| g568348 |
Enjoyed reading the soundproofing issues. Wish I've learned this forum before I bought the brushable soundproofing liquid QuietCoat.
Anyway the stuff is here and would like some suggestion on the following before I begin:
a. How to carefully de-assemble interior parts and panels without breaking any parts. Any cd manuals out on how to ?
b. Should I brush on the wheel wells and underside body as well ?
c. Any comments or reviews on Quiet Coat. From their advertising, Quiet coat reduces noise by -20 db and supposed to be lighter than dynamite.
d. Any suggestions what area I should start first.
This is going to be a long project and would be inquiring more info in the future. I'd appreciate any suggestion and will keep in line with my project for further review.
The reason for my soundproofing obsession is the time when I when I went down south to Florida coming from New Jersey. The road noise became annoying at high way speeds especially on concrete highway roads. Especially in Florida, even going at 35 to 40 mph, road noise was very pronounced.
Thanks to all in advance
Gerry
nj
Acura MDX 2003 with Navigation, Redrock Pearl w/fender flares and gold emblems. |
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| PsychoKnight |
quote:
Originally posted by g568348
Enjoyed reading the soundproofing issues. Wish I've learned this forum before I bought the brushable soundproofing liquid QuietCoat.
Anyway the stuff is here and would like some suggestion on the following before I begin:
a. How to carefully de-assemble interior parts and panels without breaking any parts. Any cd manuals out on how to ?
b. Should I brush on the wheel wells and underside body as well ?
c. Any comments or reviews on Quiet Coat. From their advertising, Quiet coat reduces noise by -20 db and supposed to be lighter than dynamite.
d. Any suggestions what area I should start first.
This is going to be a long project and would be inquiring more info in the future. I'd appreciate any suggestion and will keep in line with my project for further review.
The reason for my soundproofing obsession is the time when I when I went down south to Florida coming from New Jersey. The road noise became annoying at high way speeds especially on concrete highway roads. Especially in Florida, even going at 35 to 40 mph, road noise was very pronounced.
Thanks to all in advance
Gerry
nj
Acura MDX 2003 with Navigation, Redrock Pearl w/fender flares and gold emblems.
Welcome to the world of sound-deadening (not really sound-proofing).
I've never used the brush on material, but I think with several coats, it would be as efficient as traditional rubberized asphalt sheet material. I've smeared 135 lbs of dynamating across all panels, floorpan, and firewall, sans the roof and front fenders ( done that on another vehicle). The best way to do this is during two long weekends and one regular weekend, because you'll need to strip down the entire interior from the dash all the way back. One long weekend for the four doors and hatch, and another for the floorboard/firewall, and rear quarter panels, which require removal of all 6 seat positions, carpeting and rear paneling. A regular weekend is all that is needed for the roof paneling. It doesn't matter which area you start with.
I wouldn't use quiet coat on the undersides of the fender and underbody, I would use standard commercial underbody coating as its a lot less expensive than Quiet Coat, and this procedure won't do much for sound reduction in comparison to coating the interior panels of the vehicle.
To reduce attachment breakage (total prevention is impossible), I would purchase a small supply of wood shims from a home improvement store (they are used to level window and door frames) and a few popsicle sticks from a crafts store (ask the women in your life). Use these on both sides of a clip to dislodge them without scratching the paint and paneling. There are detailed dismantling instructions on this site if you perform a search on "remove panel" and set the date delimiters all the way back to the beginning. The most important aspect of preventing damage is to consult the factory repair manual. It shows you the location and type of every single clip and retaining device on the vehicle. There is no authorized version on cd, and those that do sell an electronic manual to consumers simply scanned the manual to pirate its content.
You can buy the factory repair manual at
http://www.helminc.com/helm/homepage.asp?r=
Because you will be removing critical fasteners like seatbelt bolts, you need to know proper torque specs, how to recognize and deal with airbag harnesses connectors (improper fiddling with which could blow an airbag right in your face if you are ignorant of proper precautions). For these reasons alone, I strongly recommend you obtain a factory authorized repair manual and consult it diligently before beginning any serious disassembly.
Good Luck.
PK |
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| trixie |
I may be off base, but do-it-yourself "sound proofing" does not sound like a good idea for a $40K car. You can bet that Acura has spent millions on soundproofing the MDX. You should think three times before taking your car apart and spreading the goop.
On the latest generation rubberized asphalt roads that are common in Phoenix, my X is nearly silent. That said, tire noise is only culprit. Tire selection biased toward road noise control may be your fix. Since all of the noise comes from the tires, efforts to quell the engine and driveline would be a waste of good goop.
Option B: buy an LS430.
