Sound deadening to reduce road noise

Anybody done this? I'm really digging all the audio stuff I've done lately, it sounds great, but as soon as I hop on the freeway all the road noise drowns out the sub and all the low end of my music unless I turn it way up. What's the best way to tackle this? I've been eyeing products from secondskinaudio.com. Where is the most effective place in the car to start? Just the front doors, all 4 doors, or just go nuts like this guy did http://www.golfmk7.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16879

Decent tyres will help a hell of allot. The standard ones create so much road noise when you fit quieter ones you actually think something is wrong.

Tyre reccomendations

Finglonga said:

Decent tyres will help a hell of allot. The standard ones create so much road noise when you fit quieter ones you actually think something is wrong.

Click to expand...

What tyres have you fitted that are quieter. I changed my rears from the original Potenzas S001 to Goodyear Eagle F1 and if there was a difference then it was marginal.

I understand tires will make a big difference, but I'm more interested in where the weak points in the cabin are for road noise (doors, floor, hood/firewall?). I would love to drop $800 on deadening material and do the whole car but I can't do it all at once. Where is the most effective place to start?

Well I pulled the trigger on some material from soundskinsusa.com. I got enough to do all 4 doors and some of the trunk/floor. This stuff is way more affordable than secondskinaudio.com and it sounds like it will do exactly what I want. Here's a good video on this product https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIzkhrkTZwk

If anyone is interested I'll do a write up on it when I get around to installing it.

fuelboss said:

What tyres have you fitted that are quieter. I changed my rears from the original Potenzas S001 to Goodyear Eagle F1 and if there was a difference then it was marginal.

Click to expand...

I have Uniroyal Rainsport 3's at the moment, very soft compound so wear wont be great I would guess but they are much quieter than the Potenzas.

Interested

subbed

I received the soundskins kit just a couple days after ordering it but I finally had some time this morning to work on it. Just the two front doors for now, will get the back doors and the trunk hopefully by next week.

The material was pretty easy to work with. I made a template out of some clear plastic and then transferred it to the soundskins material to get the initial shape. I laid down some big strips on the inside of the door panel before laying down the large outside pieces. I haven't driven around with it yet, but there's a HUGE difference when I knock on the rear doors compared to the fronts. The rear doors sound hollow and higher pitched, the fronts sound completely solid with a deep "thud". I will post up some better impressions after I drive around for a couple days.

The CLD you bought isn't made for making the cabin quieter, it's to keep panels from vibrating. That can help some, but to block noise you need a closed cell foam and mass loaded vinyl. www.sounddeadenershowdown.com Don will take care of you.

Also, the lower a car is, the more road noise you're going to get. The doors and roof will give you marginal improvements at best. The hatch floor, on the other hand, lets in a lot of noise for some reason. The roof will make almost no difference, unless it's raining. Then it's a HUGE difference. It MAY help with cabin heat as well. Depends on the products used.

Soundskins is not just a vibration dampener. It is a CLD and CCF combined into one product.

www.soundskinsusa.com

Finally got around to finishing up this project today. Did the rear doors and the hatch. Not sure the rear doors did much but the front doors and the hatch made a huge difference. I have so much more low end in my music while driving on noisy freeways. Overall the road noise is much much quieter. Very happy with this project and would consider it a must for anyone doing an audio set up.

Not sure why my iphone likes to wash out some of my photos.



Carpet back on


All put back together


Random pic of my amp wiring because I thought it was cool lol.