I just did soundproofing for my car door. My friend said it is too much and make the door too heavy. There is another layer at the interior of the door. Is it too much?
Well... i think you are the onlyone who can truly answer this. I think its not because soundproof is something out box that toyota forgot to do when manufactured.
It's only too heavy if the passenger cannot keep the door from hitting something next to you when parked on a slope. On the other hand, heavy is exactly what you want for noise reduction. Increased mass and an uneven distribution both help. Practical advice: heavier insulation towards the front of the doors, because you can add more of it there with less penalty to the passenger trying to open and close it. Achieving lots of coverage with lightweight insulation takes up time and looks good but doesn't do much for sound.
You need better friends! The door is too heavy? Give me a break... The sound of a Prius door closing is awful because it's so lightweight... Adding weight likely will make the door feel and sound more like a regular low MPG car's door.
Looks like there are 2 things to consider when doing soundproofing. Weight and material balance. More material, better soundproofing but more weight. Less material, less soundproofing but less weight. More comments please. I would like to know what others think of when trying to get good soundproofing.
They have headphones that offers noise canceling, implement that technology into your car Avoiding buying materials and elbow grease all together.
Just how much material do you think you can put into the door???? Is the material made of lead? If so, then it could cause extra wear on the door hinges. I barely hear my doors close. I don't need to close mine hard, just slight pressure and they latch. Decades ago I seem to remember reading somewhere that it is not suppose to be so quiet in the car that you can't hear emergency vehicles. Though I don't play my radio loud, it's loud enough to override road nose, and have still heard the sirens. And if you are paying attention, you'll be able to see them... If you have the need and urge to put in more sound deadening material, my Prius could use some.
^ Historically the right mass loads for good bass out of a speaker used portland cement as a material. Incredibly dense, but safer to handle than lead. Automotive applications tended to use asphalt because it's cheaper and easier to work, not as brittle. A 200lb layer of asphalt between the floor pan and the carpet, with more in the bottoms of the doors, will give you that library quiet ride but it's a heck of a lot of dirt to haul with respect to fuel economy. Don't forget noise sources- wheel bearings will gradually change from silent to unbearably loud over the miles. Many people don't realize this because the change is so gradual. But if you really care about noise while driving, don't let your wheel bearings run more than 80k miles.
For those who have done door soundproofing, please do show a picture. This would be great for me to take on as reference. From the few I saw posted on this forum was the use of Dynamat Extreme covering the whole front panel like what I have done. More references would be highly appreciated. Thanks.
Excessive? Maybe. Seems like the OP is trying to make the door shell a speaker cabinet. In that regard, maybe less material could have been used. In the "old days" we would place deadening material onto the inside of the outer door skin, if I am writing clearly. I'll end by writing.... rattles suck. Best of luck.
What are your plans for undercoating and underbody cover modifications, as well as wheel well? There's lots of noise coming from those places.
I have already done wheel well. After done the doors, I will do the floor (underbody) for the whole car. Planned to do probably 2 layers of that 3m sound deadening and another sound absorbing. I am open to suggestions. I am also checking out this new 3 in 1 type to see if possible to use only 1 layer of this for the flooring:
