Dynamats

[dieseldriver]

While installing my true Focal component speaker system for the front, I installed the Dynamats while the cover was off. I did not remove the black inside panel completely, just so enough that I could get the the sheetmetal behind it. After it was applied, when you knock on the sheetmetal outside, it feels like a rock. Went for a test drive with my sons with new Focal 130A1's in front, and the Focal 570's in the rear (and Kicker/JL amp of course). I could not believe how much it cuts down on road noise. Now all I basically hear is some noise from windows and the suspension hitting the asphalt.

Also, when I shut the door, it feels like a German car. It's heavy, and it feels just right. It seals the inside shut, with my ears almost feels like there's vacuum inside the interior.

I am now a believe of Focal speakers and Dynamats. I will be installing the Dynamats inside the sliding doors and the trunk area in the near future.

 

[ErikO]

That's interesting. I was thinking of doing the same thing.

I read some articles about applying dynamat and they mentioned that you only need to add small strips inside the door (in an x pattern, and add enough to kill the resonance and no more), not a huge piece. Is that what you did?

 

[vinisterz]

dieseldriver do you have a diy how to install the dynamat? also where can we get the dynamat?

 

[dieseldriver]

You can get Dynamat from Amazon. I chose to get the 4 sheets or 2 door kit at a time. Now on my 4th kit to do the hood, fender, A-pillar, and rest of the trunk lid.

I don't have a DIY document but the Master Sheet from Crutchfield for 2006- Mazda5 helped out a lot.

I would start with the front door panel first. You would need to get yourself a trim remover that has an end like a two prong fork.

Something like this .. https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)

This is because after removing the two philips screws, one on the door handle after removing the screw cover, and the one underneath the carpet inside the door handle, you have to pull starting most likely on the corner door panel fastner. It breaks fairly easily so you need to stick that tool underneath the white fastner (giving it a bit leverage as you pull on it). There are couple that most likely break but most likely can be reused if only one side is broken off.

You have to remove couple of harness, one for window control, side mirrors, and the door lock. You can set aside the panel after that. Harnesses on Mazda is easy to remove; one side most likely have a press-on tab; pull while pressing. Use the straight trim remover tool while pulling on it; if it does not work the first time, push it back in and you'll hear the "click" -- then start again.

Then you would need to remove the 10 or 9mm bolts around the panel which are about 9 of them. Then there's two nuts that's runs along the window. These nuts holds the window tied to the motor assembly which makes it go up and down. Also, remove the black plastic bolt on top of the panel -- pry the center pin using a small flat head screw driver or trim remover. Then the cover will come out.

If you could, leave the window up and only take off the panel bolts but pry it up as you can stick your hand inside the panel to press down on Dynamat on the outer skin. Cut in small square or rectangular pieces, and start from the bottom/towards the front of the car first then work you way back. Make sure that you cover all the bare metal which makes up the outer shell. Make sure that you leave no air pockets in the Dynamat. If you cut the pieces too big, it will most likely harder to press down on as it will have lots of wrinkles. Also, remove the speaker so you can use that opening to put down Dynamat and to access the outer skin.

Front door is a bit challenging and may look overwhelming at first, but it's not that hard after you do one door. I would start with the passenger side door first as it's slightly easier. Then do the driver's side.

Middle sliding door is much easier but there's something you need to know. There's no philips bolts holding down the trim panels initially. You need to move the door lock switch to closed position. Then pry it with another type of trim remover such as this one.. https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)

Start from corner, it will start unlocking as you move the trim remover around it. Be careful as the tab towards the front of car and bottom will break. Be very gentle. Next, remove the verticle trim piece and also remove the two black philips bolts. Then start looking for the white fastner near the child safetey lock switch. Start with that one, shine a flash light on it and you will see it. Stick the trim remover underneat it and leverage to pop it out. Next, there are white fastners inside the panel. Stick your hand in there and push it outward, but do it slowly with force. Middle sliding door is rather easy and most likely, you won't break any tabs.

There's a plastic translucent cover with two philips screws. Remove them, then pull on the translucent panel slowly, it's held on by a black gummy stuff. You won't break it, just pull on it and move it so that you can access the panel behind it. Remove to panel bolts like you did on the front doors. Also remove the black plastic bolt on top. Apply Dynamats like you did with front doors.

Now if you feel comfortable after doing all that, I will tell you about removing the rearmost cover so you can get to the quarter panels. But I personally think that the best way is to get to it by removing the wheel well covers, then apply the Dynamat on the outer skin that way.
Just remember that when you apply Dynamat, don't worry about stiff metal like cross beams; just the outer skin where most vibration can occur. Anything that makes that "ting" sound when you knock on it will most likely causing the interior noise.

dieseldriver do you have a diy how to install the dynamat? also where can we get the dynamat?

