ct06033

So I went ahead and took a stab at sound deadening my car. Since everyone does this differently, I decided to document my install. I am planning to also do behind the seats but as that is much more involved than these two, I havent Gotten there yet. First, Ill start with my purpose - 1) As a sound guy, i wanted to upgrade the speakers however even with the top up these cars are not exactly quiet. So, in order to make the most of my investment, I am going to sound deaden as much as I can while also considering weight. 2) I just found out i will need to commute 60mi each way for a new assignment. If i dont wear ear plugs my ears will be ringing after that drive in this car.

So just for giggles, Here are the components im installing:
Focal Performance PS165F Component speakers
Pioneer x8800 Head unit
Alpine 4.1 Amp (i think its around 140w per channel bridged and like 250w for the sub)
Stealthbox with JL 10w3v3

And here is my parts list for the materials:
SDS CLD Tiles
SDS CCF/MLV (not shown, will go behind the seats and on the rear floor pan)
Thinsulate Acoustic Padding (AU 4002-5)

Thinsulate Is a wonder material, the fibers are made to specifically cut out NVH noise, its non-absorbant and super light weight. Most manufacturers use it in their cars these days. I think doing the whole car only adds 2-3 lbs. I think in total I will add about 20lbs which isn't bad for the added comfort.

Also a bunch of misc tools and such. I will assume you know how to take stuff a part and what tools to use for what since that stuff is covered in many other how-to's. I'm writing this to hopefully add some depth to what is already out there.

Speaking of, lets talk about the CLD tiles or dampener/dynamat. You DO NOT need to cover every square inch. this stuff is not a sound blocker, its purpose is to prevent reverberation in metal. Rule of thumb is 25-50% on un-supported metal. What I do is literally tap my knuckles on a panel and listen for reverb and pitch. if its high or echos, slap some on and repeat until you get a "thud" or "tink"

So first things first, clean. every surface I encountered was wiped down with a microfiber doused in rubbing alcohol. This ensures a good contact for adhesives. also, after 13 years, things can get pretty dirty so its nice to clean things up anyway.

On to the doors. After pulling off the door cards (are they still called that?) and pulling aside the plastic, I cut my sheets into 2-3" pieces. there should be room for 4 pieces going up between each brace and 3 should fit across with about an inch between each piece. Use a roller to make sure it adheres strongly. You dont want these to fall off inside your door.


For the inner door skin, I did the rap and stick method to find all the hollow spots. to re-iterate, you do not need to cover 100%. That is not what this material is for you have thinsulate for actual noise reduction. I took care to make sure the CDL contoured to the metal and using a roller, make sure it has solidly adhered to the metal. Once all that is done, place the plastic back in place.

Most people like to remove the plastic, put plywood in the hole and generally go overboard on the doors. With what I did, the doors thunk solidly, bass comes through better and there is a reduction in noise already. Any further than this Is probably going too far.

Also of note, Focal speakers (for those upgrading) are deeper than OEM and have potential to fowl on the window without a spacer. Modifry makes a nice plastic job that can accept self-tapping screws making install cake. I recommend it. Also, i put a piece of CCF as a gasket but really anything would work here.

Sorry for potato photo but just showing where I installed my crossover. I had to lengthen basically all the wires coming off this. Most people just use a crimp on and call it a day. I soldered the wire, heat shrink protected the connecting points and wrapped everything with low noise wire harness tape.

Ive seen some people install the thinsulate between the outer door skin and the window but as im trying to prevent noise from entering the cabin, i figured it should be as close to the interior as possible. I put CLD on the door card again, with the rap and stick method. I also put some foam in the little chamber that also holds the crossover. I postulate that it can trap sound and echo so the foam absorbs it all nicely. To cut the thinsulate, i just used fabric sheers, traced the door and cut slightly smaller. also, cutting out spots for screws, wires, clips, etc. and hold it all in place with velcro. Reinstallation was a bit of a pain as the extra padding makes it a snug fit. also, be careful of fowling on the latch/lock mechanism. my passenger side is a bit sticky now so im going to have to figure out how to fix that at a later point.

On to the trunk. So first off, a sub is going in the trunk so when placing material, I still wanted a way for the sound to enter the cabin. Therefore, I do not place sheets horizontally between the trunk and cabin. i only placed material around the outer skin of the car.

The amplifier is also going to go into this space. I havent decided how I want to mount it yet but it seems a lot of people cut a board to the size of this space and use the spare tire mount to hold everything down. This will probably be the route I go in but I also only have a dremel tool for cutting so should be an adventure!

So again, rap and stick. I used little pieces here as this area has a really complex shape and that whole left side of the photo which i believe is the fuel tank has a drum effect. the dampener was less effective here than elsewhere. After that, i cut some thinsulate to shape and stuck it on the floor. Also of note, this car had some kind of cotton acoustic material already adhered to some surfaces. I left it all alone, some people replace it but A) im lazy and B) it wasnt really anywhere I felt needed improving.

Also of note, behind the material in the back of this pocket is one of two vents to the cabin. I wanted to leave this one clear so the sub notes can come through somewhat easier. Also not pictured, the drivers side was impossible to get into due to the neck of the fuel tank. I just shoved some thinsulate in the space and called it good. Also, I cut another piece to size and just laid it in the soft top tray. You cant see it with the top up and it does not fowl the top when it is folded but It seems like a place that would trap sound and echo a lot.

