2006 Civic sound dampening project

phew! finished the first day of dynamatting. stripping the rest of the car was pretty easy, only a couple of clips holding the wire harnesses to the seat undersides were a bit of a pain. the actual dynamatting went well though, on track to have all the interior stuff back down where it should be by the end of the weekend.

also please forgive my ghetto method of holding the carpet up :P

the objective is to have 2 layers of dynamat everywhere i put the stuff... so in the pics below, you're looking at 2 layers. also i decided to keep the wires on top of the dynamat instead of under, this way if they need to be accessed for maintenance it won't be any harder than stock.

http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/5917/dyn88zt.th.jpg
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/5872/dyn79ab.th.jpg
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/9632/dyn61nw.th.jpg
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/7813/dyn58wx.th.jpg
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/4391/dyn49ex.th.jpg
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/8594/dyn30nw.th.jpg
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/4808/dyn25wb.th.jpg
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/5720/dyn10yc.th.jpg

Wow... I didn't realise this thread would have nudity! :eek:

Btw good work with the sound system deadening. Maybe one day I'll get to hear it at one of the OzHonda meetups! IIRC you don't live too far from the Hills District.

ok finished the rear seat and the boot today. in the end, the floor and the rear seat got 2 layers, the boot only got 1 - i'll add more if i need to later but i want to make sure i have enough to do all 4 doors nice and beefy :)

http://img465.imageshack.us/img465/9...dyn82ls.th.jpg
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/3...dyn73kx.th.jpg
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/8...dyn64bx.th.jpg
http://img465.imageshack.us/img465/2...dyn59hh.th.jpg
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/1...dyn46au.th.jpg
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/3...dyn34ny.th.jpg
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/3...dyn24du.th.jpg
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/8...dyn11dl.th.jpg

looks like ur gonna be able to hear a pin drop in ur car

ok just drove the car to work, 1 hour in heavy rain in peak hour conditions. all i can make are subjective observations but one thing that i noticed was that it was a remarkably relaxing drive... usually rain + peak hour is a little more stressful.

i don't think there was a substantial drop in noise levels overall, however the sharp bumps are definitely quieter. the tyre rumble seemed maybe a little quieter as well, but that could just be relative to the rain noise.

i expect to get much more benefit from doing the doors, specifically the outer skin (the very outer-most panel). stay tuned! :P

Hey Chylld:

appreciate if you can continue with your great pics of the door removal as im considering a replacement of the stock speakers and want to make sure i get the trim off properly without breaking anything ;)

Mobile recording studio in the making!!!

hehehhe jk.

wassup: i'll be sure to post pics when time comes to do the doors (need to do more research on how to best plug up the big gaping hole). however getting the trim off is very easy:
1) pry up the control panel from the rear and disconnect it
2) undo the screw behind it
3) pry off the little cap inside the door handle
4) undo the screw and push in the centre of the black clip
5) pop the panel starting from the bottom
6) pull the door handle assy out a bit, turn 90 degrees and pass through its hole in the trim while moving the panel up and out

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by chylld

wassup: i'll be sure to post pics when time comes to do the doors (need to do more research on how to best plug up the big gaping hole). however getting the trim off is very easy:
1) pry up the control panel from the rear and disconnect it
2) undo the screw behind it
3) pry off the little cap inside the door handle
4) undo the screw and push in the centre of the black clip
5) pop the panel starting from the bottom
6) pull the door handle assy out a bit, turn 90 degrees and pass through its hole in the trim while moving the panel up and out

---

sounds very similar to removing the door trim from my old VTi-R coupe then ;)

As for pluging up the holes a good way is to create templates with A4 paper, then transfer the shapes to MDF type boards (no need for thick ones) to plug up the gaps. These boards can be held in with the Dynamat.

yeah i'm very familiar with MDF, and most probably will end up going that route. one door sound deadening tutorial i saw used duct tape to close off the hole, then mdf, then another layer of duct tape - apparently that works really well provided that the mdf panel is sealed against moisture (easy).

another method that i'm reading about at raamaudio's website is to use silicone sealant to hold in a piece of aluminium roof flashing. however, given that the objective here is to dampen vibration, i'm much more inclined to use a 6mm thick piece of wood than a 1mm thin piece of metal :)

I'm just curious how all this sound deadening is affecting the performance/handling of the car and if it's noticable. Not that I find my Civic underpowered, because for a 1.8L, it isn't too bad, but I wouldn't want to do anything which would make things significantly slower/less responsive?

Btw the project seems to be coming along nicely :) Another question, does this sortof project where you're ripping up the car and putting sound deadening in constitute any violation of the warranty t&c?

hmm well even if i decide to use all of it, it'll only add about 20kg to the car's weight so it's not much... it'll have a negligible effect on performance.

i'm not 100% sure on the warranty thing, but i was concerned about it from the start so i was extra careful with everything and kept all the wires above the dynamat instead of under it (which i see in a lot of guides) so that the car is essentially as it was before from a functional/accessibility point of view.

the only problem is if i try to claim warranty on a part that was damaged or broken as a direct result of my applying the dynamat... which is to say nothing so far.

i remain a bit concerned about the doors though - have to plug up the big service hole which could make things tricky if the door needs to be serviced.