How do I PROPERLY install sound deadener? 94 Ford Explorer

[LongThrow]

Just get ahold of don at SDS and ask for cld tiles?

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Stinger RKO12 Car Audio Road Kill Universal Sound Damping - RKO12
How's this? In my budget that's always a plus //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

Should be fine for that budget if both your doors are small.

Stinger RKXDK Roadkill Expert Series Sound Damping Material Door

Expert version, thicker and its a few bucks cheaper.

 

[LongThrow]

Right on, Jeff. You've been a savior. Any direction as to where to get a video demonstration of a ford.explorer install? My shells are tricky..

 

[sprinklerman 10+ year member]

Heh, that's not what i meant in reference to SPL.
You clearily do not want Vibraflex.

With SDS, you can use CLD tiles.

What's good about them is they never require 100% coverage so you do not need to purchase as much.

25-50% coverage is all that is necessary in most installs.

Hey man. Appreciate the heads up on that site. Learned a lot on there. Guess I'll be doing more than just adding some "peel n stick".

Thanks again

 

[adulbrich 5,000+ posts]

Other one i've used is audiotechnix 80 mill, that lasted for a few years, got a lil messy because they used excessive butyl but it stayed on. However they are not selling it anymore. Stinger roadkill feels a lot better then the audiotechnix in terms of build quality.
I'm saying months because it hasn't been a year yet since i've done my doors with the roadkill, but it survived a summer already, its showing no signs of even budging.

I still have 40 sq feet of unused audio technix 80 mil

 

[LongThrow]

I still have 40 sq feet of unused audio technix 80 mil

Wanna sell some cheap? Lol

 

[adulbrich 5,000+ posts]

Wanna sell some cheap? Lol

Define "cheap" haha

 

[Rudy 10+ year member]

This has me intrigued. Are you saying even good deadener only sticks for months?I ask because I'm getting ready to deaden my Silverado, and plan on keeping it a few years.

Good vibration damper should last the lifetime of the vehicle.

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

Sound Deadener Showdown.
Don, the owner, is known as The Best in the industry when it comes to research and development.

no, he isn't. He's a good guy who is limited by budget and access to resources.

any automotive company has done more R&D in automotive deadening than what Don could do. They have labs that cost tens of millions to construct.

If you want to see a company devoted to R&D in acoustics, look at RPG Diffusor Systems, Inc.

now Don is a retailer with the motive to sell his product. sadly, money results in corruption of the truth. once someone profits from their advice, you have to take that into consideration.

lots of deadening products can achieve your goal. Stinger is no exception and any decent product can be applied for 25%, not just SDS products. it really depends on how rigid the starting platform is, and what your specific goals are.

I use Raamaudio BXT II. I evaluate each panel as i'm applying deadener. I've worked with several deadener products and the Stinger Roadkill products did the job.

the most important rules on the SDS website are the four "lines of attack"

Four Lines of Attack

1. Control vehicle component - mostly panel - vibration and resonance.

2. Block air borne sound.

3. Decouple objects that would otherwise transmit vibration or make noise themselves by making intermittent contact (rattles).

4. Absorb.

 

[shizzzon 10+ year member]

I would advise you to explain publicly what all he has done in his research to conclude his reasoning for finally selling his own product so people know why i said that.

 

[snyderd758 10+ year member]

I used fatmat rattletrap extreme on my whole truck it definetely made a difference. The whole key to any sound deadening is in the application. Cutting the bubbles and rolling the hell out of it.

 

[snyderd758 10+ year member]

Op when i first started on my truck anything that i needed to remove/install almost always had a video on the internet. your probably not going to find an all in one video on an installation for an explorer but if you search patiently enough you should be able to piece it all together.

 

[accuab 10+ year member]

Go to a forum dedicated to an explorer and you'll more than likely find someone on there that could give you some help with that particular vehicle.

 

[LongThrow]

Op when i first started on my truck anything that i needed to remove/install almost always had a video on the internet. your probably not going to find an all in one video on an installation for an explorer but if you search patiently enough you should be able to piece it all together.

Go to a forum dedicated to an explorer and you'll more than likely find someone on there that could give you some help with that particular vehicle.

I'll do some searching, thanks guys.