Option C: don't go to Florida. |
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| diverman |
PsychoKnight,
Did all of the sound-deadening you did make a dramatic difference and was it worth all of the work? |
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| g568348 |
To:
Psychoknight: Thanks for the info, these will definitely help a lot.
Trixie: Thanks for your response. I've read an article in some auto magazine that Arizona has one of the best built quiet highways
in the country. LS430 is just way to expensive and not going to Florida by car is not an option. Besides, I thought I've waited long enough for Acura to cure the problems on 2001 and 2002 and bought the 2003.
There were just to many good points on why I bought the MDX. Willing to take the dive and make it better. Besides it is in the final work and labor that is more gratifying that one usually enjoys.
(just look at psychoknight)
happy riding and thanks for the immediate response :-) |
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| csimo |
I would be very careful taking any action like this. It's difficult to know where water is supposed to drain and it's very easy to block those drains. Any damage you cause will be your problem... not warranty.
Once you start taking interior panels off they never fit as tight as before. The result may be a very quiet rattle trap.
You probably void the anti-corrosion warranty as well as it's very specific about such things... including undercoating. |
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| 04mdx4sq |
csimo brings up a good point. Many people tend to forget about drainage. Doors are designed to leak, and have drain holes. If you fill them with noise deadening materials (spray on and brush on tend to be worse about accidentlly getting into the drains) you will cause corrosion.
We have tried many products at our shop, from Dynamat and the like to sprays to brush on as well as a homemade concoction of fiberglass resin and buckshot :crazyeye:(which actually works decently as it stiffens the panel and adds mass) and I can tell you none of them have been close to a 20db drop, especially on a vehicle such as the MDX that has decent factory noise control. I have started to do my X, and I am using Dynamat Xtreme to do it, I have used it in the past and know that it works well. |
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| shootist |
quote:
Originally posted by 04mdx4sq
We have tried many products at our shop, from Dynamat I have started to do my X, and I am using Dynamat Xtreme to do it, I have used it in the past and know that it works well.
04-
Have you ever encountered a vehicle that had been dynamated several years ago? I'm curious whether Dynamat facilitates rust. |
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| R Stevens |
quote:
Originally posted by shootist
04-
Have you ever encountered a vehicle that had been dynamated several years ago? I'm curious whether Dynamat facilitates rust.
My '02 MDX has Dynamat Xtreme throughout the entire interior. It was installed in August, 2002 and there is no sign of rust. |
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| shootist |
R,
Thanks for that- have you ever seen an 8 or 10 year old Dynamat installation? I figure rust starts in the weak areas at perhaps 7 to 10 years, and I'm wondering if Dynamat makes the area the first to rust. |
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| PsychoKnight |
quote:
Originally posted by diverman
PsychoKnight,
Did all of the sound-deadening you did make a dramatic difference and was it worth all of the work?
You don't miss what you don't like, so no, you will become acustomed to the quiet ride and listening to music at a lower sound level and become completely oblivious to the dynamating until you need to ride in someone else's luxury car. The dramatic difference is also apparent when my Acura TL friends are passengers in my X and they complain that their Acura is not so quiet, and the doors have a solid feel when opening an closing.
Don't assume that $40k cars are fully engineered in every respect. Take for example the uncoated, untreated, paper speakers in the early MDXs, a "feature" in the "upgraded" Bose sound system. You pay extra for the world's cheapest speaker design. Sound deadening is a standard process in any higher end custom sound installation. Even for people who don't care about autosound, I recommend sound deadening as a sure way of elevating the perceived luxury and comfort level of any vehicle. People I know who have installed such measures have continued to do so in all of their future cars, even when they chose not to upgrade the sound system.
Look at it this way - can it hurt and will it cost a lot? |
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| mwdelta |
I'm amused by the different dynamics on this board as opposed to those dedicated to my last car (an Integra). I guess it's pretty atypical for a college student to have an MDX. Everyone worries about warranties, which I suppose makes sense, but then it seems obvious to me that if you make a change, and that change causes a problem, the risk and responsibility is yours. You can counter that risk by learning about your car online and through the service manual. If you're not happy with something, don't be afraid to experiment. Remember that it's your car, and you can do what you want to it. That's the fun part!
Back on topic, it's fairly easy to find out where the door drains are. If if doesn't say in the service manual, simply pour a little water inside (once you've taken the panels off) and see where it drains out. I know the drains on the front doors of my '01 are at very back of the door (back meaning closest to the rear of the vehicle). |
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| Fabvsix |
mwdelta:
so true, you can do what you want "when your young"......it will probably your last project of this type.......keep us posted ! I can tell all you folks this, my 2004 RL is the most quite one of them all ! Better sound system too ! It was cool to compare my 2005 MDX to my 2004 RL.....
conclusion:
NO COMPARISON ! :2: :2: :2: |
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