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I am getting my Honda Accord "sound proofed" (with Dynamat) - any advice?

ship69

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Hi

I have decided to get my Honda Accord (2007 2.2L Diesel Exec - estate) sound proofed.

Background
My main complaint is "too much road noise" mainly from the tyres. I have bought winter tyres (Continentals) which are MUCH more quiet and this has helped a lot. However depending on exact road surface, there is still an annoying about of noise for when trying to make phone calls (on the motorway). Interestingly some of the most annoying sound frequency is pretty much "subsonic" - meaning I cant hear it directly - however I can feel the vibrations of air going in and out of my ears... I dont think most people notice it but I find it quite disconcerting. My thinking is that I am planning to spend a great many hours in that car as I more or less run it into the ground... so I may as well make it as comfortable and quiet as I can within reason! Also being able to make phone calls on the read is going to be important to me.

Solution
The best stuff appears to be Dynamat and so I contacted them in the US and they (eventually) recommended a local company south of Oxford who make extremely high end custom sports cars, which they of course have to sound proof pretty effectively. I had an in-depth chat with them and it sounds like they have tried 'everything' and this stuff Dynamat (a kind of soft rubber with a very adhesive back) appear to be the best. The core idea is to stop resonance, apparently. Soft hessian/wool padding can also help absorb sound but the main problem is when the panels vibrate and resonate, thereby amplifying the sound.

This will be about 1 day of labour and will cost about 400-500 in labour + 500 in parts so I am expecting to blow about a grand all in. (Yikes!)
The full monty would take about 3 days but I think that would be over the top.

- Any advice? (Just how crazy do you think I am...)

J
 
I have NO experience in this area, but my two penneth:

Don't bother.

I've no doubt your company are experts in their field, but unless they've (successfully) done a few Accords, how will they know exactly which panels / areas are responsible. Will they even be able to get at them without tearing the car apart?

Road noise is a well documented area of compromise with this car. If it's such a high priority for you, put your grand towards a Merc or a Lexus or some other prestige marque know for its boardroom quietness. I've no doubt they'll change the way it sounds, but like the Emperor's New Clothes everyone else will look on in amazement at how easily your wallet has been tapped. They may even make it (subjectively) worse if they change the note / point / area of resonance in a way that's not to your liking. If this is the best Honda's expertise could do at the design stage, I doubt a couple of hundred quids worth of rubber (cost price, less their mark up) will be much of an improvement.

Anyhow, post back with how you get on. Sounds interesting...
 
I am going to have to agree with Matt on this one.

Whilst this stuff will make a difference i doubt its going to be worth £1k. a new set of tyres could fix that noise.

Also when this stuff gets installed it will add weight to the car. The car already has a fir bit of sound proofing and TBH its not bad at all on the motorway. i can happily sit at 70 with the music off and have a normal chat to my passangers.
 
for 1K I wouldnt bother mate. Just live with it. Try researching tyres, you will be suprised what difference a set of tyres can make.

I have started a thread on tyres which should give you a starting point. The thread can be located here

However it all depends on how much it actually annoys you
 
Dynamat is very very expensive and you can get unbranded stuff that is just as good for over half the money. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/20-SQ-FOOT-CAR-SOUND-DEADENING-PROOFING-SHEET-MATERIAL-/370516758569?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item5644851029


All you would need to do is lift the carpet in the front and rear and take the door cards off. The rear seat bottom just pulls out. All the areas are very easy to access and you could do the job yourself in half a day. (full day if you are not confident).


At 400-500 quid for a days labour i am clearly in the wrong job. Buy some from the link i provided and book yourself a Saturday on your drive and do the whole job for less than £100. Don't buy in to the Dynamat is the best stuff because as good as it is your only paying for the name and unless you are planning on putting a 3 zillion watt sound system in your car you are just throwing money away.

And on a side note i hope you go ahead and do this yourself as this is something i have thought about myself and it will be a great little DIY to add to the forum.
 
I am going to have to agree with Matt on this one.

Whilst this stuff will make a difference i doubt its going to be worth £1k. a new set of tyres could fix that noise.