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

I would advise you to explain publicly what all he has done in his research to conclude his reasoning for finally selling his own product so people know why i said that.

burden is on you to back up your own statements. don't ask others to justify your own worth. nut-hugging a product doesn't make it the best and you aren't doing him any favors. just state that you've used his products and other products and have been happier with the installation and results of his products compared to the others you've tried. then state what else you tried and what specific differences you noted. plain and simple. i don't commonly call out people for making ridiculous statements, but i'm feeling a bit aggressive tonight. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

the decision to enter the field can simply be because of the general populous lack of understanding and the simplicity of the products (a bit of molecular chemistry and understanding of material properties) . there are so many start-up companies that prey on the ignorance of the masses. very little accurate acoustical information is ever shared in the forums and most statements that are claimed to be factual are fallacy. there is more incorrect information floating around than accurate information. that makes an easy hunting ground for start-ups. certainly, no one starts selling products because they want to lose money and no one continues to do it at a financial loss. all sellers profit from their product and have a motive to sell. that doesn't imply they are dishonest.

none of my statements claim or imply that Don is not selling a legit product. i applaud his efforts and understand his frustrations. if you buy and use his product, you will probably be glad you did.

I don't have any before and after decibel readings for your car. The fact is' date=' I don't have reliable numbers for any vehicle. That's not for lack of trying...
I've concluded that the only reliable way to measure before and after is to put the vehicle on rollers, in a climate controlled space. This isn't something I'll be able to do anytime soon. In the meantime I am experimenting with a stationary vehicle, inside, with recorded noise, outside of the car. [/quote']

you stated he is the "best in the industry in R&D" yet he admits to not having even the most basic of spaces required for acoustical testing - a functional lab. acoustics labs are a basic requirement for any objective testing. the lack of a certified lab means you are just making statements and observations. automotive manufacturers have acoustic labs they use for testing vehicle noise - hence my statement that he is not the "best in the industry in R&D". and those labs do cost tens of millions to construct - that's not an exaggeration. FWIW, even having the vehicle on rollers wouldn't fully quantify the effects of each different road surface on each tire with the myriad of wear patterns that contribute to noise. if you want to lower road noise, step 1 is to buy better/quieter tires and maintain them properly - but some road surfaces will be louder than others.

no matter what you do to the firewall, roof, door, and floors, the windows and door seals will be flanking paths that will quickly become the dominant source.

using a loudspeaker source in a garage is nothing different than what an average hobbyist can do. simply place mics on the inside in several locations, in several locations on the outside, record all simultaneously and then compare all while taking room/cabin modes and arrival times into consideration. we use these setups at work to evaluate rooms and noise in commercial buildings. when publishing the results as "data" you need to assign a tolerance in the accuracy - otherwise it's useless numbers. the accuracy is called into question because simple testing doesn't isolate each flanking path nor does it quantify the contribution of each flanking path. flanking paths are important and very difficult to quantify - logarithmic contributions are complex.

if you add accelerometers to the panel to do a modal analysis of the surface then you'd be closer to evaluate the benefits of deadener. but you'd need take the same car with multiple doors, install all doors the same (and quantify how they were installed equally), then test each product on each test door while replicating the test each time.

if you wanted accurate equipment (Class 1) then you'd be looking at $20-10k per analyzer and another $20-30k for an accurate noise source - so maybe $100k could get you enough equipment to start testing. Look to companies like Larson Davis, PCB, B&K, etc. who supply legit acoustic labs.

To quantify each flanking path you'd need to build an acoustics lab capable of testing the transmission loss of each component and each system. The toughest part is controlling the noise level on the measurement side to be at or below NCB15 (the high end of a proper measurement lab). the component testing lab itself would be the size of a decent home.

i certainly don't have the time or money to devote to that testing, nor would the sales of product offset the time/money spent. therefore; all that is a waste of time to just sell deadener. automotive manufacturers can justify these test environments.

1. buy deadener, whatever brand.

2. clean the metal surfaces to remove grease/grime

3. apply per mfr instructions

4. knock on the panel and listen for ringing

repeat 3-4 and stop adding when you are happy with how solid it sounds. my personal goal is to sound more like a dense wood.

then i add water-resistant sound absorption in the door to eliminate the reverberant chamber that all doors are.

some products will require more but they cost less. some products require less but they cost more. a few products fall in the "high value" category - meaning they balance cost and performance. i think that is what everyone is truly interested in.

it's a subjective process because most only care about cost and will make any excuse or justification why they don't need to spend more money. a few people are genuinely interested in which product has the most "value" but that is also difficult to nail down.

simply put, there are too many variables to consider and thus there is no equation that can quantify what is "best".

again, i have nothing against SDS products and have nothing negative to say about them. I wish Don the best in his efforts and attempts to quantify what is the right balance of product cost vs. benefit.

every door is different so there is no magical ratio to all vehicles and all products.