For the main trunk area, you can see some factory dampening which is probably hardened and or cracked. I am not sure how effective it is, but i just put CDL right on top of it. I imagine you would have a greater improvement by removing it first but... that seems hard and its already been 3 long nights to get to this point. 3 areas stuck out to me as the worst offenders: the outer skin on the sides, and the hole where the spare tools go. Not pictured, theres a 4 inch wall between the curved part and the floor of the trunk. make sure to get them. I put in CDL and Thinsulate around this portion holding the thinsulate down with velcro strips. I used about 16 .5x2" pieces to hold everything down.

Another thought. while the wheel wells are obviously a huge source of noise, when i rapped on them, i was met with a dull thud (good) but i went ahead and put CDL on them anyway...

Another another thought. Dont forget the back of the trunk (facing the license plate) as well as the top surfaces where possible (sides of the trunk opening). However, I did not do the trunk lid as it sounds pretty solid when closed.

For the thinsulate, i did the trace and cut using the plastic insert, cutting out the center for the hole I cut the hole kinda small so the thinsulate will wrap around the lip when the insert is installed however, that wasnt the best Idea I ever had... cut it the proper size. That center piece did a great job lining up with the back panel. I skipped putting CDL and Thinsulate around the lights just due to the need for access and... this is the trunk. I dont think it needs to be an anechoic chamber. I didnt put thinsulate down in the hole as that is where the sub will go so dont really need anything between the sub and the floor.

the side pieces are tough since they are very complex shapes. I just took a square of thinsulate and used some spray adhesive so it will fit the contours. I only put it on the section that faces the side, not on the part that seperates the trunk from the cabin or the part that covers the lights. I also didnt put CDL on these pieces as they are not in the main cabin, I mostly wanted to cut out the bulk of the noise.

Just a pic of the thinsulate (loosely) adhered to the plastic. Id recommend some kind of fabric adhesive as the 3M spray contact cement I used didnt quite cut it.

Picture of the sub installed. It bolts through the drain plugs which requires cutting a hole in the carpet. I also used that to run the wires so they are invisible. I guess now is a good time to mention the clips... OMG the clips. I didnt have an interior trim tool so I just pryed them out with a screw driver. I highly dont recommend this unless you are planning to replace them. I had a bout a 75% success rate. One of them shot across the garage... I still have not found it.

and... the false floor for the sub. Once I do behind the seats, I will post that as well.

rpg51

Nice work. Crutchfield web site is telling me those door speaker do not fit my 02 S2k??

ct06033

Yes, crutchfield does list them as incompatible, they fowl on the window glass if you mount them directly to the door skin. Using the modifry speaker mount, you can see it sticks out about 1/2" which is enough to clear the glass.

I forgot to mention the tweeters and speaker wire. I literally just glued the tweeters to the OEM bracket after removing the OEM tweeter. Make sure you glue it properly so it lines up with the door opening. The wires to both the OEM tweeter and woofer are full range, it just splits in the harness somewhere before the door. I tapped the tweeter plug since I'm hiding the crossover in the door and that plug is easiest to access when removing the door card. I just made the woofer wire with some slack as it also needs to connect to the crossover.

I hope this helps

JWN6264

Did you buy the kit from Sound Deadener Show Showdown (https://www.sounddeadenershowdown.co...ster-2004-2009) or buy the parts ala carte?

The weight of the SDS kit is pretty hefty at 79lbs!

ct06033

So I did buy the cdl and stuff from. Sounddeadenershowdown however, a la carte. MLV is incredibly heavy at 1lb per sqft which i imagine makes the bulk of the weight of the kit. so I didn't want to go crazy with it, only using it to kill the worst noise (differential whine)

The thinsulate I had to source from eBay as there aren't may (any?) Vendors to buy from. I think the 25sqft I bought weighs around 5lbs total a huge improvement over MLV. It also operates differently from MLV which is a reflector, thinsulate is an absorber which makes it an easier product to use overall.

rpg51

But, does it fit under the oem speaker grill with that modifry mount when you put it back together?

ct06033

Oh also, the sds kit really sparsely uses the CLD tiles... I ended up using more than recommend but I still don't feel it was an excessive amount. The doors and trunk probably went through about 20-30 tiles

ct06033

Yep, no signs of interference. I haven't measured clearance but if you look at the OEM speakers and mounting bracket, the OEM speakers are also not flush mount and come off the door by about 1/2" which just happens to be how thick the modifry bracket is.

dwb993

Subscribed
I think you're gonna have rattle city with that sub in the trunk (mine is in the passenger footwell).
I put my amp in the same space (spare tire well) using a custom board made for that space and wrapped in felt. Well worth it.

Interested in final results.

ct06033

Haha, that is a bit of a worry... this is my first car with a proper trunk (all wagons before) and the subs worked great in the back of them. I originally was looking for one to fit behind the passenger seat but this seemed like a more elegant solution. Luckily I am not a bass head so I wont really be cranking the volume much.

Thanks, I guess i should just add the rest of the job to the end of this post. Hoping to get to it this weekend.