floor pans I'd think they'd do it for a reasonable cost, assuming they have a lift on which to put the truck while spraying. It is a thick material and adds some weight and may make some underbody work a bit sloppy in the future, but, wow, it was quiet! Perhaps at least in the wheel wells and floor pans / firewall would be good... as long as the tech spraying it didn't go too crazy and cover the trans / tcase / exhaust ......

 

[gtspowerstroke]

I've used the stuff from Cascade Audio. The biggest difference I noticed was in how much better my stereo sounded. The outside noise was reduced some but not a ton. But I did do it in stages so I'm sure if I took it all out at once now I'd notice a big difference.

 

[Stan2]

Just got back from lunch and spoke with an audio guy (went to school for this so he should know something I guess). He says that the mat works by making the steel more rigid and thereby reduces metal vibration (primarily for speakers forcing the metal to vibrate due to sound waves). It is basically a tar like material with an adhesive backing. As well, he said that if you have a 1' X 1' sheet it will dampen about 2' worth of area. The amount of dampening is diminished after 50% of the area is covered.

As for outside noise due to engine, turbo, tranny, gravel roads etc., make sure all outside holes are plugged first (ie. fire wall holes) and then go from there. Windshields, air-vents etc. let in quite a bit of noise and can't really be helped. He said to keep in mind that the matting was primarily developed to enhance in-cab sound and not to keep outside noises out. Originally used in competition vehicles with massive sound systems to keep the steel body panels from vibrating.

He couldn't say emphatically what the difference would be for my truck so in the end, it would be a trial and error project.

Result......I think I will put in a more powerful amp and turn up the stereo!!!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif

 

[F250Jockey]

I put 50 Sq Feet of the Ultimate Sound Proofing in a Suzuki Swift (Commuter Car) from B-Quiet Sound Proofing last month. B-Quiet Ultimate

The car has a lot of road noise. It is constructed similar to a beer can! Anyway, the 50 Sq Ft of Ultimate Sound Proofing cost me about $150.00 including shipping. I wasn't enough to do the whole car, which is very small, and I am not overly impressed with the results.

It did help some, but not $150 worth in my opinion. I'm sure I could spend more money and put more on it, but the stuff is so darn expensive.

I think a better hood liner would help a lot on our trucks! Just my experience and $0.02! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smokin.gif

 

[Stan2]

That is the exact stuff I was looking at (B-Quiet Ultimate) and it will cost me $212.80 after taxes and shipping. I think my PSD is louder than a Suzuki Swift so if you didn't notice an inprovement on that I dought I would be pleased with spending that much to cover two doors and some of the floor in the crew cab.

The testimonial I read was from a guy using 140 square feet in his crew cab so likely covered more than once in some areas. That amount would cost me $600. That a power chip plus my downpipe mod!!!!

 

[F250Jockey]

Well, in B-Quiet's defense. The Suzuki has virtually no insulation in the rear end of the vehicle. They are really cheap made, and mine had some cupping on the inside of the rear tires that I didn't notice until this past weekend, which makes it roar really load in the back end of the car. I'm sure if you spent the kind of money you mentioned, and did a job like the person you spoke of, it would make a big difference. In my situation, I would hate to spend $600 in sound-proofing on a $600 Car! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif I guess I would consider it on my truck though! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smokin.gif

 

[Stan2]

Just went and bought some spray on tar/undercoating product from the local hardware store. Basically is for undercoating for sound and rust protection. I also bought a can of the spray in bedliner material which appears to be the same thing but twice the price ($9/can vs $3/can). I am going to apply this to the door skin (between the vapour/dust barrier and the steel skin of the door) as well as under my floor mat underlay. I will liberally apply to see how much a can will cover and if it makes any difference to the sound quality.

It appears that the matterial is similar to sound mats (obviously without the adhesive backing, method of application etc.) and hopefully will do a similar job.

If anyone is interested I will post my results in the next couple of weeks.

 

[mike100]

sound proofing is an elusive science. it really has more to do with the body structure and distance to the loud parts (ie exhuast) which kind of determines how quiet the truck will be. as you know, aftermarket downpipes are real close to the firewall, so not much to improve there.

I got ahold of some pretty good stuff leftover from a project at work (dynamat and some dual density foam stuff). the stuff in the doors and floor help a lot, but the firewall/dash still emits noise. actually, it dampened some frequencies, but now I really notice the heui clicky clack from the injectors coming thru the dash area. there was no acoustical improvement there as it is inacessable. It is quieter, but all it does is make you hear other sounds or frequencies that were less noticible before. mine was a freebie, and I would be reluctant to go thru the work again.

 

[ckanderson]

[ QUOTE ]
Just got back from lunch and spoke with an audio guy (went to school for this so he should know something I guess). He says that the mat works by making the steel more rigid and thereby reduces metal vibration (primarily for speakers forcing the metal to vibrate due to sound waves).

