My Sound Deadening Project

[BigDogYJ]

So this last weekend, I decided to gut the interior and line it with some RaamMat Sound deadener. Basically like Dynamat, but half the price and very effective.
Here's some pics...

In the end it took ~ 18 hours for all four doors, floor and rear wall (working at a slow/medium pace).
I have to admit, with the 5" straight pipe exiting in front of the rear wheel, it had an annoying drone when towing up a grade for extended periods. Now with this stuff in there, it is significantly toned down. You still hear the engine and exhaust, but it is much much quieter.

Would I do it again? Absolutely!
Also, I have to say.... Rick @ RaamAudio is a great guy to deal with.

Let me know if you have any questions.

All pictures are located here...

 

[Mad Maxx]

I did the same in my Truck too. Def. made it ALOT Quieter.

The biggest PITA for me was getting the Cuts just right and Lined Up on the Doors so the Panels would Slide & Clip back on perfectly.

 

[BigDogYJ]

I did the same in my Truck too. Def. made it ALOT Quieter.

The biggest PITA for me was getting the Cuts just right and Lined Up on the Doors so the Panels would Slide & Clip back on perfectly.

I agree.

I probably could have spent a little more time to cover more area on the doors and it would have been better, but I wanted to make sure I didnt cause a problem with the metal slide levers for the door lock. You can see in the door pics that I was cutting and putting small pieces in here and there.

I have some material left over, so I may pull them back off and put some more on it.

 

[gahammerle]

Wish I would have done my whole cab - I put dynamat down from just under the front edge of the front seats to the firewall. Definitely helped reduce the noise around town, but on the highway above 65 there is a loud drone. If I had done the the whole cab, I'm sure it would reduce that substantially.

 

[Joey D]

How does this stuff do with moisture and water from melting snow off your boots?
I want to do my 98 with this stuff or something like it.

 

[Mad Maxx]

Well it's Aluminum Backed, so the Water or any other Liquid would just Sit on it. Unless you use the Foam Sound Proofing as well because that's basically Sponge Mat, so that would Absorb the Water.

 

[BigDogYJ]

According to Rick @ Raam Audio...

The Ensolite foam that he sells (which is what I used) will not absorb moisture as most others do.
So the moisture would still stay on top of the RaamMat. i guess it would just evaporate over time.

 

[BigDogYJ]

Btw,
I have decided that this weekend, I am going to put another layer on the back wall of the cab and depending on how much I have left, I may go over the doors one more time.
Not that its not quiet enough, but I am just a sucker for comfort .
I was also thinking of putting something on the underside of the dash cover to see if it would eliminate most of the rattles.

 

[83GMCK2500]

You know it's not that difficult to gut the doors, providing access to the outer sheetmetal. If you choose to do that I would suggest bumping the windows down ~1/4" to take the load off the system, but no more than 1/4" otherwise you can't loosen the clamps that grasp the bottom of the window. Also...tape the window up in place, don't want it to fall down the track.

 

[BigDogYJ]

You know it's not that difficult to gut the doors, providing access to the outer sheetmetal. If you choose to do that I would suggest bumping the windows down ~1/4" to take the load off the system, but no more than 1/4" otherwise you can't loosen the clamps that grasp the bottom of the window. Also...tape the window up in place, don't want it to fall down the track.

I may do that. However, the outer skin was not too bad to get at through the access holes. But I was thinking about covering the access holes to better seal up the door.

Suggestions?

I have seen several people use something like a metal screen or expanded metal and use that to cover the access holes and put the sound deadening mat over that.

I can't take credit for those pics. They are from the RaamAudio website. Can we post links to other sites?

 

[saratoga]

Looks good and I bet it's a lot quieter. I've always wanted to pull the headliner and put some dynamat type sound deadening on the sheetmetal roof because that SOB is loud driving in the rain. There's a guy I know from work that can get me this quiet car stuff which is a spray-on sound deadening material, but it sounds messy as hell to apply.

 

[packratt]

How much material did it take?

 

[BigDogYJ]

I ordered two rolls of RaamMat BXT and 7 Linear Yards of Ensolite Foam.
Each roll has 62.5 Sq Ft of material.

I have lined the doors, inner skin and outer skin, the floor, back wall, B and C Pillars
and still have about 1/3 of a roll left. My next project, may be roof. I also have 2-3 Yards of the Ensolite foam to line the back of all the plastic trim panels and the underside of the large Dash Cover..

I love how quiet and solid it feels. With the foam on the back of all the trim panels it keeps everything very quiet. Hardly any rattles.

 

[WilliamBos]

Nice work!!

Is that the stick on stuff you see on Power block TV? Where can smaller amounts be bought in a store??

 

[packratt]

Did you peal the OEM insulation off the plastic panels before you installed the ensolite foam?

 

[BigDogYJ]

Nice work!!

Is that the stick on stuff you see on Power block TV? Where can smaller amounts be bought in a store??

I have never seen the PowerBlock TV shows so I couldnt tell you if it was the same or not.
I do not know of any retail store that sells it, just the website Raamaudio.com

 

[BigDogYJ]

Did you peal the OEM insulation off the plastic panels before you installed the ensolite foam?

No I left the OEM hard foam in place and just used the spray adhesive to stick the ensolite foam to it. Works great.

 

[BigDogYJ]

One thing I noticed....

When I had the back panels off there are some large cavities inside the walls (or inside and outside panels in the C Pillar). I decided to full them as much as possible with that expanding foam stuff for concrete or insulation.
Be Careful! This stuff is messy / sticky and if you get it on your hands, it WILL NOT COME OFF! it has to come off with the skin (kinda like super glue or krazy glue).
But I am glad I did it, as the following weekend I was under the truck changing the oil and noticed a few spots where the foam had seeped out of the seams in the sheet metal. At least i know they are sealed better now.

 

[turbovanman]

Another option, thanks. I found other brands on Ebay as I need to do my Minivan, I am getting old like you, lol. I want it quiet inside, :thumbsup:

 

[bobbiemartin]

If you are cheap like me, you could also try a self adhesive butyl waterproofing material like WR Grace Vycor Select. Its not exactly like Dynamat but very close, certainly from the same family of products. About $60 for a 200 SF roll, you can get it at roofing supply houses or maybe HD or Lowes.