Noise reduction

catken · July 15, 2012

Does the sound reduction material need to be glued to the metal to be efective. Would just stuffing foam rubber between the pannels and the body be effective. Would just treating the rear pannel of the cab have any effect on exaust noise or does the entire cab need to be done.

brantjs · July 16, 2012

There are 2 different types of noise reduction. The first type of noise is caused by vibration and resonance of the door panels/cab sheet metal. That can only be reduced using something like dynamat (or any of the other alternatives), which is a peel and stick application. This type of installation does not require 100% coverage, as you're just looking to reduce/eliminate the resonance in the panel, which can be done by strategically placing the product on the largest and least rigid panels. The other type of noise is just the ambient noise caused by wind, engine, etc. The foam that you are suggesting is fine for that. Typically the foam gets glued to the panels, but as long as you have a continuous wall of foam so that sound waves cannot travel between gaps, it would be effective either way. The best sound reduction installations incorporate both of these types of products. You will get some improvement by doing the door panels because they act as a noise chamber, but more improvement comes from the floor and roof in my experience as they are broader sections of sheet metal.

catken · July 16, 2012

I have seen some pictures where where the material is applied to the door skin, some applied to the door frame and some do both. What application would you suggest.

brantjs · July 18, 2012

I haven't done it to the current truck, but I did a pretty extensive install on my last truck which was a 2000 Tacoma extended cab. I did both panels of the doors, sealed all the gaps with sheet metal, and put foam to the inner door skin. I also gutted the rest of the truck and did the entire roof, floor, back of the cab, and inside the rear speaker cavities with both products. The overall purpose of my install was for audio quality, but it really did make the whole truck quieter and give an overall feel of being more solid with less audible rattles. It really depends on your budget and how much work you want to put into the install as to how far you go with it. It probably cost me a little less than $300 for materials, but it was pretty time consuming and labor intensive.