Sound deadening - How much material?

How much material would you need for an access cab 3rd gen for the floor up to the driver seat and the back wall? How much to do the doors? Not looking for professional level sound quality but after removing the back seat I can definitely hear more road noise than I would like.

 

No tape measure I take it?

 

As someone who has not done this before I was hoping someone would be willing to share their knowledge and give some insight into situations that I would not anticipate or be able to guesstimate. I would also prefer to use that knowledge instead of taking everything out, measuring, putting it all back in, waiting for the order, and then tearing it all back out again. This sounded like a place where people could ask those questions.

 

Most dampening vendor sites have a guesstimate table.

 

Taking everything out is unnecessary. Measure the length and width of your cab. Length and width of your doors. Length and width of whatever you want cover. Add 10% (maybe more) to cover scrap and mis-cuts.

You can certainly ask the question here lol, just saying by the time wait for a response, you could already have your answer.

 

You can usually buy a bundle that has x amount to the bundle, and I think you can get just a door dampening kit that has enough to do several doors.

 

it really depends on how you apply it.

for instance, i fully expect to take care of my 4-door using the equivalent of 2 of these kits(i've got one of these kits, and a nearly full box of dynamat extreme).
https://www.eastwood.com/xmat-sound-deadening-18x32-ines-34-8-sq-ft.html

but that kit will barely cover a single door if you touch every single surface inside the door with it.

this is what everyone insists on doing


this provides the same effect.


sound dampening can be done whatever your preference, but the entire idea is to add mass to floppy sheet metal panels to make them more resistant to flopping around. adding it to any panel corner with reinforcements, or butted up/welded to another panel provides zero acoustical benefit, but is entirely aesthetic.

 

FYI, constrained layer dampers (such as Dynamat) don't do much to block road noise (the OG complaint). You need a barrier layer like mass loaded vinyl for that. Dampers (not dampeners ) simply change the resonant frequency of the substrate to which they're attached. You need as close as possible to 100% coverage for a barrier layer to be effective. In a full treatment it would be combined with damper material, absorption and decouplers.

 

GUILTY!!

Didn’t know any better when I did it 14 years

ago

 

Isn’t there’s a thicker floor material you can use that blocks road noise better?

Also - extremely dumb question - how thick can you go on the floor? Is the carpet that’s in there directly against the metal already? Is there padding you’d remove and add dynamat or some other padding in its place? Just wondering how thick i can go before the floor gets higher than it is now

 

that's what the post from rob feature in post #8 is concerning.

the most accurate answer here is 'it depends'. it depends on a ton of factors, both material-used, as well as who/how the installation of the material is performed.

take my previous ranger install as an example, i ran a ton of wiring for an all-in-one sub, 4 channel amp, dsp, power distribution(1/0 main power, 4 gauge power to amp/sub, and 2-4wire cables to the front speakers). all of it was under the carpet. some area's i was able to run in factory channels that kept it out of the way, but much of it was ran on the surface of the metal body.

all of the factory carpet went directly back in with only 1 alteration of cutting out a hole for the new 1/0-4ga fused distribution block in the middle that fell under the middle seat. there weren't any unsightly bulges or relief cuts made in the carpet anywhere else.






there's a ton of wiggle room to all of this. it's also selectively planning out the build while considering the hard mounting points for various parts(ie, i had to make sure that the seat brackets wouldn't cut into my power cable once the seats were installed), and cutting the material around those area's to allow for the factory gear to fit back in. with some trim panels, you need to stop the material just before the area the trim panel clips in so the trim can still attach as it did before.

but overall, you'll never notice the difference in thickness of even a 3/4" added layer

 

Thanks man. I don’t have the time to do this on my own. Wish I could go into the rabbit hole and optimize it. But I need to outsource… everyone I find (audio or upholstery guys) kind of just do this on the side sort of or as an adjunct to their other services so I feel like nobody really knows this inside out other than enthusiasts who have some time and skill. If I find someone excellent I’ll do it.

 

A proper treatment is gonna cost ya to have it done right. Pretty much the whole interior gets to come out and get re-installed. It's a lot of labor and it's not fun work. All in I'd expect a few grand for a full treatment done right. It was totally worth the effort in my 1st gen, but it was time consuming.

 

I’m sure it’s very very time consuming and difficult. So far haven’t found anyone who inspires enough confidence to let them do it to my 7 month old truck.

 

How much is really necessary? Would just doing a square behind each of the speakers be beneficial at all for audio quality?

 

it's the panels that are vibrated by the speaker. not the area behind it.