Removing your headliner and insulating/sound deadening

I was just gonna say this and then I saw your post. I had researched this to actually go over top of my NOICO liner and everything I have found said this essentially would be a slow poison for everyone inside the vehicle.

 

Too bad since it would be so much quicker and cheaper to do.

 

There seems to be a lot of spray on sound deadening options that are on google. While undercoating may not work, maybe some of these options would be successful.

 

Fwiw the clips labled "air bag" forced the side curtains to deploy against the glass rather than blowing the headliner into your noggin. On the AC the only other part along the sides holding it up are the clam shell latch covers. There aren't any bolts at the bottom of the rear corner panels in an AC other than the seat belts and just one above the upper seat belt slot and the two each side holding the upper clam shell latch covers. Pretty much everything else is the same. The hidden speakers are above the two front seats and are attached to the dome light harness. Each one has a removable wire clip.

 

Coming in late with questions! How well did this work to cut down on heat in the cab? Looking at doing something similar to mine, since the A/C only gets the Indigo cab loveable, not comfortable.

Since I'm also a desert rat (Expat working in the Middle East), I'm considering trying it out on my Grand Cherokee over here.

 

Great tutorial! Thanks for the info!

 

The difference was noticeable and made the project worthwhile IMO. Since heat sensitivity is different for everyone, some people may experience varied results. I can no longer feel the heat radiating from the roof of the cab on hot/sunny days which was the original intended outcome of my project. I have still been meaning to add a layer of relectix to the roof once I get in there again, but other projects have kept that on hold for me. The reflectix has a higher r value than the foam insulation I've used so far and I think would make for a more dramatic difference once I get to it. I This weekend was hovering at 114* in my area and while the cab was still hot, I know that it would've been a lot worse without the little insulation I added.

 

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Serendipitous thread/post. I searched for roof heat and this popped up. Glad it's still active and fresh.

Long story short: My Prius needs a new roof due to hail damage. It's silver. But I was thinking of painting the roof matte black for pure aesthetics only. I love the look of the black roof on a silver car.

However I'm concerned about the added heat due to the black paint. Still trying to figure out if this is a myth or true (been reading a few articles of both).

So since they will have the new roof off the vehicle (and have to drop the headliner) I was wondering if using the foil back foam and insulation will cut down on the potentially added heat?

I've also read in hot rod forums that there is a product Home Depot sells that is essentially foil backed bubble wrap (for lack of a better term) that is used for insulation applications. Pretty sure that's the Refletix you mention.

What foam insulation product did you use? Sorry didn't see it specified in the first post.

Thanks

 

There’s arguments for both light and dark paint and how they contribute to heat in a car. I’ve repeated in this thread several times that the weak spot will always be the glass. @DVexile supported that by referencing that your car is essentially a greenhouse (paraphrasing). I’d imagine that the difference between light and dark paint in otherwise identical cars would be measurable but minuscule as it pertains to overall comfort.

The foil bubble wrap is reflectix (linked below). Higher r value than what I used (noico sound deadened and foam insulation) but I believe when correctly used together would provide the best bang for your buck.

I would personally stay away from anything resembling fiberglass batt for this install because you’re not creating a secure seal between the product and cab occupants. I remember my first car was a ‘79 RX7 with a shitty torn up interior that I couldn't afford to fix at the time. When I’d drive on the freeway with the windows down (no AC), little bits of foam would fly all over the car and I’d have to squint to avoid getting it in my eyes. Imagine that, but with fiberglass. No bueno.

 

Yep, heat load from the windows (usually the windshield or rear window lets in the most midday light) dominates over everything else. Yes putting a black roof on will make things hotter than the silver roof but unless you put good sunshades (meaning silvered reflective sunshades, not dark colored ones) you probably won’t notice a huge difference. And yes putting something like Reflectix between the black roof and the headliner would greatly reduce any heating the black roof causes.

Without a sunshade actually the interior color matters more than the exterior color! So a white car with a black interior and no sunshade often gets hotter than a black car with a light colored interior.

 

That's it: I'm going luxurious for my next iteration of the truck.

