[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Sprucegoose

I'm no expert

Neither am I! but...

2> it will also reduce the flex [how the plastic or metal panels of the surfaces they are stuck on] of the panels inside the car, which will improve sound quality,

I don't think you are right about this one. I think the damping stuff is fairly flexible.

[This is complete conjecture] They also significantly lower the resonant frequency of the panels.

Actually, I think this is a key thing. This is what damping is about: preventing the metal panels from vibrating/ringing.

[norhog]

Thank you for the opinions.

The main idea of sound damping is prevention of transmission of vibrations by the metal skin of the vehicle. This can be achieved by likes of DYNAMAT, KILMAT (basically butyl based sound absorbing mats) or pasting YOGA MAT (as in case of the YOUTUBE link shared) to the skin or the sheet metal of the vehicle. From my checking on internet, YOUTUBE and little knowledge I have, any dense layer of rubber or foam adhering on the metal should prevent the sheet metal to vibrate and consequently quite things down. Once we have achieved reduced vibration of the sheet metal, the car will feel more silent and music sound more better and crisp.


My main intention is to not spend 10 to 15 thousand INR for noise reduction by applying the branded sound absorbing mats to all surfaces of the car, roof, doors, tailgare and floor. This is almost the cost of repainting a hatch back in a proper paint booth equipped workshop. I like to use the likes of yoga mats, foam sheets and other non conventional route for achieving the same result.

Having stated my understanding and intention above, a request to the knowledgeable people in this forum to advice if any other material other than the branded ones have been known to give some desirable results.?
Thank you.

[MegaWhat]

Originally Posted by norhog

I like to use the likes of yoga mats, foam sheets and other non conventional route for achieving the same result.

I'm no expert, but please do keep the flammability of the alternative materials in mind when you do proceed. You'll probably have these insulating materials going close to wires and relatively hotter regions of the car, it'll help to be a bit extra careful. Do keep us posted on your progress though.

Cheers!

[Vijaypatel49]

Originally Posted by norhog

Having stated my understanding and intention above, a request to the knowledgeable people in this forum to advice if any other material other than the branded ones have been known to give some desirable results.?
Thank you.

I have done the basic damping on my Ford Fiesta Classic (D) on all the four doors. I had ordered a pack of 5 sheets from Mororogue.in, a Mumbai based car accessory dealer. The product name is I-COPPER I-D9 DB SOUND DEADNER MAT. The feel of the material was really good when compared to the material used by local accessories shop in Hubli (They use silver color rubber based sheets which looks cheap). The sheets were cut precisely and had a good weight to it. The 5 sheets were enough for 4 doors.

I paid Rs. 3750 for sheets and Rs 400 for installation at local shop. The result is good for both external sound insulation and the output of my stereo is also better now.

Now I am planning to order 2 more sheets and paste it insight the boot lid also as sometimes it rattles on not so even roads.

[Xaos636]

Applied the damping sheets for my Hyundai Venue. Mild vibrations where heard from the doors while playing music above a certain volume level. All 4 doors and boot were covered. The primary aim was to reduce all kinds of metal sounds originating from the doors with the added advantage of a better NVH and a better sounding music system. Covered the inside of door pads as well. This was a complete DIY.

Result: There are Zero sounds coming from the doors now, Zero. Every single one of those door vibes have now vanished and the outside sounds creeping in has considerably reduced. The NVH levels of the car were already very good and this application has taken things a notch higher. The door shut sound is very 'German' now if I may put it that way. The boot is the big difference. I had to put a small pressure on the boot door for it to close properly, but now I just pull it and leave it and it shuts properly without any extra pressure applied. A total of 9 sheets were taken for 4 doors, averaging 2.25 sheets a door, including the door pad. A single sheet weighed almost 1kg, so all the doors are now heavy by atleast 2kgms. A solid thud and your peers finding it difficult to open the doors are classic examples of how much weight have been added to the doors. The music system genuinely feels upgraded after this, maybe its my mind but I feel a really good difference when playing songs now. The boot took one sheet making it 10 sheets in total. And not to mention, we took around 8 hours to do the job where an experienced shop typically takes 2-3 hours depending on manpower.

