Prius Prime detailed sound proofing procedure.

Wow nicely done!
Would i be able to hire you for your time to do the same for my 2021 Prius Prime Limited?

 

Agree to above. Period.

I got inspired by your post and decided to go for it on my 2017 Prius Prime Limited....
Quick note: I should heave gone that path long time ago. I can finally really enjoy the JBL sound...
I can't objectively measure the improvements but...spending $600 on materials and a week of my time made HUGE difference to the point I am going to keep the car for road trips until it dies....

Couple of notes for potential followers...
Materials used :
24 pcs damplifier pro sheets,
3 Luxury liner pro sheets
2 pcs spectrum noise deadening putty/spray
1 big/thick aluminum tape roll
2 cans of spray glue
and (optional)...
half of old cushion foam mattress (sic!)

But seriously my project comprised of:
1st - wheel wells:
- applied damplifier pro pads on bear steel 60-80% coverage
- on front wheel wells used damplifier pro and LLP to built the complete wheel well wall to separate the wheel from th e rest of the car.
- covered the wheel wells and built walls as well as plastic /semi-plastic well inserts with spectrum putty,
- assembled all together and covered the gaps with small cuts off LLP and the spectrum putty.
NOTE.
since my car was not new I had to pressure wash all wheel wells and liners and clean them with acetone ( 1 day job ).

2nd - doors:
- applied damplifier pro pads on bear steel 60-80% coverage 4 doors,
- cut LLP exactly as per RobertZ measurements (Thanks!) and trimmed it to fit the space before gluing them in,
-used spray glue to apply the LLP inside
doors
- used cushion foam to hold the LLP in place to stick
- inserted some cushion foam outside the window glass rails to hold it in place permanently.
- actually had to redo door LLP inserts with aluminum tape since the spray glue did not hold the vertical position of LLP
- the cushion foam came very handy second time to hold all in place

3rd - trunk and rear hatch:
- dismantled all plastic liners and applied damplifier pro pads on bare steel and Carbon fiber ( hatch) - 40-50% coverage
- used cushion foam to fill the voids and reattached the plastic.
- also inserted some cushion foam under the traction battery ( yet not obstructing the air flow)

4th - front seats floor:
- just 2 sheets of damplifier pro under OEM floor insulation on both driver and passenger side

5th - engine bay lid:
- leftover of damplifier pro applied to the bonnet randomly

6th - fill the gaps of plastic liners:
I used some soft /hard foam cushion mattress leftovers to to stick into gaps of every plastic liner:
- doors panels,
- trunk hatch,
- trunk siding,
- under the traction battery
It might have not produce significant benefits, but do no harm done... so I tried.

That is all.

Hope another DIY enthusiast will benefit from it.

Closing notes:
I might be Audio Nerd, but above project - resulting in multiple scratches on my hands and all the work has paid off in just one simple ride after completion - I should have done this 4 years ago.. sic!

 

My PM function isn't working for some reason.I am right in Boston. I don't mind any kind of driving.

Can you dm me first? then i think i can reply back.
or you can email me directly [email protected]
Thanks so much in advance for your offer to help.

 

RobertZ
I totally agree.
If the car is designed to be quiet it can easily be made like this.
I drove MB GLC and was impressed how well road noise is dampened...
Unfortunately PP was not designed to be quiet ( to save some weight I suppose), but if one decide to put some investment and effort into it... that could pay back in more decent (quiet) ride.

In my humble opinion if the PP was not designed properly to reduce noise.
if done properly it would weight less and involve less(cost/time wise) in the first place and surely with much better results...
I believe having comfortable (low noise) car which drives mostly as EV could be better value than just fuel efficiency (weight) savings. Unfortunately one have to spend north of $50k to get comfy quiet car (of any kind) I guess.

Side note: I own 2020 Chevy bolt EV in bare bone configuration (like $28k drive off price new) and this little 'thingy' is super quiet (to my surprise..) . I suspect the bottom battery pack placement makes a difference in respect of general road noise dampening.

Anyway, Thanks again for inspiration... As a result my 2017 PP which was scheduled to be replaced this year will stay until it dies with me. That is A LOT of savings in comparison to any plug-in (comfy/quiet) alternatives...

Brgds

K

 

It sounds like you are spot on with noise management by Toyota.

BTW.

Here is how Toyota Service deals with noise:
interesting read about quality of US service....

Since I hard hit a high curb back in 2018, which resulted in 2 tires and eventually 3 of 4 rims replacement - I suspected the wheel bearings might have been affected...

I have extended 7 yrs warranty and try to take full advantage of that, so My car has just had the 4th wheel bearing replaced under warranty..
to be precise the first one (front left indeed was noisy after the 'curb' incident) replaced in 2019, The rear left one replacement followed (which might have been also affected by "curb" incident) in 2020
All OK then driving road trips mainly on my winter tires Michelin X-i3 set.
Recently..
I switched to Michelin energy saver A/S this year and the road noise ... went up significantly.
So..Thanks to RobertZ inspiration I embarked on sound proofing journey... quite successful.

And... here comes how it influence on the road noise management by Toyota:
3 weeks ago I got front right wheel bearing replaced, followed by yesterday' s front left wheel bearing replaced. All under extended warranty. and ... honestly it brought with very little improvements about noise.
At least I am now very positive that 'humming noise is from tires... not bearings.

Actually after the mod the car is so quiet the Toyota technicians did not even attempted to question my "wheel bearing noise' impressions.

I guess my next road trip car ( no matter what kind) will go through my $600/1 week sound deadening procedure.

Imagine what level of serenity can be achieved with... Lexus or so...

Brgds

Kris

 

Speaking of the interior roof fabric- I think it’s def where Toyota cheaped out on. It feels almost like a thin layer of fabric over cardboard. Anyone else? Also can’t figure out how it gets dirt up there. Lol

 

when someone feels like stretching their arms with dirty hands and places them on the ceiling and yeah its very thin fabric over cardboard. But atleast its not like back in days when you have hanging fabric from the car roof hitting your head.

 

Oh man. I can’t STAND that. Also when people: randomly fiddle with your stereo, climate controls and/or the direction & angles of the vents, keep rolling your window up and down up and down, and slam your door when they get out.

 

Excellent detailed guidance..

I got inspired by yours and other original post and decided to go for it on my 2018 Prius A Premium Japanese Variant with full options and JBL Sound System.

Quick note: I did a passenger side door today and was surprised to see that the metal body of the door isn't quite solid, when i installed the deadening sheets, sound of the door and speaker changed drastically.

Now i have decided to do complete sound deadening of all doors and the floor and at both fenders too following your guidelines.

I will keep you posted on this forum.

 

Trust, all sensors in the door remained functional after all the sound deadening? i have found one sensor installed inside the door body and one electronic box was installed on the plastic body of the door.

i have no idea what function they have.