Floor Deadening Effectiveness

I'll be removing a good chunk of my interior to run wiring/install a dual USB port in my center console. With a little extra effort, I can get the carpet pulled out to place some acoustic treatments.

I've got RAAMmat and Ensolite on my doors, rear wall, and roof right now and quite happy with the results. I'm curious if anyone has some input on whether it would be of value to go after treating the floor with Luxury Liner Pro while leaving the stock floor deadener in place.

 

I did the floor pan with the raammat and ensolite and it helped out a lot with road noise. To me adding deadener anywhere that its effective is worth it.

 

If you don't mind my asking, what coverage level did you go with on the floor?

 

Floor does really well.. when done.
Check out my Gb feeler if your interested, you won't regret it

 

I did the normal Raammat and Ensolite over the entire floor pan and up under the dash.

 

The mat style deadener won't gain you much on the floor since those areas are quite thick and structured. The proper use case scenario for mat style deadener like Raammat is areas of thin unstructured metal like the doors that are prone to resonance. The goal of a mat deadener is to kill the resonance; not block sound. It does block some sound but it's not the proper tool for the job.

If you want to block sound you need a decoupled noise barrier. Mass loaded vinyl (MLV) is the best tool for that job. You float it over the surface with closed cell foam. For the floors, this would look like a layer of 1/4" foam with pieces of MLV cut to fit the floor. Then you'd put the carpet back in on top of that stack.

Check the thread I posted a while back doing exactly what you want to do. Lots of pictures in there too.
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/audio-video/173147-audio-visual-diy-thread.html

 

This is exactly what I was looking at doing with the Luxury Liner Pro. I'm estimating about $200 or so in materials to do this for my truck.

IS, did it make a huge difference in the truck?

 

Well, i found that using deadener in the 80Mill Thickness really removed road noise from the floor, Not here to argue, just my findings, But i will say that the doors and back wall was the biggest contributor to road noise followed by the roof, then lastly the floor.

If you have a stock truck, you don't notice to much difference but anyone with a modded truck thats lifted and running noisy tires, squeaky suspension will notice a difference

 

I'm getting what you're saying. I noticed a good improvement when I did the doors, roof, and rear wall - stock TRD Sport and tires. However, I did look at all the stock deadener that was in ItalynStylion's photos and the ridges in the floor pan. It leads me to believe that metal resonance is of low concern.

I've also talked to my local installer and Mr. Marv - two dudes who've never steered me wrong. Right now, my installer says that going after the floors with deadener isn't worth it. Marv said the same thing, but was not sure on using MLV/CCF for the floors.

A lot of this stuff is subjective, which is why I'm soliciting all opinions and experiences to make the most informed decision I can. Money is tight and I only want to tear out my interior once so it behooves me to get it right the first time.

 

i hear you, and i would also recommend the floor last if money was tight.
I have no direct experience with the product type your referring to so i cannot compare or speak to it BUT i can tell you that Gravel roads in my truck is SO much more quite now after applying an 80Mill Thick Deadener.

The physical noise coming from through the floor Has massively reduced but not as noticeable on the Paved roads( slightly less road noise ). I did find that driving gravel roads also produced much less audible noise from the road and through panel vibration on washboards and crappy roads. It would honestly be very interesting to compare a Product like a closed cell liner vs a THICK deadener ( Most products over 80MILL seems to do both..)

 

Second Skin Audio is having a sale this weekend 17-20% off. Go to their Facebook page for the code. I just bought a bunch of stuff!

 

Second skin is not bad, but frankly for what its worth the Shok matt is much better but everyone has their brands. The group buy will most likely be around 120-130 Shipped to your door for 40 SQ of 80MILL and most importantly we don't buff the specs with Thick foil. Shok doesnt over rate their products and only use the best adhesives and compounds

 

Sorry, didn't keep up with this thread.

Yes, deadener on the floor will help. But honestly, it's not the proper tool for the job. Again, not that it won't HELP but a proper noise barrier will be more effective by nature of their application. I typically tap on all the metal in a car I'm deadening to determine how resonant it is. If it requires deadener I apply some; doesn't matter if that's the floor, rear wall, door, or the roof. The idea with deadener is to stop TRANSMISSION of vibration.

I also want to point out that deadening and using noise barriers IN THE DOORS is the single most effective thing you can do to quiet your vehicle. The doors are the absolute worst when it comes to vibration and permeability of sound. Do the doors first and do them well. If you have money left over, do other areas.

 

Interesting. I was thinking I'd start with the floors since that is closest to the road. Guess I'll start with the door instead...

 

Fwiw, I did my previous truck and found the best results from the roof. Doors next, then floors. Just my .02