Impending Interior Upgrades

[Boomer73]

I'm about to do a major interior overhaul along with a couple exterior upgrades and wondered if anyone had any suggestions for other considerations or anything to keep in mind while I have the interior torn out. I don't want to get the project done to find out its not worth the trouble to undo a bunch of work to do something I forgot about or didn't consider.

 

The stuff below is planned for the end of February and the parts are really starting to pile up now. My rec room is starting to look like a small warehouse and my wife is starting to get irritated.

 

-Pioneer AVIC-D3 head unit

-Pioneer amps

-Pioneer bluetooth module

-Pioneer XM radio module

-Pioneer iPod adapter

-Polk Momo 6.5" woofers/tweets in the front and 4x6 mids/tweets in the rear

-Polk Momo 8" subs in the back

-Custom sub enclosure and storage box

-Vibration/sound dampening material throughout cab

-New carpet

-New steering wheel w/controls and airbag

-Swap out manual seats for 8-way power seats

-Swap out jump seat for console

-Custom leather upholstery w/ballistic nylon inserts

-LED interior lights

-New tailgate

-Silverado taillights and tailgate spoiler

-Line-X in the bed

-Body colored door/tailgate handles and mirror covers

-Putco Hybrid 5" nerf bars

[masterp2]

don't spare the sound treatment. The headliner is a good place also, to dampen. I use 100 lb of dynamat extreme (total) and some decouple foam. Like a lexus now!

 

Also, consider a TNR. It's not the best quality sound but it is not bad with the aux CD installed.

[Bruce03Silverado]

In my old 03 1500 I had interior trim pieces painted the match the color of the truck - was a real nice touch and not too overdone - my 03 was spiral gray metallic.

 

 

 

 

 

[Boomer73]

I have 50 sq ft of Damplifier Pro. I don't know what that works out to in poundage, but I don't think its 100lbs - feels like maybe 40-50lbs. I was planning to do the floor, the doors and the back of the cab. I hadn't planned to take the headliner out. I talked to my upholstery guy about redoing the headliner (I have a very dark pewter interior with this shale colored headliner that I really don't like) but he and I can't agree on what material to use. So I won't be doing that as part of this project. Maybe save it for later.

 

Do you think the 50 sq ft will be enough for what I have planned or will I need more? Where did you use the foam? I understand some people are spraying expandable foam in the pillars and in the fender cavity etc. I thought about doing that in the back doors but I've not talked to anyone that has tried.

[Boomer73]

In my old 03 1500 I had interior trim pieces painted the match the color of the truck - was a real nice touch and not too overdone - my 03 was spiral gray metallic.

 

 

Hmmm. That's a nice touch. My exterior is black and the fabric on the doors is supposed to get replaced with black ballistic nylon to match the seat inserts. The black painted trim could look nice. Did you have a pro paint shop do it? Any problems with scratching or chipping?

[masterp2]

I have 50 sq ft of Damplifier Pro. I don't know what that works out to in poundage, but I don't think its 100lbs - feels like maybe 40-50lbs. I was planning to do the floor, the doors and the back of the cab. I hadn't planned to take the headliner out. I talked to my upholstery guy about redoing the headliner (I have a very dark pewter interior with this shale colored headliner that I really don't like) but he and I can't agree on what material to use. So I won't be doing that as part of this project. Maybe save it for later.

 

Do you think the 50 sq ft will be enough for what I have planned or will I need more? Where did you use the foam? I understand some people are spraying expandable foam in the pillars and in the fender cavity etc. I thought about doing that in the back doors but I've not talked to anyone that has tried.

 

 

50 sf is not near enough. When i did mine, i way underestimated, kept ordering more. Just the 4 doors will take 50 sf, if you do both inner and outer skins. I used dynamat extreme, very impressed with it. I started with cheaper stuff, and was having to use dual layers. it wasn't cheaper.

 

I used the decouple foam in the front of the floor boards.

 

The headliner can be dropped, without removing. I found that was a good idea, rain cannot be heard now. I also through some insulation up there for our heat challenged environment. I have used expandable foam, but I can't say it did anything for sound reduction, though it sure does beef up the strength of the structure. if you use it, be real careful, if you get it on upholstery, it is there to stay. Good Luck, to do it right is a BIG job.