 

Thanks. I'd have to imagine that the paint color on the roof is marginal too. However I was in an Uber last month, in a black Lincoln sedan, and with the roof so low to my head I was dying in 95 degree Chicago heat. And yes, the glass is the biggest factor and the Prius has a lot of it. Not to mention a huge black dash board.

I'll probably give it a go. Thanks for the product info.

 

I have a 4x4 E350 that I’ve converted into a camper van and I have done a lot of work with both reflectix insulation, butyl sound deadener and mass loaded vinyl (MLV) on that project, and had issues with roof rack noise that I was able to easily fix.

I used reflectix from Home Depot to insulate the roof, with the air gap between the headliner and the roof it works very well to drop the overall interior temperature. I used high heat Loctite spray glue to attach it two years ago and have had no issues so far.

For sound the most popular options I found are butyl sound mats and MLV. The butyl is largely for vibration dampening same as the spray on undercoatings. MLV is really dense and is a sound barrier (not going to go into detail here but there is a lot out there on auto sound forums). Bottom line is the best sound attenuation comes from using both together as they have different purposes. I used both on the roof, doors and floor and the result was a quieter ride, not a huge difference but it did make a difference.

Finally for the roof racks, i had rhino rack HD bars which are hollow on the bottom, that made a lot of noise after I installed the rack. I was going to get one of their wind fairings but Rhino rack advised stuffing them with foam backer rod. That worked, no more noticible noise.

Hope this helps.

 

I did post links for the products I used in the first post of this thread if you wanted quick reference. They used to show up in the "products" bar below, but somehow they're not there anymore. I'm a fan of Noico because it's more cost effective than other brands for essentially the same thing. I've seen cheaper products where the adhesive will fail (read: melt) under extreme heat, causing separation from the panel. This, coupled with it being upside-down on your roof behind the headliner, you have a recipe for headaches of you cheap out. Cheap adhesive, gravity and the actual weight of whatever you're installing up there will want to pull it away from the panel so you want a strong bond. The other thing is that because it's behind the headliner, it's not something that's particularly easy to notice until it gets really bad. and then there's the trouble of removing the headliner again to fix your mistake. Buy once, cry once applies really well here.

 

How did you get the headliner out of the truck

 

I personally didn’t take the headliner all the way out of the truck. I dropped it and worked on one side at a time driver/passenger) front to back. I’ve used this same method on three trucks now and don’t really see much benefit to pulling the headliner out and risking damage or creases in it. A few guys have mentioned that you can fold it gently to pull the headliner out of the truck and the folds don’t create permanent creases that are visible after reinstalling but you’d be doing that at your own risk.

If you decide to pull it the one piece of advice I can give you is to make sure you reattach the small wiring harness for the dome light to the headliner. It’s held on with industrial grade tape from the factory. If you don’t retake the wires or otherwise secure them, they will rattle against the headliner right above your head as you drive and it’s not an easy thing to ignore.

 

Has anyone had any luck chasing down a practical source of the infrared reflective paint? There are paints / coatings that reject infrared in the frequencies we don't see - which even allows aircraft to be painted "black" without the heat rise you would ordinarily expect. California (of course) and several other "sunshine" states have added reflective roofing requirements to their building codes. Most steel roofing manufacturers are now offering products with that sort of coating. I've been trying to find a supplier to sell the coating in a small size (one gallon) so I could experiment on the roof of the Taco. A significant amount of the roof panel could easily be coated - and never seen from the ground - which would suit me fine. However - virtually all of the coating products are offered in industrial sized containers - with an industrial sized price tag to match.

I have seen a couple of tests where duplicate samples were painted - with the special coating .... and ordinary aircraft white, exposed to the same infrared source. The samples had thermocouples imbedded to measure the difference in a couple of aluminum plates. It clearly showed the advantage of the coating in real time - it works.

 

Pint size sample might be enough for 16 ft^2.

 

Yeah - so far the industrial stuff has been in 5 gallon pails at $250+ - and none of the reputable outfits will part with a "sample". My old employer bought some (5 gallons) to try out on the roof panels of some steel shipping containers we rigged up as (semi)secure tool rooms for a job in Sonora, Mexico. They were supposed to just clean the roofs and paint it on with a roller.........It may have worked (or maybe not) but "disappeared" from the jobsite anyway. So much for security..............