Road noise

[John Larkin]

I bought a Challenger and love it but I can hear some road noise through the doors. What kind of sound suppression can I use on the door skins to reduce noise? I have one caveat: I don't want to use Dynamat. If I get a door ding, the I cannot get the ding fixed with paintless dent repair - you cannot PDR through Dynamat. The suppression would need to be some sort of spray coating and since it is on the inside, who cares what color or brand it is.

Looking for some real world successes. Thanks.

 

[Nasty Wendy]

Remember that the way Dynamat works is it adds mass to the panel its applied to. It does not have to be evenly applied to be effective. The panel will change resonance frequencies depending on how much Dynamat is applied regardless of it covers everything or is piled up in a given area. Dynamat adds to the total mass of the panel it is applied, the more Dynamat you add the more you lower (soften) the resonant frequency of the panel and kill the road noise due to that panel vibrating and amplifying those vibes. Look at your door and try to figure the least probable places that a ding would occur and place the dynamat in those areas. Layer it if you need to to get enough mass on the panel.

And if you are dead set against using Dynamat then you can give rubberized spray undercoating a try but I don't know if that will solve the issue of being dent removal friendly or not.

 

[John Larkin]

Thanks Clay. I had an epiphany in the night: would applying it to the backside of the interior panel be just as effective? I even thought of maybe using something like sound insulation (that thick brownish stuff that is also fireproof). I think they call it rock wool.

 

[fuzzyGN]

To get rid of road noise this is what I have used. Starts with a Alpine deck, then 6.5 Focal components and finally a pair of 10" subs in the trunk. Turn the knob clockwise if road noise is detectable until it is gone. Works for me.

On an old Camaro I used to have I insulated the back of the door panel with this weird thick almost jute like material. Worked really well for road noise. None of the panels were rattling it was just a low rumble from the road.

 

[John Larkin]

What you described sounds like what rock wool looks like. I can just hear tire noise when nothing is on. The radio is quite good on it. I think I am going to give this a try.

 

[hawkfan]

MLV(mass loaded vinyl) and velcro is the noise barrier of choice. CLD (constrained layer damping) tiles are used to stop sheet metal from vibrating. If your problem is actually road noise and not vibration, I'd recommend the vinyl or some kind of noise barrier.

 

[John Larkin]

It comes in 1lb per sq ft density. Is that the right stuff?

 

[hawkfan]

Yep that's it. Here's a link to a guy that sells it:

http://www.sounddeadenershowdown.com/

You may be able to save some $$$ by finding some locally. Shipping can get expensive for this stuff.

 

[John Larkin]

Reading his website is very intriguing. Guy seems to know his stuff. Held my interest. Now I have to go figure out what I need.

I really like the well-thought-out reasoning. Thanks for posting that. One of the best articles I have read in a long time.