Noise Control (Sound Vibration Damping)

Hi this is my first post. I picked up a 2010 V last week. After spending a few day's in the car I have come up with, "my Prius is pretty loud inside"
I drove for 3 hrs in my wife's Lexus IS 350 this weekend and got used to how quite it was. I then jumped in the Prius and quickly found out how tinny sounding and how much road noise comes threw the car.
I have always wanted to do a sound project like this so I guess this will be my first one.

I plan to do the project in 3 stages.
Stage 1. Doors
Stage 2. Floor
Stage 3. Roof

The Company I’m getting the stuff from is called Cascade audio they sell an assortment of sound product's

I will list all the products I use and take pictures along the way.
I also have a DB meter so I can take sound measurements with each part of the project. With each stage I pan on taking a sound reading to see how much sound is dampened.


Disclamer: Im no sound engineer or guy in a white lab coat. Just a DIY'r that's gonna try and make the ride in my car a bit more quite. Thanks

.

 

Go to cascadeaudio dot.com check out the products they sell.

IMO they are the real deal when it comes to sound damping. Some friends that have Car audio install shops have been using the cascade products for some time and are very happy with them. My door kit to do all 4 door gets here on Friday. Im planning on starting Stage 1 this weekend.

 

[FONT=&quot]OK: My material didn't get here in time for this weekends project. But I did take some sound readings. Here is what I came up with. My Prius has the leather interior. My friend with a Gen 2 reports that people have said the cloth interior cars seem to be a bit more quite than the leather cars.

Sitting with car with everything turned off (not running) = Low to 49 db
In car with motor running= 60.1 to 63.6
City driving 35 mph= 84.6
Freeway driving =88.9

How I came up with these readings
I held the sound meter in my hand. About chest height in the center of the car. Each reading was recorded for a 10 seconds. I will take all my readings on the same stretch of road for the same 10 seconds.
I’m using a Extech 407727 (I would post a link but I’m not allowed)

I drove for over 200 miles yesterday with the sound meter in the car. Road surface has everything to do with how loud or how quite the car is. Roads that have a surface that is very aggregate or exposed like very open concrete make a loud rumble generating from the tires and going threw the whole car. This sound makes the sound meter and my ears spike in sound level. I haven’t taken any readings on road surfaces that Im taking about yet. But Im guessing its gonna be over 90 DB @65 mph.
One last thing I think most of the noise is comming form the floor. When I held the sound meter down by the floor the same road surface would make the DB jump up by 8 to 10.


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Banshee: Thanks for the heads up. I will be sure to wear glove when installing and working on the inside of the door. Yes I will have to drill and then re install the speakers if they are riveted in again thanks 4 the Heads Up. I’m planning on using V-block. Its a dyna matt style sticky backed rubber with a metal top sheet on in Inside of the outer door skin. I plan to cover as much of the inside door skin as I can get to. Then I plan to cover the door skin (the part the door panel sits against) with the DK-1 material it’s a rubber/metal insulator sheet that sort of shrink wraps to the door skin. The Vblock is to stop the metal from resonating and the rubber/metal sheet is to stop what ever noise coming threw the door panel. I have a pretty good feeling im going to notice most of the sound coming threw the floor.
I will keep track of all the material that I install in the car as to keep track of the Sq footage and the weight.
Banshee you did the Doors and the floor all with the same material??

As far as my number being high with the meter I’m sure all meters are a bit different. I plan on doing the same test a few different times on the same stretch to see if the numbers are the same again.

 

So I started my little project today

I took the Door panel off. Pretty easy. Simple clips all around the door panel. A screw behind the door handle and a screw in the cup of the side panel.

Once I made a map of where all the wires go I took off all the wires from the door.
I then put the V block. This material is much like the popular Dyna matt. I coverd as much of the inside of the door as I could. I used 2 sheets of V block for the drivers door. This is what the coverd inside of the door looks like.




Then I coverd the door panel with the DK-1 Door kit. I used 2 Sheets out of the DK1 kit the kit comes with 4 Sheets and some foam for around the speaker.

 

It took about 3 hrs to do one door, I could tell as soon as I was finished and I closed the door that it was a much more solid and tight feeling. I sat in the car and closed and opened the door and again it sounded and felt much more solid. I opened and closed the unfinished passenger door and I was blown away how you could hear a big difference in how the car/door sounds with finished Vs an unfinished door. Tapping on the out side of the door again you can hear a huge difference. The stock door sounds so tinny and cheep you would laugh if I took a video with audio

 

The weather out here in Ca has been real bad. I havent been able to take any DB readings because I think the wet roads are going to give me high numbers. I wanna take DB reading under the same conditions.
A dry non windy day.

After doing this to the doors you notice all the other panels on the car that need this fix, "Like the hatch" I plan on doing the hatch and the inside of the quarter panels as well.