Also when this stuff gets installed it will add weight to the car. The car already has a fir bit of sound proofing and TBH its not bad at all on the motorway. i can happily sit at 70 with the music off and have a normal chat to my passangers.


Mate, i do a lot of motorway driving and the Accord is very noisy on the motorway. I have had 3 different brands of tyre on mine and the noise level whilst varying with each brand is still unacceptable for a modern car. My old T reg Passat is a lot quieter and so has every other car i have owned before hand.

Vectra 2.2 SRI
BMW 318i se (E46)
Ford Mondeo TDCI zetec
Ford Focus 1.6 Edge
Alfa Romeo 156 2.0 Sellespeed
Volvo S60 2.4 T
Renault Traffic (van)
VW Passat tdi sport

That is a fair list of cars that i have used to pound along the motorway and the Accord is noisier than all of them. Even the van.!!!!

The Accord is by no means unbearable but when you are sitting there after an hour looking forward to the occasional bit of smooth tarmac you know the car has issues. Its not something that is very noticeable for people who only occasionally use the motorway but when you commute on the thing every day it becomes very apparent and no amount of tyre changes will totally cure the problem.
 
interesting. i guess i only do 10 maybe 15 LONG trips (+500 miles in a day) in a year. even then i have never really had a problem.

If you think road noise is bad in the accord you should drive our track car... i wear ear plugs on long trips because the noise noise is unbearable.
 
£1k for a bit of sound proofing?? :eek: are they having a laugh?
 
£1k for a bit of sound proofing?? :eek: are they having a laugh?


Its an outrageous quote. 4-500 quid just for labour is just unbelievable and 500 quid for materials is also bordering insane.

I could do the job myself in half a day and buy some unbranded sound proofing for £50.
 
1k to quieten 4 year old second hand car is way ott.

Will they even give you a guarantee?
 
Just to clarify:
i) Sadly DIY is not really an option for me - I have too much going on and just dont have time.
PLUS, I would be nervous of trashing the upholstery of a car that is currently in good nick.

ii) The tyres I was using previously were already supposedly "quite good quality" and "moderately quiet". (From memory, Michelin HP Primacy I think. I am currently now using Winter Continentals ("830P" ? - from memory) have certainly made the car MUCH more quiet - subjectively, I would guess about half the road noise. So all in all, I doubt there is much further to go on tyre quietness... Either way for now (i.e. the winter) I am stuck with the tyres that I have.

iii) I am going to have a formal test drive using sound meters and have a "sensible" conversation with my sound proofers - who seem very approachable and adaptable - and only get them to do what actually seems worth doing. In terms of cost... well their labour is £55/hour which for specialists I suppose is about normal - certainly a lot cheaper than some garages around which go as high as £80+/hour.

There does seem to be quite a lot of "sub-sonic" sound in the ****pit which I find quite oppressive. Although it doesnt seem to bother most people and although one cant really hear it directly, you can feel the compression and the air sort of going in and out of the ears.

[If you want know the effect that I am talking about try (cautiously!) driving with the rear windows open. (If you do try this, be VERY careful not to blow your ear-drums - you have been warned!) ]

On the up-side and not strictly relevant is that they are going loan me a 150MPG sports car for the day - which i have solemnly promised not to drive to John o Groats nor to crash.

J
 
As the guys have said a change of tyres can make a lot of difference. You may find that if you get an approved installer to fit the Dynamat they don't actually cover the whole of the cars floor pan. They may just apply it to 'key' areas likely to reduce the most noise. For the money if you are insistent on having it done then you might as well do it yourself. Removing the seats, centre console and carpet is surprisingly easy and for the price of the unbranded stuff you could even do the whole car again if you're not satisfied with the initial result. My only tip would be do it on a warm day or make sure your car is warm, the soundproofing will spread and shape a lot better to your car than when it is cold.

P.s. if you do go ahead with it then take some pics and post a DIY.
 
Btw, have any of you guys actually DONE any sound proofing?
If so,
- which areas made the most different?
- which areas where hardest to trackle?
- any other hints & tips? e.g.

