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Thread: How to do some noise dampening (adding adhesive tar/bitumen tiles)

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    How to do some noise dampening (adding adhesive tar/bitumen tiles)

    So I finally did something to reduce the noise inside the car. It now feels like noise is reduced by more than half.

    Here is what I did, what is needed, and how to do it:

    Note: It certainly makes sense to do this systematically!
    There is no point in doing just a bit this week, and then next week having to take the same stuff apart again to continue.
    You need to be inside a protected room or garage, need basic tools, a few containers/jars or whatever for putting little bits and pieces into.
    Btw, if you haven't sprayed the seams yet for rust-protection, this would seem a good opportunity.

    This car had been corrosion-protected in its cavities some time before. The seams had been treated with wax-spray, but not the flat surfaces, eg. in the doors. Remember you can't glue anything on top of wax. The doors and trunk lid had already received something similar to bitumen tiles, and this was completely sufficient. Therefore there is no further mention of the doors and trunk lid here, although it is essentially the same as with the other parts.

    Materials used:

    A) One pack of sixty self-adhesive bitumen tiles, size 10 x 25cm, 3mm thick.
    This is the actual product, but anything similar would be good enough:
    http://www.ebay.de/itm/21-13EUR-1m-6...item562b972f92
    This comes to a total of 1.5 square meters. Weight is 5kg per square meter. These are for getting rid of resonances. Roughly about 20% of surface-coverage on the sheet metal is usually fine.

    B) A limp/heavy pvc material, a bit like felt, the stuff used under floor-tiles. It weighs about 5kg per square meter. I needed about 4.5 square meters. I got the stuff from a local carpet store. It is put on top of concrete ceilings, in essence und the floor tiles of the floor above. It stops the persons below hearing the folks above walking on their floor tiles.
    In lack of it, you could simply use some heavy carpet. That should be good enough.

    C) Contact cement, one spray can for attaching the above material so it stays in place and doesn't move about.


    Taking it apart:
    Firstly the inside needed to be taken apart! There is no getting around this, if you do not want to waste a lot of time.
    I started by disconnecting the starter battery, because there are air-bags in this car and you don't want them to go off while working.
    I took out the middle console first. It is fastened by two clips in front, and by two 10mm screws, one in the middle, one at the rear.
    Then the plastic piece around the bottom of the steering-column in the foot area.
    Then out with the horizontal plastic stuff near the bottom of all 4 doors, pulling upwards and being very careful not to rip off the clips.
    Then off with all the lower grey panels, front, middle and back.
    Then the upper beige panels, six in total, but be sure to thoroughly wash your hands before, in order not to make marks on the roofing.
    Unclip the connections under the front seats, and remove the front seats. There are two nuts size 12, two size 14.
    Then off with the roof lining, a second person for helping is needed. Do not forget to thoroughly wash your hands before touching the roof lining!
    Remove the rear seat cushion. The rear seat-backs remained in the car.

    After doing what is described below, everything has to come back in reverse order. Be sure to take notes to help you put everything backin the right way and right place, and keep the fastening clips in little containers, one container for the associated fasteners of each piece or panel coming off.

    Note: Looking at what needs to come out prevents accidental damage. Be careful not to rip out covers or fasteners, but rather do it carefully and gently.

    Doing it:

    With everything out, I started by applying the bitumen tiles. These needed to come on those part of the surfaces that rung like a bell when lightly tapped. I started in the very front, halfway up the firewall as high up as possible. Then continued with the front floor. Then further to the area under the front seats, rear foot-wells, vertical surfaces to the seat-bench area, under the rear bench, then in the trunk.
    Next the side panels inside the trunk. The outside metal of the rear side panels were tiled from the inside, there are holes in the metal panels where the side panel covers were, and they can be accessed from there. The roof area in the front and in the back also received bitumen tiles. Then it was time for the second step, putting in the limp/heavy silencing material.

    The limp/heavy silencing-material was put on the floor, front and back, and over most of the area where the console belongs. You could use heavy carpet instead. I did not put much in the trunk, except for the vertical side panel area. Then in two sheets it was put over the front and back area of the roof from inside. I used contact-cement spray to fix it all in position. Just enough spray to keep it there. Then the roof lining was put back on.

    The holes in the upper section of where the rear panels belong, was also covered with the heavy felt material in order to block the noise coming out.
    The inside of the grey middle panel between the doors received a vertical strip about the width of a hand, and the length of a lower arm. Look inside that Panel, and it is self explanitory.

    Then the carpet came back in place, including the little black plastic piece around the bottom of the steering column.
    All the cladding parts were put back in place. The upper beige panels comes on first! Match the top of the beige panels with the roof lining first, before snapping them on. Then and only then the lower darker ones come back in place.
    Don't forget to attach the wiring when putting the seats back.
    When everything is in place and finished, it is time to reconnect the battery.

    Additional weight:
    Five kg for the bitumen tiles, 22kg for the limp/heavy material = 27kg total.
    I could have use less of the limp material, or used none of it, but the effect would have been less.

    Light weight variation: For those wanting to scimp on extra weight, I would use the same amount of tiles, plus some limp material only in the front footwells from the firewall to where the front seats start. That would come to 5kg tiles + roughly 7kg limp material = 12kg total additional weight. That should be good enough to make a reasonable difference.

    Congratulations! Its been at least one full day's work, if you've been quick.

    PS: Sorry, I didn't take any photos. There would have been too many. However the text should explain it sufficiently for folks having the experience needed to do things like this...

    DISADVANTAGE of the dampening: Although driving noises can still be heard, it is more difficult to hear the engine revving. It can happen you think it is in fifth, and you actually have it in third. Especially so if your stripped-naked model is just like mine and has no rev-meter.


