Acoustic Mats

[ChallengerHK]

For those who have used this stuff, what are your experiences? Understanding that it's a purely subjective thing, but how much quieter would you say the interior is? I'm trying to determine if there's value in this stuff for highway speeds. I suspect more than half of our road noise is from noise around the windows, so I'm not sure how much the mat will help.

[cuda346pk]

 

[73EStroker]

HK, I hear ya. I have B-Quiet throughout the entire car except inside doors. This car is road noisy. Carpet has the thick felt insulation as well. I even stuck the B-Quiet to the roof prior to installing the head liner. I would agree that most of the noise is from the wind coming past the window gaps. I might look at buying brand new rubbers for door and passenger side glass. CP and I adjusted the windows as perfect as we could get. And I am going with new draft seals around the doors as this rubber hardens over time and does not do its job as well. My son had a survivor 73 440 Charger where he was second owner and it made the same wind noises and that car was totally untouched by human hands as it even had original paint. But the sound deaden-er will definitely help the rumble sound as today's tires are noisier than those of the past.
Hope this helps

[ToxicWolf]

I did the floors and door areas. There is definitely a difference in the tires on asphalt noise. Not anything you would notice when the windows are cracked and you are enjoying the engine music. It is nice when you're buttoned up and doing some distance cruiseing. The difference is more subtle, not a night a day thing for me.

[shawge]

I'm going with the dampen/decouple/absorb route like on sounddeadenershowdown.  To achieve this I'm using butyl backed foil tiles, closed cell foam, and mass loaded vinyl.  The car is not road worthy but what I've done so far is impressive to me.  When it's all said and done, I think the windows will be the weak point in terms of letting noise through.

[GreenFishie]

Back in 91 when I finished by 81 Z with my dad in time for the beginning of my jr year ... I thought I was going to go deaf. The road noise was simply maddening. I bought a "sound dampening" molded carpet set and if it worked, I can only imagine what it would have sounded like without it.

I bought my stereo, speakers, subs, and amps at a car stereo shop in a larger town about 30 minutes from our house ... and they were pushing "dynamat" at the time and I passed it off as useless or frivolous ... until that first round on the road.

I parked the Z in the shed, removed my interior (much to pops' chagrin) and saved two paychecks ... and bought enough dynamat to do the entire interior. Headliner, doors, and floors. The difference it made was phenomenal. That was over 20 years ago.

I did this sort of work through highschool and into college ... and obviously it is easier if you're dealing with a fresh build. The products have gotten better since then ... and it depends on what you pay for.

Don't get asphalt based materials. I've had guys tell me horror stories about the smell on hot days. Most of what is out there is pure junk. A single hot day leaves a lot of sagging headliners.

Second skin is by far the best. After that I would say Dynamat extreme products. If you can find the original and just need to do your floor ... this would be the most cost effective. Another product is Fat Mat ... but only the Mega Mat line is worth a damn.