jtpedersen
Caught the Bug
Decided it was time to try doing some sound deadening in Stitch.
If you ever remove the carpet from your JK, what you find is near-zero sound deadening material. There's a few small pieces, wafer-thin, where your feet go front and rear (JKU), and on the rear deck. You can see some under the shop lamp. You can hardly tell it has any effect. There's also a bit of battening adhered to the backside of the carpet up in the front foot well, that's about it. Worst thing about the battening (sort of a poly fill type material) is it never dries out and just acts like a moisture sponge.
Major areas like the rear wheel wells, like most of the tub, are nothing more than sheet metal. For such a huge noise-generating region, you'd think they'd have done 'something' to help reduce noise there.
Started the project by pulling the doors, removing the seats, and otherwise gutting the interior. As part of the process I unfastened the wire harness so it could float free when time came to put matting underneath it. Starting Sunday around 1p, I was surprised to see it took me rest of the day.
The next part of the process was vacuuming, cleaning, and wiping down with denatured alcohol. Wanted to ensure the matting would adhere well. Along the way, have to say I was surprised by how many drain plugs there were. I figured there were 4, turns out more like 10. Go figure.
Some vids on this process go through the non-trivial effort of removing the center console. Biggest headache is getting the low/hi range knob off. I elected to skip that. You really only need to cover 25-50% of your surface area to get the sound deadening effect. I was shooting for 90%+, chose not to worry about the small area under that console.
The hardest piece you lay, is the first piece. Every piece after that, as you learn how to work the material, just gets easier. I chose to go with Dynamat. Most of these are 1-2mm aluminum backed by a butyl or butyl-mix product. A really good informational site to visit for specific info is https://soundproofliving.com/automotive-sound-deadening-materials/. I was going to go with one or two other similar, and much less expensive, products. Unfortunately Dynamat was the only one 'everyone' had in stock and could get to me in timely fashion.
Overall project took me about 20 hours, give or take. As you can see, I went for max effect. One of the byproducts of this material is it's ability to help reduce heat transfer, improving A/C effectiveness. That was the biggest reason for maximizing coverage beyond what was required for deadening alone.
About 4 hours project time was tied to cleaning. While I had seats and carpet out, I cleaned everything. Brought the shampooer out for the carpets, cleaned hard-to-get-clean spots on the seats, yaddi yaddi yaddi. Stitch hasn't been this clean since new.
So, the big question: Worth It?
A week's effort (couldn't get to it every night after work), about $330 in material, and test driving. My initial impression wasn't thrilling. Told my wife I wasn't sure it was worth all the time and effort. Next day, we had a hour trip somewhere, about 3/4 expressway. She told me the jeep seemed 'much quieter.' Guess that makes it worthwhile
.
Specific observations:
* Wind noise above the beltline on a really windy day (as in my test drive) masks overall effect. No surprise, not much we can do about that. It's a jeep.
* Cargo/rear wheel well area road noise is definitely reduced. Turning your head, you can definitely tell there's less noise from the wheels.
* Overall, it just seems quieter, 'down there.' All noise coming 'up' at you can be readily noted.
* Rough pavement noise is muted, gives impression of a 'more-refined' vehicle.
I don't want to overstate the impact. This won't turn your JK into a Rolls Royce gliding down the road. It's more in line with your vehicle having bad shocks. You don't really know/notice how much noise comes up at you from below, until after you've done this. Just like getting new shocks, it's still the same vehicle, just better now.
The next real question will be whether there's any impact in hot weather. We've got a trip south to Arkansas in 10 days. We'll find out.
Would I do it again? Hmmm mmmm mmm. Hmm, ask me in a few months.
If you ever remove the carpet from your JK, what you find is near-zero sound deadening material. There's a few small pieces, wafer-thin, where your feet go front and rear (JKU), and on the rear deck. You can see some under the shop lamp. You can hardly tell it has any effect. There's also a bit of battening adhered to the backside of the carpet up in the front foot well, that's about it. Worst thing about the battening (sort of a poly fill type material) is it never dries out and just acts like a moisture sponge.
Major areas like the rear wheel wells, like most of the tub, are nothing more than sheet metal. For such a huge noise-generating region, you'd think they'd have done 'something' to help reduce noise there.
Started the project by pulling the doors, removing the seats, and otherwise gutting the interior. As part of the process I unfastened the wire harness so it could float free when time came to put matting underneath it. Starting Sunday around 1p, I was surprised to see it took me rest of the day.
The next part of the process was vacuuming, cleaning, and wiping down with denatured alcohol. Wanted to ensure the matting would adhere well. Along the way, have to say I was surprised by how many drain plugs there were. I figured there were 4, turns out more like 10. Go figure.
Some vids on this process go through the non-trivial effort of removing the center console. Biggest headache is getting the low/hi range knob off. I elected to skip that. You really only need to cover 25-50% of your surface area to get the sound deadening effect. I was shooting for 90%+, chose not to worry about the small area under that console.
The hardest piece you lay, is the first piece. Every piece after that, as you learn how to work the material, just gets easier. I chose to go with Dynamat. Most of these are 1-2mm aluminum backed by a butyl or butyl-mix product. A really good informational site to visit for specific info is https://soundproofliving.com/automotive-sound-deadening-materials/. I was going to go with one or two other similar, and much less expensive, products. Unfortunately Dynamat was the only one 'everyone' had in stock and could get to me in timely fashion.
Overall project took me about 20 hours, give or take. As you can see, I went for max effect. One of the byproducts of this material is it's ability to help reduce heat transfer, improving A/C effectiveness. That was the biggest reason for maximizing coverage beyond what was required for deadening alone.
About 4 hours project time was tied to cleaning. While I had seats and carpet out, I cleaned everything. Brought the shampooer out for the carpets, cleaned hard-to-get-clean spots on the seats, yaddi yaddi yaddi. Stitch hasn't been this clean since new.
So, the big question: Worth It?
A week's effort (couldn't get to it every night after work), about $330 in material, and test driving. My initial impression wasn't thrilling. Told my wife I wasn't sure it was worth all the time and effort. Next day, we had a hour trip somewhere, about 3/4 expressway. She told me the jeep seemed 'much quieter.' Guess that makes it worthwhile
.Specific observations:
* Wind noise above the beltline on a really windy day (as in my test drive) masks overall effect. No surprise, not much we can do about that. It's a jeep.
* Cargo/rear wheel well area road noise is definitely reduced. Turning your head, you can definitely tell there's less noise from the wheels.
* Overall, it just seems quieter, 'down there.' All noise coming 'up' at you can be readily noted.
* Rough pavement noise is muted, gives impression of a 'more-refined' vehicle.
I don't want to overstate the impact. This won't turn your JK into a Rolls Royce gliding down the road. It's more in line with your vehicle having bad shocks. You don't really know/notice how much noise comes up at you from below, until after you've done this. Just like getting new shocks, it's still the same vehicle, just better now.
The next real question will be whether there's any impact in hot weather. We've got a trip south to Arkansas in 10 days. We'll find out.
Would I do it again? Hmmm mmmm mmm. Hmm, ask me in a few months
.