    Last edited by foama; 02-22-2018 at 02:10 PM.

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    Excellent write up! I agree, you do NOT have to coat the entire car interior in damper material. That is just adding unnecessary weight. Thanks for explaining this.

    Do you have any pictures?
    Custom Mirage products: Cruise control kit, Glove box light, MAF sensor housing, Rear sway bar, Upper grill block

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    Quote Originally Posted by Daox View Post
    Excellent write up! I agree, you do NOT have to coat the entire car interior in damper material. That is just adding unnecessary weight. Thanks for explaining this.

    Do you have any pictures?
    Yes.. I agree too.. appreciate if there are pictures showing which parts should be necessarily covered with damping materials. I'm planning to use HushMat.

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    Sorry I didn't take any pictures, there would have been too many.

    The bitumen tiles used, were the standard sort available just about everywhere. See further up in the first post under "materials used". Look in EEpay and you will surely find something useful. It doesn't have to be any special brand, or size, or been manufactured with a golden knife, etc. The ordinary regular stuff with about 3mm thickness, coming to about 5kg (10lbs) weight per square meter (yard) is fine. The size stated in the first post seemed to be practical when I bought them, and while putting them in, that size proved to be truly ideal. You need a total of about 1.5 square meter of these, which is roughly 1.5 square yards for those using medieval measures. If you really want to play it safe, get 2 square meters. Getting rid of resonances with bitumen tiles is the first and most important process. For those wanting to scimp on weight, you may want to leave it a that. The limp/heavy material that goes on top introduces more noise dampening, but also considerable weight, and while getting rid of a lot of noise, it does not dampen the very low frequencies much.

    Put the tiles in as I stated in the first post. Any surface that rings when tapped lightly needs tiles. The front curved parts of the wheelhouses, and around the wheel houses in the back received more tiles than the other surfaces, also the area forward of the front foot area. Tyre noises are substantial, and you want to dampen these. Once you have the carpet and claddings out, you will easily tell where the tiles have to go. Just look and do some tapping, and you will easily tell. About 20-25% surface coverage is generally fine, some extra for the wheel houses and side panels. I did not mention the doors in the first post, as they were already done. Maybe four tiles in each front door and three in each rear door should suffice.

    An example for ringing (resonant) surfaces:
    Raise the rear bench and look at the now visible metal surfaces towards the door, and you shall find one area that rings like a church bell. The outside surfaces above the rear wheels also ring like a bell, and can be easily dampened with a tile or two from the inside, coming from where the cladding was taken off. Through that same hole from inside the rear wheel arches become accessable, don't forget them either.

    If you do all this, it will take quite some time! Remember there is no way to do it properly without taking your time!

    Read the first post of this thread thoroughly, it says just about everything you need to know.

    You should to do it systematically though, meaning do all in one go.
    Calculate one entire day with two persons for everthing if you have all materials and are well skilled.

    If you never did anything like it, count on two days hard work, and have somebody to help you the whole time.
    Last edited by foama; 02-22-2018 at 02:13 PM.

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    Good writeup !
    Where are you located, should I get a Space Star some day.

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    Thanks overboost. Rhein-Neckar area. Where are you from?
    Last edited by foama; 06-13-2015 at 06:06 PM.

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    Südpfalz, southern rhineland-palatinate.

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    I have limited sound deadening materials.. If i have to maximize it.. which portions on the attached picture should be applied w/ the dampening mats?
    Attached Images Attached Images  

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    I'd probably put it on the areas that ring the most when tapped.
    Custom Mirage products: Cruise control kit, Glove box light, MAF sensor housing, Rear sway bar, Upper grill block

    Current project: DIY Nitrous oxide setup for ~$100

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    Quote Originally Posted by Daox View Post
    I'd probably put it on the areas that ring the most when tapped.
    I agree!



    @ Mitz: Please let me suggest reading the first post again, because it explains everything.

    About 20-25% coverage is usually enough if put on the surfaces that ring most. If you are not really sure, extra bitumen tiles do no real harm and don't add much extra weight. This stuff only weighs about 5kg (10lb) per square meter (square yard). One point five square meter was sufficient for me for all surfaces except the doors, which is really not much. If you are not sure about where to put them you may want to get 2 or 2.5 square meters. That will certainly be enough. The stuff doesn't cost a fortune either, but make sure it weighs at least 5kg per m².

    This is the actual bitumen tile product I used, and enough of it costs about as much as one half a tank of fuel:
    http://www.ebay.de/itm/21-13EUR-1m-6...item562b972f92

    A similar product would also be be OK.

    Here a list of some of the loudest areas where the bitumen tiles were glued to:

    1) The area forward of the front foot area. ( In post #8, the area in front where the greyish felt stuff can be seen.)
    2) around the wheel houses, front and back, use plenty there.
    3) under the front seats.
    4) under the rear bench (that was really bad!)
    5) the rear side panels above the wheel area, as well as the round part of the rear wheel houses. There are lots of ringing surfaces there! (Accessable through the holes becoming uncovered once the side panels are off)
    6) all large flat surfaces, including foot areas and the roof.


    Just do some tapping, glue a tile on, and you will see if it still rings like a bell or just sounds like a muffled knock as it should rather be. If in doubt, better put some on rather than not. It is self explanatory. Just as an example, a total of 10 to 12 tiles of the suggested size and weight were enough for the entire roof.

    I didn't write about the doors and tailgate in the first post, but it is in principle the same.
    You may want to make use of this opportunity and treat the seams of the doors with wax cavity spray while you are at it. Do take care not to wreck the plastic foil sealing the entry to the cavities. Consider the tiles only stick to clean surfaces, but not on wax. So it may be better to put on the wax spray after doing the tiles.


    Last edited by foama; 06-25-2015 at 08:37 AM.

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