mikecl713

As most of you guys know, I complain about the drone a lot!
The exhaust i use is the dual oval muffler spugen exhaust.
Dont get me wrong it sounds great from the outside.
I've done a lil research around the s2ki site and i used it to help reach my goal of either eliminating the drone or lessening it to a comfortable level. Since i dont want to get too invasive i was set on more of making the drone level to a comfortable one.
SOO i went on ebay and bought some stuff such as neoprene and some dynamat knockoff stuff.
here is what i did.

Took the stuff from my trunk, it suprised me how much stuff you can fit in there.


Removed the spare tire


Spare tire storage area.


Carefully pulling off the clips holding the trunk liners.


Naked Trunk





I started knocking on suspected areas of resonance.





The area where the spare is the biggest problem. there is only a layer of that green "foam" to deaden the sound from the cabin. If u move the foam away u can see the passenger seat through the vents.

Here's the neoprene stuff.


My Fix Up.



Everything Put Back Together.


Thoughts: After i took it for a test drive (w/ hardtop) The hardtop already lessens the drone down and the stuff helps a bit but it disappointed me. All the matting did was isolate the drone and made it more of a loud humming noise. The drone is more distinct a between 3000-3500 instead of just having a 2500-5000 general drone noise. With the hardtop its more quiet i now complain more about the wind noise than anything else
SOFT TOP is a different story top down or top up no difference was made. The drone is simply heard through the top and there is nothing i can do about it besides making exhaust switchouts a regular thing.

Well i dont know what im going to do. simply just leave it or i can get more expensive stuff. I can try the sound absorbing mold idea where i place a plastic sheet and just spray sound deadening foam and make a mold i can put in or take out for whatever and whenever.
any feedback or suggestions are appreciated..
thanks!

cashout

I noticed that the carpet in the Smart has a foam backing to it instead of just thin plastic. The stuff is pretty good as I cannot hear as much road noise as I used on the S (or the Insight, which had more of a 'paper bag' rathen then a carpet :-).

Check out the picture of the air compressor in my thread. Also, I will take more pics tomorrow and show how thick the foam is on the carpet that lays on top of the engine. That may give you some ideas.

Whitelightning

I would try a knock off brand of Dynamat... Dynamat can get real costly, but a lot of guys here have tried the knock off brand and had lots of success!

mikecl713

i did use knock off dynamat

Gringo

Is this due to the resonance of the Spugen, or is this an issue in stock cars as well?