Good cheaper options for sound mat

[ikpthegame 10+ year member]

Hey I wanna just do all my speakers this week and was gonna order some sound deadener on Amazon, but was curious on the better cheaper ones on there? Thanks for all suggestions.

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[dragon.breath 10+ year member]

If you are looking at Butyl sound deadening, brand makes very little to no difference. Just look at the thickness. The only advantage that the name brands MIGHT have is better glue.

 

[Popwarhomie 5,000+ posts]

Always used Stinger myself. Tried Noico in my last car and was not impressed. Still have a bunch of it sitting in my garage somewhere.

 

[ikpthegame 10+ year member]

How much is needed per door?

 

[ikpthegame 10+ year member]

Would 12sqft be enough? Nvx has a 4 door kit that's 12sqft, I'll get that if I'll be good, I got a 2015 wrx

 

[mahc 10+ year member]

Would 12sqft be enough? Nvx has a 4 door kit that's 12sqft, I'll get that if I'll be good, I got a 2015 wrx

Subarus are noisy tin cans.. buy as much as you can afford.

 

[highfigh]

Would 12sqft be enough? Nvx has a 4 door kit that's 12sqft, I'll get that if I'll be good, I got a 2015 wrx

Depends- where are you putting it? The inside of the door (behind the door panel) isn't what makes most of the noise, it's the door skin. A little goes a long way on smooth, flexible sheet metal. Best thing to do is play some music, press on various parts of the car to find out where the noise is coming from.

 

[ikpthegame 10+ year member]

I'm more so looking to seal as much of the holes in the door as I can to improve sound quality. Wanna keep the sound in the car also

 

[Doxquzme Premium Member]

I'm more so looking to seal as much of the holes in the door as I can to improve sound quality. Wanna keep the sound in the car also

Those test have been revised and the Amazon has fallen a bit from grace. You also need to read into some of the specs. The Siless for instance, it's the 50ml or the 80ml, not the 120ml which I have used with success. Of all those that I have used, the NVX 90ml is pretty darn good.

Amazon.com

I run their tri-;ayer CLD foam on the inside of the outer door panel and the 90ml CLD speaker mounting side of the door panel, works fairly well,

Amazon.com

I also make .5 to .75" HDPE mounting brackets to replace the OEM. IF I need adapters like for my front 6.5's to use in the 5x7 space, made adapters out of 1/2" HPDE, CLd on everything that is flat.

 

[Blackout67]

Check out Recoil Audios if they still have it. I was using Amazon sound deadener for minute and I bought some speakers from Recoil and they had a kit with silicone baffles and deadener in a bundle. White "virgin" butyl deadener. Quite a bit thicker than Amazon Basic deadener and is stiffer too. Only issue is that Recoil has been mostly went MIA, they still sell their budget level speakers and amps but I'm assuming they are just selling the rest of the stock because nothing else on their website is in stock which is a shame cause they had great products for good prices. Last I read about them was an article from a couple months back about how they are planning to come back sometime this year with a new lineup of products (they are a sister company to Cicada Audio)

A good alternative if you can't find the recoil stuff is NVX. Resonix is the big boy car deadening company (although it comes at a massive premium) and they did a test with all the most popular brands and which ones are best. I believe NVX was 3rd IIRC after Resonix and Second Skin.

Ultimately in my opinion it comes down to the coverage you are going for. Despite what the owner of Resonix tells you, you do not need to spend hundreds of dollars on deadener to tell get returns on panel vibration reduction, even if you spend $40 and get a 3-5 DB reduction in panel resonance, that's still potentially over half the sound gone. Well worth it in my experience. If you are going for maximum coverage I'd get the cheapest best one but if you are only going to apply to certain areas I'd pick up the better one that costs more. You'll get more returns from a cheaper deadener that you use on the whole car vs a super expensive one that only covers a small amount.

For instance Resonix is like $70 for 10 square foot which is about enough to do just a couple doors. Vs Amazons 34 square feet for the same price. With 34 square feet you could do all 4 doors and your trunk lid and then still have a couple square feet left to hit other spots that need it. 34 square feet went a long way in my 03 Mustang

 

[slater]

The 34 squares of amazon basic, 2024 toyota tacoma I was able to do all 4 doors inner & outer skins, along with all 4 actual door panels, the rear cab wall & the plastics covering the rear cab wall.
Full coverage, & still had a ton of left-overs......
I saw the video where resonix was attempting to point out amz basics is no-longer 80mil & theyre supplier is skimping.....
I recently bought another box & its appears to still be fine to me...
I actually measured my old stuff .082, new stuff .076....
Not the end of the world im guessing...
Nick from Resonix is trying to claim his batch was .070...

