Can we talk about sound deadening products?
 

Seems like I see a lot of builds that use Dynamat. When I look at prices, it just seems wildly out of whack for what it is. Covering a car can run a grand or more - really? So my question is - do people use it because it's superior to other products, or because they have better marketing than competing products?

Has anyone seen a test where these products are subjectively compared? Anyone seen other products that work just as well?

I'm not opposed to paying more for superior quality, I would just like to hear opinions on why you use the product you do.

I'd like to hear some feedback on lizard skins stuff as they have the sound deadner and ceramic heat barrier at a way more reasonable cost.

I couldn't find the test right now that swayed me back when I did mine, but I used raamat and ensolite and was very pleased with the results.

http://www.raamaudio.com/

I used Dynamat, I got it from EBay a few years ago cheap with free shipping. The only thing about Dynamat it weighs a ton. Something to keep in mind if your trying to keep the car light.

Dynamat is more expensive than similar products, but its twice as thick as well. Everytime i have tried a different brand, I have always ended up going back to dynamat.

I used Second Skin in the wagon and liked it. I've never used any other brand, but was pleased with the price and results of it. And they are (or at least used to be) sponsors of some of the PT sites. Got my vote.

You can save a hundred or more bucks per box of the mega pack on ebay or amazon. You also don't have to put it every Sq inch to work properly.

Like Mike said, I have tried other brands and always go back.

I used second skin and dynamat in my '55. All I really hear is the exhaust! :lol:

Sound
 

Weight is an issue for me so I live with the sound

I have heard good things about lizard skin but am concerned
that it may trap moisture and cause rusting.... Detomaso
used a lot of spray on sound deadening for the underside
of the car and in the engine bay which caused a lot of rusting

The Mangusta put it on the inside of the doors and I have
heard many with rusting there as it in trapped moisture

These were products of the 1970's.... maybe the new ones
work a lot better.. anyone else had any experience?

Bob

I've used Dynamat, Dynamat Lite and Raamat

I have used Lizard skin on three of my builds and I think I'm done with it. I don't think it works well at all for sound and the heat product hasn't made my jeans tight. I always use Fat Mat on the inside of the car in conjunction and I think it's doing 90% of the heat/sound dance. I know it's about 30% thinner than DynaMat, but you don't need to pave a car to take the tinny sound out. I just bought 80 square feet on ebay for $100 shipped and have used it on 5 cars. It works great.

I recently used 80mm Fat Mat and thought it did a great job and was a lot cheaper than Dynomat and got it shipped via Amazon prime in two days:
http://www.amazon.com/FatMat-Self-Ad...rch_detailpage

We started using Boom Mat about 3 years ago and have been very impressed. It is one of the very very few products that is a standard on every car that we build. We have used many other brands in the past and like the Boom Mat the best. They have multiple thicknesses on the sound dampening mat and a great collection of other heat and acoustic handling materials.

To broaden the scope of this topic a bit, is it unwise to apply Dynamat (or any of these products) on vertical panels?

Years ago when applying Dynamat to my Camaro I was told it is risky to do the doors. That the product would not hold and would "slide" downward. Is this true? I am doing a Chevelle soon and would like to know. Also, I noticed Malitude has Dynamat inside the doors.

Curious has anyone put a mat product over lizard skin? Curious how that might work I have both the ceramic temp product and the sound deadening from Lizard skin on my car. I have been thinking about adding some dynamat to the inner firewall and inside of roof on top of the lizard skin

When going vertical, I use a heat gun to soften the mat to where it becomes extremely sticky then use a roller to apply it to the panel. Keep the heat on it and keep rolling it until it creeps from the edges of the mat. Essentially what's happening is you're just getting the buetel to grab all of the little crevices and pores of the panel. You can super crazy and frame it with aluminum HVAC tape if you're super paranoid about it. I've never had one come off.

I've used Lizard sound then ceramic on the bottom of the car. Then used FatMat on the inside of the cabin. Seems to work well.

I have dynamat over the lizard skin. No issues

It would only do that if the surface you applied to wasn't clean.... and therefore the sticky didn't stick. Like most things - you can't apply stuff over dirty stuff.

www.sounddeadenershowdown.com for information about controlling sound in your vehicles including comparisons between different materials.

As Rodger mentioned, you don't need it all over the interior. That's actually a huge waste of material, money, and added weight.

Vertical and upside down is no problem so long as you clean the metal before hand and apply with a roller. I did my daily driver Sierra all over the place and have had no issues with my dampening panels moving.

I used dynamat extreme on my doors with no issue. 10 years and no movement yet. Ron

As always, awesome info/knowledge shared at Lat-g. :thumbsup:

Yes, read that site. Dynamat and the like are really only for cutting down resonance of metal panels and some (very mild) heat rejection. The mat itself has very little resistance to sound waves travelling through it. Unfortunately, any product that does actually attenuate sound (vinyl mat or dynamat extreme) is very heavy. I've heard it said that a 10% open area will let through 90% of the noise too. The audio guys dynamat as needed on the open metal, and then lay down a full covering of the heavy vinyl mat (and they also put a closed cell foam layer in between for "de coupling" although I don't really truck with this, especially if you are putting carpet over it.

So use dynamat, but you don't need to plaster the car with it like on the shows and photo shoots, that is more of a sponsor thing to get you to buy more dynamat. And then, you can experiment with dynamat extreme or vinyl mat over wheel wells and trans tunnes and firewalls, balancing weight and noise as you see fit.

I'm with some of the other guys, I have tried many products and keep coming back to dynamat for various reasons. But I haven't tried boom mat. That sound deadener showdown site is the place to read if you really care about this stuff.