How to soundproof your doors mk3
- Thread starter saharv2
- Start date
I have just applied sound deadening and closed cell foam to all 4 of my doors.
Took about 8 hours in total to complete the 4 doors.
The whole process turns the stock speakers and head unit into a premium sounding setup.
I run a FiiO X3 FLAC player digital output via the USB to the head unit. The reproduction is really good and the sound deadening accentuates the system.
Over the next 2 days I will be carrying out the same process for the rear floor pan and rear seats bench, rear hatch and wheel arches. Will be able hear the missus disapproving tsks. when I drive to fast now
Took about 8 hours in total to complete the 4 doors.
The whole process turns the stock speakers and head unit into a premium sounding setup.
I run a FiiO X3 FLAC player digital output via the USB to the head unit. The reproduction is really good and the sound deadening accentuates the system.
Over the next 2 days I will be carrying out the same process for the rear floor pan and rear seats bench, rear hatch and wheel arches. Will be able hear the missus disapproving tsks. when I drive to fast now
I now want to apply sound deadening to the front wheel arches/front floor pan.
Does anyone know a quick way to enable me to get under this area .... was thinking of removing door trims and hopefully lifting current mat area to do it... if possible?
Does anyone know a quick way to enable me to get under this area .... was thinking of removing door trims and hopefully lifting current mat area to do it... if possible?
just remove door sill trim covers and you can pull the carpet up to get areas, it's a bit of a squeeze unless you remove the front seats altogether but I didn't when I did mine...
Great
I was hoping someone would say this would be sufficient enough to do the job.... I don't really fancy removing the seats either.
Great
it's doable and the seats are easy enough to take out but didn't fancy the risk of scratching the sills and threshold plates..
So i did this as one of my lockdown tasks,
I used a combination of accoustic dampening sheets and foam as above.
So in a quasi scientific test I used a DB meter in the center of the car on the motorway near me, i made sure i kept in the same lane at all times to try to make it an even test.
@80 mph the noise peaked at 92db (when i hit crappy joins in the tarmac) but seemed to average about 89db on most of the road surface
So i did the doors first (front and back). This dropped the peak to about 90db but the average at about 87db. I was a little unimpressed after all the work to see that number but i did notice that the noise was now in the back of the car.
One thing it did do was sort out the seat sound system, gone were the awful rattles if i dared to turn it up to 5 let alone 11! and the sound quality and depth is massively improved. This was enough reward for all the slashed knuckles
So i then did the rear arches (bit of a swine of a job getting those panels out) and the boot floor. Unfortunately i ran out of stuff before i could do under the back seat.
@80 peak was down to 86 but the average seemed to drop to about 83 and i did feel the car was quieter (not quiet but then that is not going to happen) but still felt that under the back seat would help more.
So well worth the effort imo, you are never going to get rolls royce silence but it does make everything just a little nicer. And your sound system is massively improved.
I used a combination of accoustic dampening sheets and foam as above.
So in a quasi scientific test I used a DB meter in the center of the car on the motorway near me, i made sure i kept in the same lane at all times to try to make it an even test.
@80 mph the noise peaked at 92db (when i hit crappy joins in the tarmac) but seemed to average about 89db on most of the road surface
So i did the doors first (front and back). This dropped the peak to about 90db but the average at about 87db. I was a little unimpressed after all the work to see that number but i did notice that the noise was now in the back of the car.
One thing it did do was sort out the seat sound system, gone were the awful rattles if i dared to turn it up to 5 let alone 11! and the sound quality and depth is massively improved. This was enough reward for all the slashed knuckles
So i then did the rear arches (bit of a swine of a job getting those panels out) and the boot floor. Unfortunately i ran out of stuff before i could do under the back seat.
@80 peak was down to 86 but the average seemed to drop to about 83 and i did feel the car was quieter (not quiet but then that is not going to happen) but still felt that under the back seat would help more.
So well worth the effort imo, you are never going to get rolls royce silence but it does make everything just a little nicer. And your sound system is massively improved.
Doing the rear bench and the rear hatch all add to making the environment quieter.
The dB readings are a logarithic scale so the total reduction you are seeing is 10X less.
The dB readings are a logarithic scale so the total reduction you are seeing is 10X less.
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Just to note, 3db is "twice as loud" from an acoustic point of view, going from 90 to 87db is a worthwhile, I have heavily deadened my car but it's still very noisy from the rear arches so at some point I'm going to pull the liners out and put some appropriate product on them, doesn't help having 35 profile tyres...
Really going to have to look at doing something like this soon.
I don’t really have any door rattles that annoy me, other than the near side rear door vibrates badly when bass heavy music is played.
What would be the key areas to soundproof or dampen to improve vibration from the speaker ?
I’m not that fussed about road noise etc etc, more about getting rid of vibrations when playing music.
I’ve got my fader turned up 70/30 in favour of the front speakers currently to alleviate, but would really like to sort out.
I don’t really have any door rattles that annoy me, other than the near side rear door vibrates badly when bass heavy music is played.
What would be the key areas to soundproof or dampen to improve vibration from the speaker ?
I’m not that fussed about road noise etc etc, more about getting rid of vibrations when playing music.
I’ve got my fader turned up 70/30 in favour of the front speakers currently to alleviate, but would really like to sort out.
Basically just do all your doors and be sure to add in some foam between the speaker and the door frame itself. That's what sorted out the horrible bass problem for me, interesting that i had to fader the stereo the other way as it was the front doors that were the problem in my car. Clearly doors are a quality issue in these things.
But for an extra couple of metres or so of foam i really would do under the backseat at least whilst you are tearing your knuckles to bits
Just to update this, i've soundproofed all my doors and the vibrations when playing music are now completely gone
I can have the Bass up fully and turn the volume up to almost full volume and no vibrations at all.
I pretty much followed the guide on this video, but i added the DIY foam gasket between the speakers and door also.
The source of the vibrations i believe is that large plastic inspection hatch/cover in the doors, when the door card is off you can tap the door hard and its always the first thing to start rattling. So adding sound deadening all around its edge and in its centre is a must.
Well happy now, the standard sound system is actually pretty good !!!!!
I can have the Bass up fully and turn the volume up to almost full volume and no vibrations at all.
I pretty much followed the guide on this video, but i added the DIY foam gasket between the speakers and door also.
The source of the vibrations i believe is that large plastic inspection hatch/cover in the doors, when the door card is off you can tap the door hard and its always the first thing to start rattling. So adding sound deadening all around its edge and in its centre is a must.
Well happy now, the standard sound system is actually pretty good !!!!!
Hi people.Just to update this, i've soundproofed all my doors and the vibrations when playing music are now completely gone
I can have the Bass up fully and turn the volume up to almost full volume and no vibrations at all.
I pretty much followed the guide on this video, but i added the DIY foam gasket between the speakers and door also.
The source of the vibrations i believe is that large plastic inspection hatch/cover in the doors, when the door card is off you can tap the door hard and its always the first thing to start rattling. So adding sound deadening all around its edge and in its centre is a must.
Well happy now, the standard sound system is actually pretty good !!!!!
New here as I've been using this and a couple of other threads to sort out some rattles/vibrations in my Leon ST.
So thanks for the information.
My vibrations were also caused by this plastic cover. On removing the door card and tapping the door this cover is by far the biggest offender.
Also not door related but the trim either side of the centre console was my other main offender.
(the trim running along the side of the console beside the handbrake/gear lever down to the footwell)
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