[jerome829]

I own a 2006 Scion xB.

I've done a couple things to it since ownership... and now that winter's coming I was thinking of pouring some money into car audio...

Here's my dilemma...

I know it's a good base to work with, but how "soundproof" can I get the car?

Basically I want it to be super quiet on the inside, free from road noise and other annoyances on the road...

But is it possible to do so with an economy car like this? If I laid the Dynamat (or anything equally or better) would this be possible?

I don't know what else "luxury cars" have that make them quieter, etc... but I don't want to invest thousands of dollars if I can't build a good base and hi-fi speaker system...

Anybody have any thoughts?

Just trying to think of a rough draft... I'm not big into video as I used to be, so I was planning on sticking an Alpine head unit CDA-9857 to my 80GB iPod (through line out) and working around that...

Any advice would be great. Thanks.

 

[skeeder]

Luxury cars are built with foam and stuff between each panel. Making the quieter, the engine is larger...which means lower RPM's which means quieter. Honestly even though its a toyota...your not going to get it really quiet without spending alot of money

 

[jerome829]

Quote:

Originally Posted by skeeder Luxury cars are built with foam and stuff between each panel. Making the quieter, the engine is larger...which means lower RPM's which means quieter. Honestly even though its a toyota...your not going to get it really quiet without spending alot of money

Yeah, it's making me think of a new car, honestly... but I don't know...

 

[AndyRx7]

Some friends and I ripped out the sound-deadening from our Rx-7's to reduce weight... if installing it is anything like tearing it out, you've got some work ahead of you!

(i.e. picture stripping your interior to the metal, using a hairdryer to soften the tar which you then scrape off.... big job)

I'm sure you could achieve what you're looking for, but it would take a lot of money, a lot of custom cutting of material, and a LOT of effort. I guess it depends how serious you are about your car stereo!

 

[jerome829]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndyRx7 Some friends and I ripped out the sound-deadening from our Rx-7's to reduce weight... if installing it is anything like tearing it out, you've got some work ahead of you! (i.e. picture stripping your interior to the metal, using a hairdryer to soften the tar which you then scrape off.... big job) I'm sure you could achieve what you're looking for, but it would take a lot of money, a lot of custom cutting of material, and a LOT of effort. I guess it depends how serious you are about your car stereo!

lol... no kidding... i've had tons of friends do it to help them at the track/auto-x... from what i've heard it's more of a b!$#% to remove the deadener than it is to apply it.

so you have an rx-7? hook it up with some pics!

 

[AndyRx7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jerome829 lol... no kidding... i've had tons of friends do it to help them at the track/auto-x... from what i've heard it's more of a b!$#% to remove the deadener than it is to apply it. so you have an rx-7? hook it up with some pics!

1982 FB w/ a fair list of mods (I've had it for 10 years).

 

[euclid]

basically you just want to add mass to absorb vibration and sound. if you go to Home Depot in the roofing section you can get aluminum covered tar paper which is nearly identical to dynamat. use a hair dryer to heat it up and get the tar to stick better, remove the door panels and put on layer on the doors sheet metal and one layer on the inside of the door panel. if you want to get really thorough you should try to seal up the door as much as possible it will work sort of like a speaker enclosure and the door speakers will sound alttile better. just keep in mind its very hard to remove so if you decide to do it then do a good job.

for the rear panels that have some air space in them use the tar paper but also pack foam betwwen the sheetmetal and the panels.

 

[kramer5150]

you'll need to remove all the plastic and interior trim.

Go to Lowes and Home Depot and stock up on some asphalt-sheet. Its basically felt thats been soaked in black tar, and typically available in the roofing supplies. Its sticky so wear gloves. Use a heat-gun and heat up any exposed metal. Peel asphalt sheet backing and stick it on. Use a heat gun to soften the sheet and a set of rollers to rol the stuf firmly in place. I used chassis under-coating on top of the asphalt sheet. Its available in aerosol spray cans at Kragen.

