SOUND INSULATION

[zorroespanol]

Anyone installed extra sound insulation, such as DYNAMAT??

After I removed my cats, even with the 32' Magnaflow mufflers, and the VORTEX cones the car is still TOO FREAKING LOUD, to the point my right ear is ringing after a drive, specially in stop-go traffic. I even fear hearing loss.

I am going to pull out and install DYNAMAT (different types) on:

-Door panels
-Side sills
-Behind seats (if possible, need to check)
-Back of the cockpit.

Will take quite a few good hours of work, and I hope it is worth it. Just wondering if anyone has attepmted this before.

Cheers!

 

[Mike Dolan]

I used a similar product, the area that makes the most difference is the bulkhead behind the seats. Behind the plastic panel is a steel bulkhead, insulate both sides of that and you will be amazed at the difference. To get at the backside of the bulkhead, remove the rear wheels and front section of the fenderwell liner. It's actually quite simple, just a phillips screw and a 3/8" wrench. To get at the front side, remove the seats, and the plastic panel behind the seats. You will need a 15mm socket to remove the seats, and a phillips screwdriver is all you need to remove the plastic panel, again quite simple.

There are two basic types of sound deadening material; those that absorb sound, and those that dampen vibration. What I used was the latter (Damplifier Pro, if you care), I believe Dynamat is similar.

Regards,
Mike Dolan

 

[HowardBJr]

I used a similar product, the area that makes the most difference is the bulkhead behind the seats. Behind the plastic panel is a steel bulkhead, insulate both sides of that and you will be amazed at the difference. To get at the backside of the bulkhead, remove the rear wheels and front section of the fenderwell liner. It's actually quite simple, just a phillips screw and a 3/8" wrench. To get at the front side, remove the seats, and the plastic panel behind the seats. You will need a 15mm socket to remove the seats, and a phillips screwdriver is all you need to remove the plastic panel, again quite simple.

There are two basic types of sound deadening material; those that absorb sound, and those that dampen vibration. What I used was the latter (Damplifier Pro, if you care), I believe Dynamat is similar.

Regards,
Mike Dolan

Mike, how much Damplifier Pro did it take to do both sides of the bulkhead?

 

[Art 138]

I believe Doug Levin(DLM) installed Dynamat on the Silver SRT(doors/trunk) he had. You might check with him. He is a VCA sponsor and in North Miami Beach.

 

[Mike Dolan]

Howard, I purchased 80 square feet, which was about 40 feet too much. The excess went into a friends car, and some in my trunk. Just get about 40 feet and you should have plenty.

Regards,
Mike Dolan

 

[zorroespanol]

Thanks mike, that was very helpful. I did not plan on insulating the outside of the bulkhead, but I will do so now.

Cheers.

 

[DPViper]

Can you please be specific on the benefits of the sound deadening? I have rattles I would like to get rid of - will this help? If you put it in the doors will they close with a solid "thud"? Thanks for the input.

 

[bigmike32172]

Can you please be specific on the benefits of the sound deadening? I have rattles I would like to get rid of - will this help? If you put it in the doors will they close with a solid "thud"? Thanks for the input.

do waht i did, just buy a case of triple expanding foam from home depot and fill up those nasty rattling doors with the stuff, just make sure whatever position the window is in youre ok with it staying in that position.
i'm starting to get tired of the road noise from the rear as well, so this weekend i planned on filling in the trunk with the foam as well, i mean really, what the hell can you fit back there anyway?

 

[Mike Dolan]

The biggest specific benefit is a dramatic reduction in the level of road noise.

I like the sound of the exhaust, but don't like the howl of tires on grooved concrete highways.

By adding the sound dampening material the Viper still sounds like a Viper should, but I can now listen to the radio going down the highway. I think the major source of the tire noise is the bulkhead, that's why I started there. The noise reduction was rather dramatic, the car is now much better for travelling. Unlike some people I use mine as a daily driver - not of necessity, I also have 3 Jags and a truck, but because I like driving the Viper more. When I purchased the car (feb '06) it had 21 miles on it, now 6 months later it has over 11,000.

 

[Mike Dolan]

As far as rattles, the hard part is figuring out what is rattling. My car had a rattle in the dash, which turned out to be the center vent (looks like a speaked grill on the top of the dash). Not really sure what was wrong beyond that, I let the dealer fix it. It was easy to verify by swatting the top of the dash, and you could clearly hear the source. Often rattles can be vexing, especially when they are emanating from some inaccessible place.

If you locate the source of the rattle, sometimes it can be effectively dampened, but often something is loose. In each case the challenge is figuring out what is the source of the noise.

 

[zorroespanol]

I ordered 40 sqft of Dynamat Extreme.... next weekend both seats are coming off and installing it all over the bulkhead.

Next comes the transmission tunnel.

Later (time permitting) door panels are coming off.

Root for me, I will lose about 10 lbs in water weight! LOL

 

[PhoenixGTS]

This Second Skin outfit has a great looking group of products including their "Damplifier" sound deadening which is WAY lighter and cheaper than Dynamat - and hey, these are performance cars, we should care about weight (Dynamat is crazy heavy).

SECOND SKIN LINK

They have some very interesting heat insulation products also that look like they might work well against the interior side of the sills on a Viper.

 

[ViperDad]

Mike,
The bulkhead behind the seats, do you mean the shroud holding the speakers? i noticed the carpeting has some padding but I'm placing polyurethane foam behind that and up around the racing eye bolts on my 06 coupe. The rear side of the bulkhead, you're applying the stuff from the underside of the body?

 

[Sonoman]

He means the nearly vertical "wall" directly behind each seat. (Mike Dolan hasn't posted here since 2009.)

Yes, the backside of the bulkhead is only accessable by removing the front half of the fenderwell for each rear wheel (the plastic inner fender which wraps the tire inside the wheel opening). You can obviously do just the inside of the car under the carpet and see how that works for you.

I'm using Dynamat Extreme, but I noticed the lighter weight Secondskin Damplifier product is still available. These are both self-adhesive mats, but the Damplifier is not really intended as a heat block, mostly a sound deadener.

 

[plumcrazy]

ya'll are talking to a guy from 5 years ago.... but great use of the search...

pos rep

 

[Coloviper]

Sound deadened (Cache, like Dyanmat) the entire inside of my Viper last year. It was detailed with pictures in one of my old stereo upgrade threads earlier this or last year. Huge difference on removing noise and rattles. It was one of the best things I have upgraded the car with. Well worth the time and effort. All sound deadened from the inside of the car, t did require quite a bit of removal inside however, everything came in and out very easy.