[/ QUOTE ]

It doesnt make the steel more rigid. it changes the resonent frequency to a lower frequency,

 

[JoshR]

I did the sound attenuation treatment to my previous truck (2000 F350 CC). Pulled the seats, carpet, and factory pad and found two book-sized pieces of dynamat-like product on the floor pan - that's it. I used 'Ice and Water Guard', a mid-weight adhesive-backed asphalt-based sheet (since I had a free roll from a job)and applied it to the pan from as high up the firewall as I could reach to the bottom of the back window. You can piece it together as need be to negotiate the curves, and doubling up layers can't hurt. It doesn't have to be pretty, just has to cover the whole pan. Used a heatgun to soften the material; its adhesive is adequate esp when the material and truck is warm. I then applied a layer of the foil-faced fabric & string scrap-based 1/2" padding from PepBoys to the same locations. Figuring 'oh ***' I tossed down an old rubber floor mat from an old F250 RC in the front half, then reinstalled the carpet and seats. Also added a layer of the padding between the factory hood pad and the hood. Oh boy, what a difference. As much as I love the sound of the PS engine, it gets old after a while, esp on the highway, and the steps detailed above made it a joy to drive again.

Since I have new cab mount bushings to install this summer (which require the seats and carpet to be pulled), I'll give my '96 the same treatment. May use torch-down roofing instead of ice&water guard, as it's twice as thick, twice as heavy, and not that expensive; however, it's not very pliable w/o serious heat applied, so I may have to experiment w/application techniques, or may just have to pop for the B-Quiet Extreme or a similar product. I'll do doors for sure this time. The place that really needs something is the cowl under the wipers; this might be a great location for the spray-on material (pull wipers, pull grille between hood and windshield, mask hardware, spray inside, etc.) A lot of noise comes thru the vents, and I haven't heard of a good solution yet. I'll let you all know how it goes.

Josh R

 

[cmichalik]

Two things that make a big differance. Pull off the boot from your trans shifter and stuff some insulation batting in there. That will muffle quite a bit of noise. The other are is the open space under the dash. Close it up. The Super Duty Guys have the option of getting some panels from an Excursion that mount under the dash to close off things. Unfortunatelly, we don't have that option. Taking notes from the Excursion and my wifes car, I made up a prototype and fit it under my dash. Huge differance. Exspecially when I did the passenger side of the dash. You would not believe how much noise comes thru the fire wall in the area of the heater core.

My next step is to find a dynamat knock-off and line the doors under the panels. Being a poor boy I can't afford the real stuff. A few months ago I found some stuff called R-blox on Ebay. It was about half the cost of everything else at the time. Do some searching and you'll find something.

Good Luck.

 

[Stan2]

I will certainly look for the 'Ice and Water Guard'.

I pulled the door panels and floor mats back in the front last night and used both cans of product. The 'Truck Bedliner' material dry's very quickly where as the cheaper 'Ashfalt Tar' undercoating did not and ran down every opening there was. For a quick job, the truck bedliner material was much better as it provided good adhesive and dried within minutes where as the other stuff is still soft this morning (I put it on thick).

End result? A lot of smell, a dirty door panel and concrete slab on the one side, the smell of gasoline to clean the door panel and concrete slab, minor sound deadening. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/depressed.gif I guess that is why the can says to apply on the 'underside' of the vehicle.....

I know, I know, I did a very partial job. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif I think I will do a more thurough job (pull seats, shifter boots, etc. and spend the proper time on it (kid's to be somewhere else at the time because now I have tar foot prints in my basement). /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif

Definately will do the cowl under the wipers some how. I agree that a lot of noise comes in there.

Anyways, installing my downpipe and getting rid of the muffler tonight so sound work will wait for a while. Can't wait to feel and hear the difference this mod makes. Doing the mod with the help of a fellow TDS member and am stoked because then comes the chip!!!!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif

 

[Suns_PSD]

Yah I did it and it worked really well. I also got it from B-quiet. Spoke to Wade over there I think. I used the sticky stuff on the whole interior plus I threw down 2 pieces of some lead backed sheets.

It's not exactly a luxury car but I can comfortably speak on my cell phone while driving when before the insulation there was no way that I could. The difference is quite noticable but not huge.

Also putting it in was really easy. Did the floorboard in about 1.5 hours w/ the next door neighbor kid helping and just did the doors one at a time at my convience.

It's worth it in my opinion.

 

[1996CC]

[ QUOTE ]
Yah I did it and it worked really well. I also got it from B-quiet.

[/ QUOTE ]

What did it end up costing you?

 

[Suns_PSD]

I don't really remember. Maybe $300 or so. It's been about 1 year.

 

[whiplash2]

Don't spray both product on same area as they are not the same. If used together stuff will peel. Canned bed liner spray is not very flexible when dry. as the undercoating is. The undercoating spray tends to stay tacky. I think the undercoating will cut more sound. I think the best idea is rhino under cab. Wish I could get somebody to do mine.