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actually.. you only really need to plug up the service holes if you want to significantly improve performance to speakers in the door... i think i read someplace that it doesnt improve the actual sound insulation of the door so unless your doing this to improve the low and midrange of speakers in the door then i wouldnt bother
hmmm yeah you have a point, however sq is one of my main objectives as well, and since i don't want to replace the very messy and yucky plastic weathershielding, i might as well cover it myself.
also, any barrier against the outer panel has got to help reduce the noise at least a little bit, especially with a service hole this big:
http://img342.imageshack.us/img342/2261/10015530yr.jpg
The above pic is an '06 civic front door taken by a guy in the us who dynamatted his civic.
chylld, did you find it difficult to apply the dynamat stuff? any extra glue required to stick them? on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being most difficult), how would you rate this whole project? ;)
the dynamat xtreme is extremely easy to work with, even at cold temperatures (i was wearing 3 layers for part of the dynamatting) it's very pliable and i didn't have any problems with it at all. no extra glue is required.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fizz
one piece of advice often given to diy sound deadeners is to heat the mat first by leaving it in the sun or using a hairdrier/heat gun etc. for dynamat xtreme it actually proved to be better to not heat it at all, i tried heating it by holding the mat up to my 2x500w work lights but it made the backing tear off messily instead of cleanly which was a major PITA.
difficulty of the project... the only really hard part is gutting the car for the first time. after the first time (and having learnt where all the clips are and the disassembly order), gutting the car is unbelievably easy. the actual dynamatting is very easy as well, it's just a lot of work. some sections require kneeling or squatting in an awkward position but you get used to it. out of 10 i'd rate the project so far (haven't done the doors yet, but they should be easier) as 4/10 on the difficulty scale.
i'll have to update that difficulty scale to about 7/10 because the doors were so much harder and messier than i thought. nevertheless, the project wrapped up yesterday after nearly 3 bulk packs of dynamat xtreme!
final pics (in the order they were done):
floor: 2 layers
http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/4417/floor6us.th.jpg
boot: 1 layer
http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/3777/boot1ip.th.jpg
rear right door: 1 layer inside, 1 layer outside (note the weathergoop in the first pic!)
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/5...rrr12ou.th.jpg
http://img103.imageshack.us/img103/8...rrr29hv.th.jpg
http://img103.imageshack.us/img103/8...rrr30gi.th.jpg
front right door: 2 layers inside, 1 layer outside
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/91/doorfr11fj.th.jpg
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/2...rfr21pg.th.jpg
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/3...rfr34cw.th.jpg
rear left door: 1 layer inside, 1 layer outside
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/8...rrl17th.th.jpg
front left door: 2 layers inside, 1 layer outside
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/3...rfl14lp.th.jpg
Result:
As when i test drove the car after doing the floor+boot, i noticed a difference as soon as i drove the car out of the garage. the sharp bumps are much quieter now. transitions from smooth to coarse roads are a lot less abrupt now. road noise is still audible, but the characteristics of the noise itself have changed for the better; i can't hear any more low-frequency rumbling anymore, just sounds like tyre noise now. also, on really coarse roads i can talk softly now and my gf can hear me from her seat :)
music-wise, i think there was a small quality gain but nowhere near as dramatic as the gain i got from sound dampening my old hyundai getz - in that car, the sound dampening put the mid-bass through the roof, to the point where it elicited a 'woah' from my gf. in the civic all i got was a 'mm.. that's a bit better.. i can hear a bit more stuff now' but i'm attributing the low sq gain to the incredibly cheap and lightweight speakers.
i've yet to drive the car on my normal route to work yet, but based on the short test drive i did yesterday i'd say yes it's worth the money for sure; but whether it's worth the labour is something that will vary greatly from person to person. nevertheless, i like hands-on stuff so if anyone needs a hand dismantling their 06 civic i'd be happy to help :)
Looks great I know how much of a difference Dynamat makes, I used 6 bulk packs in my Integra. But the best investment I made was the Dynamat roller, really saves your fingers :)
The roof in my car, seemed to make a huge difference. I then lined the entire floor with Dynaliner and TacMat behind the door trims.
Did you find you hands and arms were covered in little cuts from applying the Dynamat?
Job well done
thanks tegboy. yeh i made a little roller out of a bun foot and a fixed castor, it's invaluable. a tennis ball also works quite well (not as good as the roller though)
nevertheless, there were some places the roller and ball couldn't get to, which means that yes my hands and forearms have literally dozens of small cuts all over. no blood though :)
i plan to put some foam in later down the track, but i'll leave it as is for now, not too keen on splurging out heaps for a while.
Just wondering, how much should I be looking at for the installation of Dynomat into my car?
Lifestyle quoted me $200 for front left/right doors.
depends how they do them. if they are only putting dynamat in, then there is a problem with the strength of the SD over the access holes, which in our cars are HUGE! at the moment i have the holes just covered up with dynamat and this isn't enough - i've effectively turned my front doors into passive resonators.
properly doing the front doors for our car is:
- 1-2 layers of dynamat on the outer skin
- 1 layer of ensolite foam on top of this
- ensolite-backed aluminium sheet metal covering the access hole
- 1-2 layers of dynamat over inner skin incl the access hole reinforcement
- 1 layer of ensolite over this
i'll be doing the above to my front doors next weekend (22/23 july) as i am expecting my shipment of ensolite to arrive from the us late this week / early next week - ur more than welcome to come over and watch :) i think you'll get a lot more out of it if you learn to do it yourself.
re price, $200 buys 1 bulk pack of dynamat xtreme and you only need about half that for the front doors as per above.
Well they're saying that it's easier to do the dynomat when they do the speaker installs- and hence are charging $200 for both the sound deadening stuff AND the installation. What do you reckon?
I'm a bit short on cash atm and am inclined to think this upgrade isn't really... worth it just yet?
well given what i've heard about lifestyle, i doubt they'd do a bad job, so $200 for dynamat material + dynamat installation + speaker installation sounds quite reasonable. does that include installing the amp and running the wiring etc.? what about tweeters? from what i've read, installing non-standard (i.e. in Aus, any) tweeters in the stock positions at the base corners of the windscreen is a major dremeling job.
also have they dynamatted an 06 civic's doors before? it's a hugely messy affair with the goop, check out my first RR door pic above. i'd ask about this as well as the tweeter installation.
i recall u were getting the RF punch splits - where are you intending on placing the 2nd tweeters? also do they know that civics don't have standard speaker mounts and need a special bracket / demolition of the stock speakers to mount new ones?
these are just all questions that pop to my mind, lifestyle are good and skilled people so i'd trust them, but if i were you i'd run these questions by them first :)
and sound dampening is absolutely worth it - if it's done right :)
an update to the thread: my ensolite foam arrived from the US in a record 4 business days! missed it while i was at work so picking it up tomorrow morning from the post office. will post pics when i get it home!