 

[Blackout67]

The 34 squares of amazon basic, 2024 toyota tacoma I was able to do all 4 doors inner & outer skins, along with all 4 actual door panels, the rear cab wall & the plastics covering the rear cab wall.
Full coverage, & still had a ton of left-overs......
I saw the video where resonix was attempting to point out amz basics is no-longer 80mil & theyre supplier is skimping.....
I recently bought another box & its appears to still be fine to me...
I actually measured my old stuff .082, new stuff .076....
Not the end of the world im guessing...
Nick from Resonix is trying to claim his batch was .070...

Nick loves to fluff up his company by shitting on every other deadener. Any time there is a post on Reddit of some newbie asking about a budget deadener he just can't resist the urge.

"Well actually its a waste of money to buy anything other than the best which is of course my company. By the way Resonix is the best. Also did I mention I own Resonix? And it's the best? Just buy Resonix trust me bro" - the gist of every post he makes

Like dude not everyone has or wants to spends thousands on deadener for their beater. Good enough is good enough for most people.

Also I'm not too sure the tests he references are the most accurate. He uses some long forgotten Facebook page that I'm sure isn't even around anymore of this guy who builds little metal boxes and %25 percent coverage while only play specific frequencies. I wouldn't think that would be the most applicable test to compare to a car going highway speeds while listening to music which has dynamic frequencies and outputs.
BUT it's one of the few actual tests out there so it's what I use, although it's obsolete by now. The article on his website is years old

 

[slater]

amazon basic was high on that list, I saw the rankings....

https://resonixsoundsolutions.com/resources/what-is-the-best-sound-deadening-material-independent-testing-data/

 

[shredder1 10+ year member]

I'm more surprised a 10yr member is asking about something like this, budget stuff is pretty much the same unless op is trying for the latest Home Depot forum solution. Its more about detail and install than the best deadener anyway. I've got a 9yr old install with Noico outside in Az and its a Caddy/Icebox still and was over 150 for awhile.

 

[Blackout67]

amazon basic was high on that list, I saw the rankings....

https://resonixsoundsolutions.com/resources/what-is-the-best-sound-deadening-material-independent-testing-data/

Yea that's what convinced me to pick it up. The only thing I use that list for is comparing which one has lowers the sound by the most Db's to their cost. Amazons was like a 12 DB reduction (I believe 3rd or 4th overall for the entire test) and was like $20 at the time for 10sq foot. That's a steal.

His section where he goes over the "cost to effectiveness" ratio or whatever he calls it is BS. Because this assumes that everyone who is using the list as a reference is loaded up with money to spend on deadener. And of course whos at the top of the list? Resonix. So then you go to look at their store... $60 for 5 square feet of CLD is the entry point and it doesn't even include their $25 "premium" roller even tho on the thumbnail for the listing it has it, but at the very end of the description it says "roller not Included" but Nick says rollers matter oh so much and you HAVE to get a good one. So $85 for a plastic handled roller and enough deadener to MAYBE do 2 doors if you drive a compact car with small panels.
Meanwhile I just picked up 20 square feet of NVX deadener today (also high on the list) for like $35. So I can get 40 square feet of pretty good deadener AND pick up one of the rollers on Amazon for $10 that I guarantee is just as good as Nicks. So I'm saving money, and now I'm able to do both front doors, my trunk, and have a few tiles left over for other parts like you mentioned.

Don't get me wrong I'm sure his product is great and works better than the cheaper stuff but the way he markets his business and conducts himself when talking to potential customers. Like if you mention the fact that you don't have all that money to spend on deadener hell say something like "well if you don't have the money to spend on the best then why are you buying it at all" or something arrogant like that and then he'll throw around his years of experience deadening expensive cars and he knows what he's talking about.

He probably realized people are going to use that list to stretch their budget, not spend every cent they have on his product like he was thinking would happen, so he has to further down sell the products he previously praised