Doing something about the noise level inside the cabin has long been on my list of to-do. I finally did something about it.
For the longest time I was really leaning toward using the Lizard Skin line of products: their sound deadener and thermal insulation. But the application process seemed pretty daunting. Plus it seemed like you needed to do it all in one shot. Then I ran across Noico Sound Deadener on Amazon. It got great reviews and seemed inexpensive. I ordered 4 boxes (actually I ordered 5 but only used 4). It’s very similar to Dynamat- although maybe not as thick. I also got some Reflectix heat insulation from the local big box store.
I first started with the doors. Removed the door cards and cleaned up the metal.
Then applied the Noico as best I could to the inner and outer metal skins.
And then on the inside of the door card, I cut the Reflectix to fit and taped it in place.
I did the same thing to the hatch. What I noticed on the hatch was that it had several L shaped feet that went from the inner door skin to the outer door skin and were supposed to be “glued” in place. Well that glue was no linger sticky and that L was free and wiggle and vibrate. I applied the Noico in such a way that the L was being held in place to the outer door skin. Doing this really helped to deaden the panel.
About a month later, I stripped the interior to start on the big chunk.
Similar to the hatch, the roof’s cross beams were no longer bonded to the roof skin. This allowed the entire roof skin to vibrate like a drum head. Again, I applied the Noico such that it joined them back together.
On a road trip one summer my wife commented on how warm the floor was getting. As you can see here, the factory sound deadening would get soft and the jute backing of the carpet would get stuck to it over time.
Noico applied. I pretty much did only a single layer with as close to 100% coverage as possible.
And again, I applied the Reflectix to the floor and ceiling:
I did drive around before I started with a decibel meter on my phone to get a baseline. I haven’t repeated the test exactly the same since I’ve been done but I’d say the results of the project are positive. It might not be a huge decrease in decibels, but everything seems to feel very solid now. It hasn’t been super hot out since I’ve been done, but even coming back out to it in the parking after awhile, the interior seems like it’s cooler than what it would have been normally.
