I am trying to keep the exhaust I have but it has a lot of drone right in the cruising rpm's. i was thinking of trying to use some sound deadening material where the stock spare tire goes and all as that seems to be right behind the seats and would be letting in the most sound. How much of a difference does sound deadening make? Is it worth it? It doesn't have to take all of it away, although that would be awesome, but just enough so it doesn't give me a headache anymore. Where is the best place to put the sound deadening material? Is there somewhere in particular where the drone comes through the most?
Really want to keep my Spugen exhaust but this drone I can't take anymore since I commute 65 miles a day.
Let me know what you think. ---Ryan.

 

Won't help enough to make your commute bearable. IIRC Honda designed a very quiet OEM muffler to compensate for the small amount of acoustic dampening on the frame and body. You'd have to get into and under too many small spaces and places to surpress the drone. Makes sense though, the weight of the OEM exhaust at least helps keep the center of gravity low.

 

I don't see how the WEIGHT of an item will keep the COV low..
doesn't this entirely depend on the LOCATION of the item?


Anyways.. the S2000 is a softtop, you're going to hear a lot of noise whatever you do.
Unless you have a hardtop and would like to dynamat that and your entire chassis. Which would probably weigh you down a good 50lbs.

 

I'm not really worried about noise, just the drone is all I want to reduce. It's quieter with the top down, so the whole hardtop thing would only make the drone worse most likely.

Anyone with some knowledge on the subject have any info on sound deadening to reduce drone?

 

there's a thread somewhere in the electronics section about using sound deadening material to reduce drone. it's an intensive process.

my recommendation to kill the drone is to get a test pipe or hi-flow cat.

 

I have a test pipe, but it does not seem to make any difference from my stock cat. Not sure why, but it almost seems like the drone is worse with the test pipe.

 

Just to clarify, Honda did not put much sound deadening in the usual places like the doors, floor pan, bulk heads etc which would have added not only weight, but also weight up high compared to a heavy but low slung exhaust system.

The science and nuances of exhaust acoustics are pretty complex. I've experimented with things like custom silencers, header wrap, fiberglass insulation, internal pipe sleeves etc and have come no way near the quiet and performance of the OEM exhaust. Drone is subjective which is one reason some guys go through multiple exhausts looking for the right sound.

 

check out "thetz99" w/ his write up.

 

Why are you driving top up anyway? Put it down, no more drone.

You may want to try using regular household insulation in there, the pink stuff. Pull your spare and stuff that area with it. Just be careful to not get pink crap all over your car.

Not sure if it will help or not, but if it does, it's considerably lighter than Dynamat and you're stuffing it into an area that you'll never use anyway. Just don't crush it, it needs to remain fluffy.