I have had my 2007 S stock for a little over a year now. It has 77k miles on it. I have a bit of dough saved up and I am tempted to spend a bit on some simple mods. The fist thing I want to do is get a better (but not crazy) stereo that can interface with my android phone, some better speakers (no sub) and I am also thinking of having the doors, floor and spare tire space coated with Dynamat. The cost for this will be about 2k at a local stereo place. I have an apartment and I don't know if I have the time or space to really do the sound deadening myself. I am thinking that I could just have the Dynamat installed on the doors and any place where they have to remove panels any way, then finish the rest myself. The goal here is to Quiet the S down a bit and have access to more than CD's and Radio, basically make it more comfortable for my short work commute of better for longer weekend trips.

To make this a bit more complicated, I can see myself being able to afford a 2009 Cayman S in a year or so. I don't want to dump money into the S2000 if I am going to sell it soon, but I feel like I might get some money back from this stuff. I don't know, I love it, but the Cayman is a step up. I could always just supercharge the S too I suppose. I have searched and gained some helpful insight, but it would be nice to hear what you guys think of this situation. Thanks.

 

Dynamat will do very little for road noise and most efforts in this area will be defeated by the thin layer of fabric we call our roof. If you want a quieter cabin, get a hardtop and get sound deadening foams/polymers for the doors and firewall, however the hardtop alone will set you back 2k at least. Best to save your money for the cayman.

 

Thanks. I guess I will just do the stereo for about $600 and have them dynamat the doors while they are at it. I know just the doors will not do much, but it could help.

I have ridden in my coworker's 2008 Cayman S. It felt really nice. The engine is smooth and powerful, it had some space behind the seats, but the shifter doesn't feel as good. It also had quite a few tiny rattles that seemed to come from joints in the interior trim. Has any one else gone from an S to a Cayman? How would they compare in teh long run?

 

I am pretty sure there are a couple who have gone to a Cayman. The best place to post that is in the Car Talk subforum. I would think maintenance costs would be more unless you have mechanical ability or a hookup. Plus insurance costs may be higher.just things to weigh in.

FYI, the door panels themselves are easy to remove, but I am not sure about installing Dynamat. It is also easy to access the spare tire area (if you wanted to try and do some yourself.) From my experience, Bluetooth was unusable with the stereo I bought without Dynamat. I am not sure how much that quiets things though.

I just have to ask...have you ever (considered) autocrossing or tracking the car?

 

Yes, I have done both. I did a track day the second month I had the car and only one autocross. I plan on doing more of both this summer. What do you mean Bluetooth was unusable? It didn't work between the stereo and your device?

I also just got a major rattle fixed today. It turns out the bolts connecting the suspension arms to the frame were 2 turns loose. It used to rattle every time I would go over any bump, but now the car is rattle free except for the drivers side soft top latch. Just getting this fixed makes the car feel so much more solid.

 

Ah ok, that's good...I think that makes the car more enjoyable.

I just mean that people couldn't hear me even with the top up. It is loud with the softop, engine and road noise. I could hear them through the speakers though.

Wow that's a bit scary! You really don't want want anything with the brakes or suspension to be loose... Good thing you got that taken care of.

 

The car had been making that noise ever since I bought it. I brought it up when it had its first oil change and the tech told me it was probably the heat shield, so I didn't bother with it. After a while it got really annoying hearing clunks and rattle coming from the front every time I would hit a little bump. Yeah, turns out it was something a bit more critical than a heat shield. Does any one know why the bolts connecting the suspension arm to the frame would be loose?

 

for starters, the s2000 is a noisy car.

i would recommend changing out the deck first. you get a lot more sound quality and volume. plus you can take it out when you do plan to sell the car.

$2000 is a rip off. honestly if you are at least somewhat technically inclined, you can do all this outside at your car port within a few hours. its basically all plug and play.

a hardtop might be an option for you if youre trying to get rid of road noise. its noticeably quieter then the soft top

 

Remember dynamat is for vibration reduction. OEMs reduce road/tire noise with layers of foams and polymers. Google and look at the inside of door panals of quiet OEMs and you'll see. Saw a great thread comparing VW doors. One with more sound quieting and of course from a more expensive car. Dynamat is only really effective for reducing rattles and vibrations as it alters the metal resonance frequency.

 

Good to know, I will see what I can find.

I can accept the noisiness of the car, it really was the rattles that bothered me the most and they are mostly taken car of. I have read on these forums that there are some things better than dynamat that will quite things down a bit, so I might just go with that. Other wise, yeah, it sounds like just a better head unit and speakers will do the trick.

Thanks for the replies guys.