My ancecdotal b-quiet report

[tyrel]

I call it anecdotal because I don't have any sound measuring equipment except my ears.

So I got two boxes of the stuff, came pretty fast and the company was a pleasure to deal with. They give you a little roller, but it's kind of useless, it breaks easily if you press down too hard. It's easier to use your hands to press it into shape. So yesterday and today, I tore apart the interior and put the stuff all over: the rear deck, the floors, the doors, the transmission tunnel... EVERYWHERE. It's really easy to work with and there was no odor, the stuff doesn't have any smell. You just cut, peel, and press into place, a monkey could do it, and I'm the monkey who says so.

So I finally got everything back together a couple of hours ago and went for a drive, and was disappointed that I couldn't tell any difference. I tried the stereo, I tried stop-and-go traffic, freeway traffic, etc, but there was no difference in road noise; it was as though all my hard work was for nothing.

So if I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't. I'm sorry I spent money on this stuff. If other people can tell the difference, that's great, but my experience convinces me differently.

 

[OldCorvetteFan]

I call it anecdotal because I don't have any sound measuring equipment except my ears.

So I got two boxes of the stuff, came pretty fast and the company was a pleasure to deal with. They give you a little roller, but it's kind of useless, it breaks easily if you press down too hard. It's easier to use your hands to press it into shape. So yesterday and today, I tore apart the interior and put the stuff all over: the rear deck, the floors, the doors, the transmission tunnel... EVERYWHERE. It's really easy to work with and there was no odor, the stuff doesn't have any smell. You just cut, peel, and press into place, a monkey could do it, and I'm the monkey who says so.

So I finally got everything back together a couple of hours ago and went for a drive, and was disappointed that I couldn't tell any difference. I tried the stereo, I tried stop-and-go traffic, freeway traffic, etc, but there was no difference in road noise; it was as though all my hard work was for nothing.

So if I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't. I'm sorry I spent money on this stuff. If other people can tell the difference, that's great, but my experience convinces me differently.

So - what was the material ("stuff" doesn't tell me what it was), and where did you get it, so that I can avoid it?

Thanks,
Steven

 

[vee93]

I take it you're referring to the sound-deadening material and heat shielding? You just said, "two boxes of stuff". Who'd you buy from? I installed the quiet package in my 93's doors and they work pretty darn good. Sorry to hear you're unhappy about your end results.

 

[Agent 86]

Its not sound insulation, its sound deadener. I have the same stuff in my vette to help stop the body panels etc from oscilatting. The vibrating parts will make there own music. My aftermarket stereo and exhaust do their best to to vibrate everything, but this stuff does work.

 

[Redbob]

...So I finally got everything back together a couple of hours ago and went for a drive, and was disappointed that I couldn't tell any difference. .

I got a laugh out of your post, since the same thing happens to me more than I care for!
I'm in the NVH business, working on reducing vehicle noise, and numerous times I've installed a "sound package" that was supposed to quiet a car or truck, and didn't do a doggone thing.

In every such case, it was because I either selected the wrong materials, or, more often, because the dominant in-cab noise was structure-borne rather than airborne, or because I used barrier materials where damping materials were required, or vice-versa.

I will tell you this: if you're trying to reduce a low-frequency "booming" noise - a sound as if you're on the inside of a drum - no sound treatment material is going to do you a bit of good, since absorbers and most barriers are ineffective at low frequencies.

Here's how you can figure out what you problem frequency range is:
use "Sound Recorder" on a laptop, make a sound file 8 or 10 seconds long, and play it back through Cool Edit 97 (96?) a bit of freeware that has an FFT analysis capability.
Follow the instructions in Cool Edit for "frequency analysis" and see where the peaks are. If the highest peak is below say 300 Hz, nothing you can do with absorbers or barriers will help. It's coming from the exhaust, and the only way to eliminate that is to quiet the exhaust.