I have also used Dyna-mat, but IMHO its over-priced. In fact in my installs, I lay down a layer or 2 of asphalt roofing sheet first, and then stick a layer of dynamat over that. It looks good at shows to lay out pics of your build-up... and everything looks like its dynamat.

I cut the ambient DBs by a noticeable amount in my old accord. I probably added ~75 pounds of the stuff. $$ well spent... it really brings out the midbass clarity so that its not drowned out in road noise.

heres the only pic I have... This was taken before the under-chassis coating. The gaps and small spaces left uncovered are to be sprayed with under-coating.

Many people find it doesn't make much difference at all. IMHO it largely depends on how noisy your vehicle is to begin with.

 

[kramer5150]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndyRx7 Some friends and I ripped out the sound-deadening from our Rx-7's to reduce weight... if installing it is anything like tearing it out, you've got some work ahead of you! (i.e. picture stripping your interior to the metal, using a hairdryer to soften the tar which you then scrape off.... big job) I'm sure you could achieve what you're looking for, but it would take a lot of money, a lot of custom cutting of material, and a LOT of effort. I guess it depends how serious you are about your car stereo!

taking the stuff out is a LOT harder than adding it.

 

[euclid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kramer5150 taking the stuff out is a LOT harder than adding it.

yeah the only way to remove the tar is to freeze it with a bag of dry ice and chip it off with a hammer and chissle, and then using some sort of liquid remover to clear the residue. it would be a big project.

 

[Ampersand]

There are some cheaper alternatives to dynamat. Raammat is pretty good stuff and raamaudio also sells ensolite which is a good product. Another cheap alternative is Fatmat, but five years of Louisiana heat eventually caused it to run (but only on the trunk lid)

Good luck, doing it right is a lot of work, but worth it.

 

[jerome829]

Thanks guys. Looks like I will save some money and try to do this during the winter.

Some people on the xB forums have recommended this as a sound deadener:

http://www.edesignaudio.com/edv2/index.php?cPath=24

What do you guys think?

 

[jerome829]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndyRx7 1982 FB w/ a fair list of mods (I've had it for 10 years).

Nice car.

Looks well kept.

 

[jerome829]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kramer5150 you'll need to remove all the plastic and interior trim. Go to Lowes and Home Depot and stock up on some asphalt-sheet. Its basically felt thats been soaked in black tar, and typically available in the roofing supplies. Its sticky so wear gloves. Use a heat-gun and heat up any exposed metal. Peel asphalt sheet backing and stick it on. Use a heat gun to soften the sheet and a set of rollers to rol the stuf firmly in place. I used chassis under-coating on top of the asphalt sheet. Its available in aerosol spray cans at Kragen. I have also used Dyna-mat, but IMHO its over-priced. In fact in my installs, I lay down a layer or 2 of asphalt roofing sheet first, and then stick a layer of dynamat over that. It looks good at shows to lay out pics of your build-up... and everything looks like its dynamat. I cut the ambient DBs by a noticeable amount in my old accord. I probably added ~75 pounds of the stuff. $$ well spent... it really brings out the midbass clarity so that its not drowned out in road noise. heres the only pic I have... This was taken before the under-chassis coating. The gaps and small spaces left uncovered are to be sprayed with under-coating. Many people find it doesn't make much difference at all. IMHO it largely depends on how noisy your vehicle is to begin with.

Holy cow, 75lbs... nice! I really wanna do a good job for a great sound so I'll make sure I take care of this project well...

 

[jerome829]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ampersand There are some cheaper alternatives to dynamat. Raammat is pretty good stuff and raamaudio also sells ensolite which is a good product. Another cheap alternative is Fatmat, but five years of Louisiana heat eventually caused it to run (but only on the trunk lid) Good luck, doing it right is a lot of work, but worth it.

Thanks, I will look into these, too.