Looking for feedback on this mod. I'm thinking a box of Dynamat to cover the spaces VW didn't cover. Then put something on top. Some of you mention foam sheets others felt pads. Any links for some of this stuff? I see "MACs Auto Parts 41-26251 Jute Backing - 72 Long X 36 Wide X 1/2 Thick" $28 on Amazon. I also see "Virbo 228 mil" for $105.
I commute on roads that they used the cheapest crap available to pave a road. So the journey is loud, looking to making it more zen
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I did a ton of research and found some really good info that I wanted to share [
https://www.tundras.com/threads/sound-matting-worth-it.22604/].
So the best thing to do is apply something like noico sound deadening. Then glue some close cell foam to some mass loade vinyl and put this over the sound deadening. The foam can be cheaply sourced from eBay. The vinyl is actually expensive and pay attention to get something that has low odor. I got some low odor mass loaded vinyl from a seller at Amazon (4’x25’, could probably use half that if only doing doors) but it still has a smell. Over time it has died down but there is a hint of it that I’m still trying to deal with.
The biggest gains comes from putting the combo on the doors, but I noticed it changed the sound system’s acoustics a bit. I think it muffled the mids a bit but I haven’t mess with the equalizer yet so that’s probably a solution for this. My GTI has the regular sounds system with the Helix sub. I used a combination of Google Sci Journal (iOS and Android) and NIOSH SLM (iOS only) to get some data on the worst roads during my morning commute. I changed my phones during the period so I can’t exactly post data logs but the overall decrease was about 9dB which is massive as dB are a logarithmic unit (LAeq 79.4dB to LAeq 70.8dB). I took these measures while holding my phone next to my right ear.
The biggest difference now is that road noise sounds like flat notes instead of the higher pitch notes you get in something like a cargo van. If I had to do it again, I would but probably only do the doors. Covering the spare tire area did almost nothing. Covering the floor did a bit. I didn’t use foam on it, instead, I just laid the vinyl on top of the factory deadening. I still need to do the hatch, not looking forward to this. To be clear, I put noico everywhere the metal made a lot of noise while being knocked, and I still have like 2 sheets left from the 36 sq ft box.
Hope this is useful to someone.