I am told that one of the most important things is to make sure that whatever (rubber) sound proofing you use that you make sure that it bonds REALLY well to the car. And this appears to be the main argument in favour of using Dynamat.
(Even so doing it at this time of year could be a problem I guess)

J

P.S. Thanks for that eBay link Crespo - but I'm afraid that although I dont approve of overly hyped brands (of which Dynamat is no doubt an example) I dont like buying things with no brand name at all(!)
 
Turn the radio up!

This!

Or spray unseal the inside arches at the very least, thats only £9.99.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hammerite-Car-UnderBody-Arch-Seal-Waxoyl-Spray-600ml-/290350917690?pt=UK_Car_Accessories_Car_Care_Cleaning&hash=item439a43683a#ht_2140wt_782
 
Btw, I just raised your suggestions about using cheaper materials than Dynamat with my sound proofers, and here's what they say:

>>>
We do use Dynamat as a product and although it is far more expensive than its competitors, there is a very good reason. It is a fabulous product, works 5 times better than anything else we have tested in the past, has pre glued backing making installation times much quicker and the glue is a high / low temp affair meaning it does not crack up in the cold or melt and fall off in the heat!
>>>

J
 
Btw, I just raised your suggestions about using cheaper materials than Dynamat with my sound proofers, and here's what they say:

>>>
We do use Dynamat as a product and although it is far more expensive than its competitors, there is a very good reason. It is a fabulous product, works 5 times better than anything else we have tested in the past, has pre glued backing making installation times much quicker and the glue is a high / low temp affair meaning it does not crack up in the cold or melt and fall off in the heat!
>>>

J


Dynamat is not 5 times better than the competition, Yes its better than some tat but that's why you research a product before buying it. The pre glued backing is not a selling point as they all have this and 90% are made with a bitumen type backing which is self adhesive which does not melt or drop off anyway.

Go and ring some car audio installers in your area and get a more sensible quote. Because there's is borderline criminal. It would take 1 person half a day to install it and the material would cost a maximum of £100. Now lets say the guy installing it was on £150 a day thats £250 all in. Where the funk does the other £750 come from.

Here is the amazing diamond encrusted pure moon rock sound deadening they would use.http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dynamat-Superlite-Tri-Pak-Car-Sound-Deadening-Kit-/350499714661?pt=UK_In_Car_Technology&hash=item519b693665 You would need a maximum of three of these to do your car.
 
I know how you feel, I find the accord a noisy place too. out of interest what size wheels are you running.

Dynamat main function is not to eliminate road noise its more to stop rattles and improve accoustic sound of the stereo, although it does help with road noise I would choose a more traditional insulation to do the job. The problem is not with lack of noise insulation but in the suspension components themselves transmitting noise into the car imo.

I would not pay that either, spray the arches with liquid sound deadening, then rear arches in boot with foam or similar insulation do the same under and as much behind the dash finally dynamat the door cards. The above can be easily done yourself or local audio installer for a little amount. You will improve it and get a idea of what noise insulation can do and where else it may need it.
 
If I was still travelling up and down the M-ways all day there's no way I could tolerate the Accord. Changing the tyres helped loads but there's still way too much road noise.
 
Dynamat is not 5 times better than the competition, Yes its better than some tat but that's why you research a product before buying it. The pre glued backing is not a selling point as they all have this and 90% are made with a bitumen type backing which is self adhesive which does not melt or drop off anyway.

Go and ring some car audio installers in your area and get a more sensible quote. Because there's is borderline criminal. It would take 1 person half a day to install it and the material would cost a maximum of £100. Now lets say the guy installing it was on £150 a day thats £250 all in. Where the funk does the other £750 come from.

Here is the amazing diamond encrusted pure moon rock sound deadening they would use. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dynamat-Superlite-Tri-Pak-Car-Sound-Deadening-Kit-/350499714661?pt=UK_In_Car_Technology&hash=item519b693665 You would need a maximum of three of these to do your car.

Post edited to reveal the link.
 
Interesting to know which tyres you have used? As i find my accord to be pretty quiet, even compared to my sis's lexus which are well known for there quietness.
 
If you think road noise is bad in the accord you should drive our track car... i wear ear plugs on long trips because the noise noise is unbearable.

Some decent noise cancelling earphones will be a good fix :)

Having said that I have to admit, I feel the sound proofing element in the Honda is not great.
 
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