Hi. I installed 2 complete boxes of the .08 think killmat on the roof, door panels, floor board and rear seat surfaces as a gift to my wife on her 2008 Prius. She drives 100 miles a day Roundtrip so I want her car to be as quiet and comfortable as possible. it was a lot of work but is it noticeably quieter and no longer sounds like a tin can when you close the doors. Took an entire weekend. 15 hours but I’ve very familiar with how the interior comes out and I work quickly. Cost of parts was $120 on Amazon. And well worth it we both feel.
Sorry I didn’t take any photos of the door panels or roof after I took out the headliner. But the roof was the easiest. Be sure to clean all the surfaces with a soapy rag and dry throughly. I cleaned the metal with alocohol and a soft lint free cloth and the kilmat stuck like crazy. Take your time and cover at least 75 percent of each surface. I covered 100 percent since I had time. If I was going to remove all the panels I only wanted to do it once. Rain drops on the roof are much much much quieter. I’ll do my Prius someday. Lol.
How many sq ft of material did you wind up using? I've already done my doors and trunk but I've been thinking about doing the rest of the car. Since I plan to pull the carpet out for a true cleaning, that would be a perfect time. Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
I used 2 kits of the 36 square feet .80 thickness. So 72 quart feet total. I paid $53 per box. So $106 for materials and a install roller for like $10. So with tax delivered was $126.00. Well worth it IMHO.
Another good bang 4 buck is residential insulation/sound batting. Although it comes in batt form, it easily breaks apart so I can stuff it where ever it can be stuffed but take care to not foul other components/movements. It’s too thick to place under carpet but any removable panel is open game for me! One batt is typically enough for two vehicles. Note: if you have an older vehicle (gen 2 or 3), chances are the original door/window trim has begun leaking and/or can be breached when targeted with a pressure washer. I’m talking about the long strip on the outside of the door that parallels the window (not the door gaskets but those could be worn out too). If you have the door panels apart for the sound deadening installation, now would be an excellent time to replace those (and the door jams too). Save a lot of repetitive labor.
Then put in 2 new rear wheel bearings and cut the actual noise by 60%. Original wheel bearings from 2008 probably sound like a bomber taking off by now.
Our taxi Prius '08 with 736,000 kms on it now, has a l/h rear wheel brg rumble so I planned to replace it with a new set..... till I got the price .... seems they only come as a complete hub in the Australian model and I've run out of kids to sell to cover the costs .... so I bought one from a vehicle dismantler for less than half the price and plan to install it as soon as time permits ..... or the wife nags me so much I make time :lol: How long do these brgs/hubs usually last? T1 Terry
I don't have a great feel for it yet. I've seen many of the same type fail as early as 120k kms on other Asian cars. Often the rear curb/kerb side goes first, just seems to take a few more stresses than the others. They're all pretty easy to check, just lift that corner of the car and roll the wheel in a quiet environment... you'll hear and feel the scratchy gritty drag in it. They change so gradually that most owners never realize they have a major new noise source.
This one has been dying for the last 10,000km or more, being an ex mechanic you get to diagnose a noise early and determine the level of urgency required ... that's how we get the reputation for driving around in vehicles most would have scraped yrs ago :lol: It has only been the last 1500km that it has really made it's presence felt, it is enough to make the mechanism in the left hand passenger door rattle so the replacement time has been slotted into the rather busy schedule T1 Terry
HMMM. im installing new KYB PLus Strut assemblies in a week or so. Ill check out the wheel bearing hubs
wooooo that's impressive ! I pulled my headliner and all the panels from my truck to install kilmat when my headliner needed replacement. I did not pull the seats like you did, and feel less of a person for it lol ! this kilmat is seriously good stuff. I put a tiny amount on a really tinny sounding piece best the rear view mirror and it instantly killed the rattle/hum from that area. if manufactures installed this stuff instead of spending the $$$ on pretty paint colors I think people would keep their cars forever instead of taking them in..... ohhhhhhh wait I get it now anyway, good job man. that's really thoughtful of doing that for your wife.
Looks great. I'm sure it's much quieter now. Does anyone have info on removing the headliner? I have searched but links from old threads don't work. Youtube doesn't seem to have much either.