The sheets from Hamaan


Stock door


After application started




Inside of the door pad


The boot




Note: It may not be perfect and may not look professional at all because it was a DIY.

[Stribog]

Hey Guys, do you have feedback on Dr Artex Iridium as damping material?

I have been quoted 9.5k incl Labour + taxes for doing the 4 doors of my Seltos.

[dreamz_mak]

Hey Guys,

Can anyone tell me how much dampening material will be required to cover an entire hatchback? I mean all 5 doors and floor as well? will 40 sq ft be enough? I am planning to do this on 2010 i10. components speakers and Amp to follow soon.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by dreamz_mak

Hey Guys,

Can anyone tell me how much dampening material will be required to cover an entire hatchback? I mean all 5 doors and floor as well? will 40 sq ft be enough? I am planning to do this on 2010 i10. components speakers and Amp to follow soon.

• Measure the surface area of the door panel of one large door of your car
• Multiply that by 4 (Doors) and again by (2.5) to arrive at your overall requirement

For the Door pad:


For the inside of the Door panel (nearly same as the door pad):


For the outside of the Door Panel (You wont need this much but 0.5 of the area will suffice):

Additionally, have some for the boot door as well.

[Chinmay]

Hi everyone,

This is an interesting thread, and I have been following this for a while now. Now, I have always believed in damping the doors to improve overall NVH levels (not make it zero, which I think is practically impossible and not advisable too).

While getting my new vehicle, I got the floor PVC-carpeted and also went for some under body treatment for this purpose. The showroom guys have done a decent job here. I also got my stock HU replaced with a Sony XAV-3000 HU for Android Auto and possible future sound upgrades, and Polk components (DB+ 6502) for the front doors. The NVH and audio output at the time of delivery was decent. However, I was looking to damp the doors further as I could not play any music at higher volumes. Not that I wanted to make others listen to my choice of music, but the setup was somehow not falling in place. Then, I decided to get it done through professionals only, as I am not a DIY person myself. Finally, zeroed in on Satya from EVO-BLR. He seems to know a thing or two about decent audio upgrades, as some of our fellow BLR Bhpians would know. Anyway, we decided to upgrade the rear speakers too. On opening the door pads, we observed a shoddy installation work by the showroom guys. the MDF speaker mount was all over the place on the front door. Anyhow, we got better mounts in place, and Blaupunkt Damp 2.0 sheets were used for the damping work ( a total of 8 sheets were used). These guys pasted one layer inside the outer door metal and another layer just before the plastic door mount, on the metal surface where the manufacturer puts a transparent sheet. This took about two hours to complete.

I must say, the audio quality has improved drastically after the damping. The lows are brighter, and the tweeters are also tuned better (the showroom folks had messed up the crossover setting and boosted tweeter gains). I can also play music at moderately high volumes without any distortion. I don't listen to very loud music, so I have not checked for higher volumes. However, they seem to be good too, as demonstrated by Satya.

I hope this damping remains effective. I plan to get an amp only in future, and no subs. My wife and kid don't like the thump, and they are always in the car with me. Have to wait and watch how this setup holds with an amp. I suppose it should be alright without the sub.

Incidentally, the damping has also reduced ambient noise to a great extent. Road noise is muffled but still there (No major changes here as the floor was already PVC-carpeted before), but I don't mind that. Its a feedback of sorts, and should be there, I feel. Otherwise, ambient noise is well-controlled now. This is important in Bangalore!

I have not tested it on highways and at high speeds, so will not be able to comment on these aspects.

I was quoted about 9K for the damping, but we negotiated to a mutually agreeable price for the same.

However, I forgot to damp the boot door

I have attached a few shots of the installation. The inner installation in not clear from the pictures. However, I have seen it in person, and the guy did a good job.

[dreamz_mak]

I just did damping all 4 doors and boot of my 2010 i10 Asta Automatic for about 1500 bucks. I will be providing photos and also details about the product used soon, it has really worked quite well and enhanced the quality of the doors and also made the cabin much quieter.

I understand some people spent thousands of rupees into damping either for audio or just to reduce cabin noise, I didn't want to spend more than 3K for my car excluding labour. I bought around 40 mtrs of the material for 3k and only used half of it for all four doors and boot. I have around 15-20 mtrs left and no issues in sourcing more if needed as this stuff was quite cheap around rs. 650 per 10 mtr roll [4inch width]

The reason I am posting right now is to find out what is useful? doing the roof or the floor or both or none?

[venkyhere]

my 2 cents....

Beyond a limit, it's impossible to keep the cabin insulated for sound, in regular cars, doesn't matter the quantity/quality/price of the damping material used.

Reason ?
The glass area.
Many modern cars have acoustically laminated front and back windshields, but only the true luxury segment (RR, bentley, S-class etc) get double-glazed windows.

The former incorporates a special laminate which has more damping characteristics than the regular laminate polymer used for the glass sandwich. The latter, that is extremely costly and much heavier too - it has an actual gap (filled with dehydrated air or some inert gas) trapped between two layers of the glass sandwich, and nothing damps sound as much as a gas (air or inert gas).

Hence my humble opinion is that beyond a point the marginal gains from spending more and more money damping the firewall, sheet metal surfaces with 'damping material' for sound insulation, is going to be infinitesimally small, because the big elephant in the room is the glass.

[Rohan613]

The best damping material in terms of cost and effectiveness has to be CTK Viprodamping. Yes, I know that Dynamat and STK are pretty reliable but there are very very expensive as compared to CTK. I have used their gold series version in my car and it has truly transformed the in cabin experience. Most of the vibrations were gone and the door has also gotten heavier giving the reassuring thud in the door which all Bhpians crave for . The price is very reasonable and it does improve my stock audio as well by around 20%. I would recommend all of you guys to install this in your car. Happy Miles!!

[viXit]

Dear members,

I recently took a small ride in a BMW X7 30d and was awestruck by how quiet and refined everything sounded. The engine had noticeable diesel clatter on the outside(albeit very less) but on the inside it was dead quiet! I really want to know how they have achieved this.

I opened the door and closed it again and again a couple of times to see what all the hype about the german car "thunk" was.
I didn't find it to be a very bassy or heavy thud. I feel that I am assessing this relatively and the door didn't impress me much because my Safari's front doors are hella heavy and have a sheet of sound deadening in it.

But the ambience of the cabin and the SMOOTH power delivery was something out of this world.
My question is as follows.

Will dampening my roof, floor doors firewall etc. ever be able to reach the low noise levels of a luxury car like a BMW? Would like to hear the opinions of people who have ridden in both luxury cars and sound deadened cars which aren't as expensive.

I'm really blown away by the ambience of the car. Maybe it had active noise cancellation, I'm not sure. But it was beautiful.

Originally Posted by paragsachania

......
Additionally, have some for the boot door as well.

Sir,

Maruti Suzuki cars, in my opinion serve as a good platform for experimenting, since they are known to have a lighter build quality when compared to their counterparts.
You have damped your ertiga rather luxuriously in the doors, how much of a difference do you reckon this has made?

Is the difference in decibel levels for road noise immediately noticeable?

[drive_angry]

Hey Guys, I just got a 90k quote for Innova Crysta damping - 2.6mm damping on door and 4mm damping on roof and floor. The material will be used is Dr. Artex but I insisted on CTX since that seems to be popular here, to which he said is not good enough as compared to Dr. Artex. There will be around 50-55 sheets used in the complete damping process and is a day's job. I have no prior experience with damping, dont you say its bit on the higher side? and which material is good these days?

[Thunder70]

Let me know some details from Bhpians as I am not an expert in these

I owned Baleno 2019, planning to do damping.

1. Anyone did damping in Baleno? if yes please let me know the details like the product,
cost, efficiency, etc
2. What is the life of damping material? do we need to change it after some time?
3. Applying damping material in doors and boot makes any issues to electrical parts in
extreme summer and winter conditions?