Does your car need soundproofing?

Today we are discussing whether car soundproofing is needed.
Lately, the issue of installing soundproofing has become very acute for most drivers. You must agree that a long trip in a noisy car is extremely annoying and, by the way, it negatively affects safety while driving.
Whatever the automobile class, the problem remains: we receive orders from SUV, pickup truck, and sedan drivers.
As long as this problem is very hot today, I’ve come to the decision to share our experience with you. I will thus tell you about what soundproofing is and help you to decide whether you need it.
Before dealing with the noise itself, we should first find out the reasons for its existence.
Let’s start with the cornerstone.

Car sounds divide into exterior and interior

The most severe problem in exterior noise control is that the metal the body is made of is a great sound conductor. One can easily confirm it by hitting any metal thing.

What are exterior noises?

For the first instance, it is the road noise. Sounds of gravel or sand hitting wheel arches, the louder sound of a wet road, noise caused by suspension and bypassing cars (especially heavy trucks).

And now listen attentively to sounds that your car emits.

How loud is your engine while accelerating or standing? Maybe you hear some squeaking inside? (It is especially probable if your car has passed tens of thousands of miles and is as old as several years). Besides, doors of most cars are too reverberating when clapped up.

Also, a trunk door or a shelf may squeak and annoy.

Here’s the full list of interior noises.

Problem number 3, which is quite common as well, is heatproofing. In cold winter days, we always want our automobile to get warm faster and cool down longer. In summer, conversely, we want the compartment to run not too hot under the sunlight and preserve the A/C breeze. From time to time, we cannot even get in until it gets somewhat cooler inside!

Faced this? I think you did

Audiophiles are disturbed by the  poor quality of automobile acoustics, door blasting at high volumes, low max volume, or weak bass! Most often, they are in wrong belief that the problem can be sorted out after installing various amplifiers or subwoofers. Eventually, they get exactly what they did not want to. All elements of the car start buzzing and jingling in time with low-frequency passages. You must agree that one can find no pleasure in listening to such music. However, it is soundproofing that can solve the thing.

Now, when we know what causes noise and understand what makes our driving uncomfortable, we need to decide whether we need to soundproof a specific element (for example, doors), or apply full sound deadening.

It is not a simple question, though, but I know the answer:
If a certain sound — for instance, board squeaking or door blasting, you can enhance this element or elements only.
But all too often, after getting rid of the most terrible sound, one starts hearing lots of others.

Why so?

Just because previously, these sounds were overcovered by that major noise and you couldn’t hear them. After improving my doors in my first car, I started clearly noticing the sound of the engine, however, it seemed quiet to me before. As a result, I executed the full soundproofing.

If you want to reduce engine noise and plan to enhance the front part of the compartment only, you are likely to get no significant profit, as the noise will come through doors, roof, and floor.

Sure, there are some exceptions. By soundproofing all the doors, you can solve three problems at a whack: you get rid of all the noises and squeaks of door panels, reduce outdoor sounds, and improve the sound quality inside!

But. You must remember that door treatment when installing a hi-end acoustic system is highly different to the soundproofing of the doors aimed at reducing exterior noises. I’ll tell you more about it in the next episodes.

So, after numerous soundproofing, I have come to clear conclusions.

When selecting the soundproofing material, one should search for it on a well-known portal — for instance, Amazon. My task was to find cost-efficient materials with best possible feedback from real people. Following star ratings and Best Seller section, I chose Noico.

However, the choice may be really wide

So, it is up to your preferences and capabilities.

Speaking of dismantling the compartment by yourself, it is never a simple task, which can be even thrilling. I did it many times, so let me recommend you to buy a defixturing tool for door and panel coverings.

It will help you avoid scratching surfaces and keep most of the clips good for further operation. You still may break some elements and thus have to buy new ones. But online or offline store is full of such things, so just come here with an original clip.

Do not forget to degrease all surfaces first! This procedure will significantly improve material adhesion, which is very important for better performance.

A noise of road, rubber and suspension can be removed by soundproofing the floor and the trunk, and also all the doors. With that, equip wheel arches with a thicker and more efficient vibration absorber (at least 2mm (80 mils) – our Noico 2mm is useful here).

Two-layer covering would be the best solution

To decrease the sound caused by rain or hail, dismantle and coat the roof. Here’s my recommendation: you can use thinner materials for this purpose.

You can reduce the engine sound by applying coatings to the front panel under the instrument panel and glove compartment, and the front part of the floor. Also, enhancement of wheel arches and front doors can reduce noise.

Door any compartment panel squeaks can be removed by applying the soundproofing and sealing material. The key thing is to make sure that the material is not thick and that it does not obstruct fixing bolts and clips.

Trunk squeaks and noises disappear after applying coatings to the trunk floor and top, rear wheel arches, and rear fenders.

Heatproofing can be significantly enhanced after sticking the high-quality heat insulation material as the second layer

It is Noico Red 4 mm (150 mil) of the same vendor

Now the car will remain cool longer in summer and will get cooled by the a/c faster. In winter, it will warm-up inside quicker and preserve the heat better.

To improve the sound quality of the acoustics, complex soundproofing is crucial. Having enhanced doors only, one may find out that indoor vibration may occur at high volume. However, the key focus should be made on doors. It is important to realize that doors of modern cars consist of two or three parts, so all metal parts must be coated — otherwise, the result may disappoint you. Request the coating technique from the soundproofing material vendor, or wait for my next episode to learn it yourself.

To summarize, I want to note

• If you notice problems described in the beginning, I am convinced your car need soundproofing. Be sure the effect will please you. At least it has always done so to me.
• It’s not too hard to do it yourself. Just request the list of materials and installation recommendations from your vendor. (A respected manufacturer always provides such information on demand).
• If you plan to soundproof specific elements, get ready to notice noises caused by other ones better. But if you decide so, start with enhancing all doors or, if engine noise bothers you the most, with soundproofing the surface under the instrument panel, front part of the floor, and arches. We will dive into studying these two methods in next episodes.