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Making Golf Interior Quieter

George Ab

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Pacific NW
This is a worthwhile mod that reduces road noise at highway speeds. One just needs to use their ears, get up to highway speed and listen for where the road noise is coming from. You can always test first by removing spare tire and covering fender wells and tire area by taping four or five cotton towels laid out over the area and then go for a ride at highways speeds. Totally understand if one is satisfied with the way the car comes stock. I modify my car to make my car better at the edges. Yes, tires contribute to noise, I use quiet tires; Michelin PSS currently and usually use Continental DWS.

I understand resonance. Any material will resonate if enough energy is put into it. For road noise “25% coverage provides 99% performance of reducing panel vibration noise”. In my case I am driving up to 200 Watts into a 10” speaker firing towards the floor so significantly more energy is being placed into the system. I am good with the amount of anti-resonance treatment I used for my application, if I got overzealous and put a pound more than needed so be it. However, IMO far from “laughable” for the application.

Great input on using felt! Acoustics foam is not that good at absorbing sound as thick cotton batting is vastly superior. However, there are other design considerations. Foam gives more than cotton so you can fully cover where thick cotton batting cannot. You will be able to put your panels back on with foam and get complete coverage. You can line your walls with 8” cotton batting, but if you leave the window open noise will get in. I will likely add ½ inch cotton batting to those areas where I can. My subwoofer meets the upper panel as it is so I don’t have the room under the tire, but will likely add and recommend its use where you can fit it in.

I contribute to the community by sharing my experiments and modifications. However, a critique from a proclaimed subject matter expert “I studied building acoustics design” starts out with “I see many of the threads on various forums & it makes me laugh as the waste of materials....”, does give me pause.
 

southpawboston

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Somerville, MA
I contribute to the community by sharing my experiments and modifications. However, a critique from a proclaimed subject matter expert “I studied building acoustics design” starts out with “I see many of the threads on various forums & it makes me laugh as the waste of materials....”, does give me pause.

Agreed. That's why I politely brought up the cost comparison of your modification versus golfdave's. ;) We choose where we want to put our money.

And by the way, I've gained a lot from both your and golfdave's thoughtful and useful mods!
 

golfdave

Autocross Champion
Location
Scotland (U.K.)
Car(s)
Mk7 Golf GT Estate
I contribute to the community by sharing my experiments and modifications. However, a critique from a proclaimed subject matter expert “I studied building acoustics design” starts out with “I see many of the threads on various forums & it makes me laugh as the waste of materials....”, does give me pause.

Maybe I was too direct with my approach, ...:eek:....just I hate too see wasting time/effort/money when similar results can be gained with less effort/materials...& I have seen numerous people on this forum & many others making the same mistakes re sound deadening.

Less scatter gun, more marksmanship...that's the whole point of these threads, pass on learned actual/practical knowledge...make it easier for others to follow in our footsteps...:cool:

EDIT...

PS maybe make a clear distinction between sound deadening/proofing because you want to make the car quieter....& sound deadening/proofing because you have installed a kick ass sound system & like SPL comps...;)
 
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dr_mat

Go Kart Champion
Location
Berkshire
One point to mention to casual browsers is to be careful with the fire safety of materials you're using for this. A car on fire is a bad place to be without adding to the problem with flammable stuff inside the cabin too.


...if it creaks, it's probably made by VAG
 

SteveRosenlund

New member
Location
Spring, TX
I quieted my Mk7.5R today using dynamat extreme and Dynaliner. Took the whole Dad gun day. But it is done. And the results are good.

 

20ls01

Go Kart Newbie
Location
Texas
Car(s)
GTI 2016
You likely just introduce a lot of extra rattles by removing all these panels...lol

GTI is pretty quiet already. Tires make a huge difference...
 

George Ab

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Pacific NW
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I quieted my Mk7.5R today using dynamat extreme and Dynaliner. Took the whole Dad gun day. But it is done. And the results are good.
[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Well done Steve![/FONT]

You likely just introduce a lot of extra rattles by removing all these panels...lol

GTI is pretty quiet already. Tires make a huge difference...

Concerning introducing rattles, I have not found that to be the case. I have torn my interior down a few times, most of us look for potential problems, use a little Tesa tape to treat if necessary, and take care putting things back together. Also by tackling jobs like this you develop the confidence and experience to run down a rattle. Knock on plastic as I have none.

The GTI is pretty quiet. However, quiet is relative, if you are coming from a Honda Civic; yea it is super quiet, but if you are coming from an S Class Benz there is a ways to go. Being this is an enthusiast forum many of us like to make our car better than the way it came. By using sound treatment my GTI is significantly quieter than stock and the stereo sound quality is enhanced.
 

teslas123

New member
Nice work George ab. Question, how do you remove the panel that covers the wheel well?
I tried and removed all the parts closest to the lift gate, but it gets hung up on the side closest to the panel that the rear seat belt rests upon. I can't separate the two panels. How did you do it?

Thanks!

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 

elcid86

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
VA/DC, USA
This is on my list to do. I have done several cars (mostly doors and under back seat). Recently did my wife's '18 Outback under/around the spare tire area because I had it all out to run wires to a trailer hitch. I think I'll start with the rear hatch area of the Golf and then perhaps the doors one day. Thanks to the OP and for the discussions.
 

Bäsemödel

Go Kart Champion
Location
Lancaster PA
Steve that amount of work is no joke... hats off to you sir
 

southpawboston

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Somerville, MA
I did the doors and under the rear seat—what a huge difference in the speaker sound! Spare tire area is next!

Those are the areas I did, as well as the trunk (didn't do the rear wheel wells). I felt the trunk and doors made the biggest difference. Next for me is the rear deck lid.
 

Bäsemödel

Go Kart Champion
Location
Lancaster PA
Those are the areas I did, as well as the trunk (didn't do the rear wheel wells). I felt the trunk and doors made the biggest difference. Next for me is the rear deck lid.

If its not recovered already, do you have pics of how much you added? I'd like to see where you added material and how much.

Thanks!
 

southpawboston

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Somerville, MA
If its not recovered already, do you have pics of how much you added? I'd like to see where you added material and how much.

Thanks!

No pics, but I added very little deadener to the trunk-- 4-5 square feet at most, including the back wall. Basically wherever there was a large area that didn't already have factory deadener. The factory coverage is actually not bad. But I covered the entire trunk floor with 6mm thick foam insulation on top of the bits of deadener. Maybe 15 sq feet?

For the doors, the strategy was similar. 1-2 square feet at most of deadener per door, cut into smaller pieces only where needed. Then the entire back side of the door panels were insulated with the 6mm foam sheets.

10 sq ft of deadener did the trunk, four doors, and under the back seat. Then maybe 30-40 sq ft of insulation for those same areas. (I wouldn't do under the seat if I could do it all over again-- the rear seat is a pretty good insulator on its own).

I have more deadener and insulation but I'll only tear into the rear wheel wells to do them if I have another reason to remove those covers. On the GSW it's kind of a pain to get the carpeted covers off. Even when I ran my trailer wiring I avoided taking those wheel well covers off.
 
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