Anyone Sound Deaden?

[Dunn]

am sure GM does the minimum.....heck all manufacturers do with most of the truck.....have to believe if someone had the time to go through whole truck it would make a huge difference.......stuff like this, brakes, suspension is where i would spend my money.....truck already looks pretty friggen nice....but making it perform better is much more pleasing

[mkarnesusa123]

Completed full audio upgrade, Dynamat (or like) is a great plus.  Under door panel and full outside skin really deadens the door rattles, adds bass and an overall improvement....pulled the interior and covered full floor, yes, its a lot of Dynamat...do it right once and done!

 

Pull the trigger, you wont regret the investment

[Jim E]

I used RAAMAT in my Camaro.

 

Also, there are different products for different areas of the vehicle.  What most people refer to as "Dynamat" (ie: the foil covered rubbery material) is used on large flat panels to reduce vibrations.   You don't need the entire surface covered to see results (ie: the factory pieces).  You also see this on the bottom of Stainless Steel sinks.

[Nasir222]

On 4/13/2020 at 5:39 PM, truck_newbie said:

Finally got around to doing this. Installed some deadening over the weekend. Did front doors and a bit of the floors. Only left with the rear doors, will do that later.

 

Disclaimer: I make no claims of being an expert on this. Audio engineering tends to have a lot of controversial topics so I’ll try not to step on any landmine.

 

TL;DR -> You should do this. Best way I can describe the improvement is the sound system sounds very clean. It’s actually a little bit weird. I can really crank it up with no rattling or resonance from the doors and the bass sounds very tight and less boomy. You don’t have to do any measurements like I did, just stick away and enjoy. Keep wanting to go out for a drive it so I can listen to it.

 

@OnTheReel, good tip on the fabric tape, definitely made the clips tighter. Didn’t end up using the butyl tape though, the vapor shield on mine was still sticky for re-application.

 

Summary

1.       I took measurements before and after with the UMIK-1 and REW software. I didn’t do any tweaks to the system. Just wanted to see before and after performance from installing the mats. Will probably tweak and dial the system in later.

 

2.       Frequency response didn’t show much variation pre and post install.

a.       I didn’t see any improvement in the mids which was a little disappointing. Nevertheless, resonance improvement won’t show up in frequency response anyways.

b.       Freq response results tells me my system is unbalanced and that I like a lot of bass . Don’t judge. I actually found that a little surprising as the kicker knob is only halfway and my settings are bass=2, mid=4, treble=4.

 

3.       Spectrogram measurements show that post install, the bass decays faster. You can see in the pre-install that the bass has some decent magnitudes even past 600ms. Much tighter now.

 

4.       Material is not expensive and it’s very easy to apply.

a.       The doors are not hard to take apart. Some of the clips are stubborn but they should come off with a little persuasion.

b.       I’m not sure how much improvement came from doing the floors but they are the easiest to apply. You just lift the carpet and roll it on. It definitely killed some of the Kicker sub vibrations that travel through the floor. I think it’s maybe a tad quieter now but I haven’t measured the noise SPL post install so can’t say for sure. Will measure it later. 

 

5.       Knock test didn’t disappoint and the door has a much more solid thunk to it when closing.

 

6.       Surprisingly there is actually some factory applied sound deadening. I have highlighted it below. There is a deadening mat that goes across the top section of each of the front doors applied from factory. Who would have guessed.

 

Install Pics

 

I applied a bunch deadening behind the white material below. Didn't remove it, just lifted and applied. 

Thanks for the tips and doing this with included pics. I am about to do my doors on my 17 Silverado LTZ. I have no idea what I am doing but have seen so many confusing and conflicting things it's a sound deadening rabbit hole! While shallower than the car audio rabbit hole it's still a PITA! Now I am wondering if I go behind the collision bars on the inner door or over them with the 80mil kill mat? Also, not sure why but my rear doors didn't have the square chunks of insulation between the inner door surface and the collision bars? All that is there is some tiny chunks of black spongy crap! I can't recall but I think that door had bee. Taken apart at the dealership before for a repair. That's pretty shady and am going to get their ass if they did that shady crap! I have had the worst experience of my life dealing with Chevy dealerships here in Dallas area. Never, ever, ever go to 5 star Chevy in Carrollton/Farmers Branch, TX! Anyway, I was thinking it would be great if anyone who knows what they're doing would make a step-by-step guide for applying these sound deadening products. A pattern would be great too. I was not going to take pics of my install but now have changed my mind just in case it can help anyone. I am stuck on what tape to use on sealing the joints and edges of the 80mil Killmat. I bought like 4 different rolls of aluminum tape because I couldn't find a definitive answer on which to use? I believe they're all made by Suretape or something like that. I also bought some plain ducktape brand Aluminum HVAC tape and some frost king pipe wrap insulation tape. Most of the Suretape ones are Aluminum front and looks like butyl or foam back HVAC tape. If anyone knows please let me know because I am stuck..  the closest thing I can find is the second skin Aluminum tape and I think dynatape or something like that but of course they do not list what the materials are. Thanks again for any help!

[Goobax]

I used a LOT of second skin when I did my speaker installs. Made a huge difference IMO. Debated on doing the floor boards but will probably save that until I get a sub