[Boomer73]

50 sf is not near enough. When i did mine, i way underestimated, kept ordering more. Just the 4 doors will take 50 sf, if you do both inner and outer skins. I used dynamat extreme, very impressed with it.

 

The Damplifier Pro is anything but cheap - more expensive than the Dynamat Extreme actually. It better be worth it. I think we need to work up a group discount on this stuff or something. It's bloody expensive to ship.

[masterp2]

50 sf is not near enough. When i did mine, i way underestimated, kept ordering more. Just the 4 doors will take 50 sf, if you do both inner and outer skins. I used dynamat extreme, very impressed with it.

 

The Damplifier Pro is anything but cheap - more expensive than the Dynamat Extreme actually. It better be worth it. I think we need to work up a group discount on this stuff or something. It's bloody expensive to ship.

 

 

it's probably much the same as extreme. I would serach ebay for the bigger quantity, and find one offering a good BIN price, and not too far away, keeps shipping down.

[rogerf]

Where did you use the foam? I understand some people are spraying expandable foam in the pillars and in the fender cavity etc. I thought about doing that in the back doors but I've not talked to anyone that has tried.

I used a combo of ordinary pink fiberglass R-13 and "Great Stuff" in the body hollows of my old 1500 W/T which made a huge difference for both noise and HVAC.

 

The unfinished back wall got a 1.5 inch foam roofing board covered in backless marine carpet. The hollow space between roof metal got foamed and the vynal W/T headliner was covered with the same marine carpet. Everything was cheap & available at Homer D's. Go for it...just found it better to use ordinary fiberglass batting for the big hollow areas. Gained access to the cab corners through the speaker holes. Will need a flexible rod like a metal yardstick or length of pvc water pipe to use as a packing tool.

[mini1]

Sounds like way too much money to be putting into a 5 model year old truck. I hope you aren't looking to get any of those upgrades back upon sale of the truck? I'd go get something newer with more factory options and then do some upgrading.

[masterp2]

Just an FYI, Fiberglass has about zero noise attenuating ability. If you compress it tightly, it will then start to be of value.

[Boomer73]

Sounds like way too much money to be putting into a 5 model year old truck. I hope you aren't looking to get any of those upgrades back upon sale of the truck? I'd go get something newer with more factory options and then do some upgrading.

 

I will drive this truck until it dies or it is totaled in an accident. It might even get a new engine if that ever dies and the rest of the truck is still good. I drove my Sonoma until it died and then donated it to charity. I spend a lot of time in the vehicle now, but in about a year or so it will be a weekend truck and my daily driver will be a corporate lease car so I expect the mileage accumulation to drop dramatically in about 11 months. I'm also not interested in a payment for a vehicle that will be driven on the weekends so a new truck is not in my future. I'm saving the payments for Escalade/Yukon Denali if we can decide which one we want and we outgrow Trailblazer. Because of all that I can justify putting a couple grand into the comfort aspects of the car. And I do all my own work - sometimes getting my brother-in-law and father-in-law to help when a need a second/third set of hands (they're MOPAR guys, but I don't hold it against them) - so I don't have any labor costs.

[Bruce03Silverado]

In my old 03 1500 I had interior trim pieces painted the match the color of the truck - was a real nice touch and not too overdone - my 03 was spiral gray metallic.

 

 

Hmmm. That's a nice touch. My exterior is black and the fabric on the doors is supposed to get replaced with black ballistic nylon to match the seat inserts. The black painted trim could look nice. Did you have a pro paint shop do it? Any problems with scratching or chipping?

 

 

 

My buddy owns a performance shop and he ordered the paint (I gave him the GM paint code) and did all the work for me. No problems with scratching or chipping. The parts were stripped, painted and clearcoated. Before we put them back on I put a few coats of zaino car polish on them and never had a problem! I always got compliments on it because it wasn't too overdone - just enough to make a nice clean difference.

[ws6_guy]

That interior painted trim sure looks good Bruce03Silverado

[Bruce03Silverado]

That interior painted trim sure looks good Bruce03Silverado

 

Thanks! I've been wanting to do the same to my 2500HD, but I just haven't gotten around to it yet - 9 week old daughter will do that to ya!

 

We also took off the intake, valve covers, coil brackets, mass air flow, TB, lid and shroud off my 02 Firehawk and painted and clearcoated them black. Made the engine bay look CLEAN