Just finished gutting my Taco to install under-carpet sound deadening. Decibel difference & pics.

2 weeks ago I added sound deadening to all four door doors and the rear wall, after replacing the front door speakers and dash tweeters. I still had 36 ft.² left over (I bought 72 ft.² for about a dollar per square foot thanks to Amazon Resale/Warehouse open box returns) so I figured I’d do the carpet, too.

It initially seemed pretty overwhelming (the most extreme thing I’ve done to any vehicle so far is installing a new stereo), but after getting quotes from car audio shops telling me how much they would charge, I thought I would watch a few YouTube videos to see if it’s something I could handle. Turned out that it was. thankfully I’m on a pseudo-vacation from work so I had lots of free time. It ended up taking about 12 hours for the doors and eight hours for the carpet. Material-wise the doors took around 34 ft.², and under the carpet took about 25 or so.

I took a decibel reading on the interstate before I did all of this and it averaged 72 to 73. After finishing this morning I took it to the same stretch of highway and same speed, and it averaged 68 to 69… so roughly 3-4db difference. Not a huge amount but not horrible either, especially since my total out of pocket expense was so low.

Overall I’m happy with how things went, although in hindsight I should have installed closed cell foam (e.g., dynaliner) over the 80 mil butyl rubber mat. Although to be honest this was more of a boredom project than anything - I’m essentially on vacation due to work being slow, but I still get paid, so I was looking for ways to fill my time. Plus, it seems like it would be interesting to do this. I guess I can worry about the liner at some future time, maybe after I install a new head unit.

One thing I recommend is putting bolts/etx into Ziploc bags, labeling the bag with a sharpie, and numbering them with what step of the process you’re on, so that you can work in reverse order when reassembling everything. Had I not done that, I think it could’ve gotten a lot more complicated than it was.

If anyone wants links to the videos I used for the jobs let me know - happy to share. Same with a list of tools used, or any other questions.