 

[vinisterz]

wow thanks for the excellent write up. this should come in handy for anyone interested in installing the dynamat to reduce noise

 

[manualist]

Oh yeah, BTW, did I tell you that my M5GT now feels faster?

Amazing! I heard the "Si-R" badge has the same effect Seriously, thanks for great infos diesel. I'm saving up for the Focal speakers you got, and definitely Dynamats.

 

[dieseldriver]

Well, I started to take apart the A-pillar covers then just wanted to see how hard/easy was to remove the rest of the parts that holds the headliner... then it became a mission to remove it. Removing the A-pillar cover is easy, just up towards the roof, then pull.

Then I removed the main lamp cluster.

Then started removing the visors

Next the handles

Then the pillar covers

Then forgot to take some photos. But this will give you some idea as to where the DVD bracket will mount.. on the big black metal plate. That's part of the sunshade support. Will be drilling some holes for the sheetmetal screws, cut to length so it won't interfere with the sunshade from opening.

EDIT: Will be using some reinforcement bar over that sunshade reinforcement, then will be using pop rivets. If you're not sure of what that is, just search for "pop rivets" on Youtube.

Here's the photo of the roof without the headliner, looks clean eh?

Headliner in my room. Just cleaned some stains and gave a coat of 3M/Scotch Fabric Protector.

I will be putting down Dynamats on mostly bare outside sheetmetal. I will be avoiding however areas near the curtain airbag so it will not interfere with the operation of them. Before everything goes back on, I will be putting some masking tape to indicate the area near the sunshade support beam to aid in the installation of the Alpine drop down LCD panel. Bracket will mount on the moonroof bracket with screws short enough so that it will not tear when sun shade is drawn. Need that mark to be accurate because I wanted to pre-cut the hole for the bracket before the headliner is placed back on.

Everything pre-wired to install the drop down LCD panel. Constant power wire was already there (will be add the fuse near the battery when done), just had to fish it through the B-pillar and away from the airbag so not to interfere with the operation. Ground wire attached to one of the chassis screw on the sunroof frame. Accessory-on +12VDC wire is from the amp wiring kit, and so is the RCA signal wire which seemed to be of very high quality. As you can see, constant power wire and the signal wires are on the opposite side of each other to reduce interference.

Signal and accessory-on power runs along the passenger's side A-pillar, but the constant power source takes the same route as the amp power wire on the driver's side.

Casualty for this removal was two clips - one was accidentally dropped near the trunk area and can't find it and the other one, purely accidental, broke one side of the clip.

Can't wait to hear (or lack thereof) the difference interior sound level with Dynamats on the roof.

Just tapped into the existing dome light (3 wires) using a Intercom Wire Spool bought from Radio Shack. Peeled off the green wire, and now it matches the factory wiring color scheme -- red, white, black. Will try all 3 if necessary to find the correct wire for the door triggered +12VDC and run that into the drop down LCD screen. I stripped the factory wire, about 1/4" each then soldered on the new wire to it then put 3M electrical tape around each wire. Then used the hot glue gun to secure it onto the back of the headliner.

This had kept me up to figure out but it was well worth it. So after sitting around for this issue for a few hours, finally, I was able to get the pin out. Found a 1/8" photo to RCA-FEMALE connector lying around the house that was from a $10 DVD player, plugged into the AUX port and did a continuity check with a multimeter.

Basically what I found was the following:

RCA RIGHT Channel
Positive/+ or Center = PIN 3
Negative/- or Outside Shield = PIN 4

RCA LEFT Channel
Positive/+ or Center = PIN 5
Negative/- or Outside Shield = PIN 4

Wired it up, and it works like if it was plugged into the AUX port via the front. However, I need to have a phono cable plugged into the front for the RCA's to work as it's shorting something out to trigger the AUX on the radio. But no worries for now, I did not want to push my luck and short something out in the process so for now, it's golden. This weekend, I just need to drill two holes in the glove compartment to permanent mount the RCA female jacks then plug in the audio input on them coming from the overhead DVD player.

Okay, so I was able to reverse engineer (well sort of) the AUX PCB board to enable the AUX mode all the time on the radio. You can do that by soldering a jumper between pins 2 & 6 shown in the picture below. This allows me to have the signal come straight into the AUX port from the DVD player without having anything connected to the AUX port on the front. Now onto mounting the female RCA's in the glove compartment.

I wound up taking apart the glove compartment to install the RCA jacks for the AUX audio input, and another audio/video jacks for the video game machine signal for the LCD. The glove compartment is really easy to remove, and there's a pop out plate in the back that I drilled holes on the install the RCA jacks.

At this point, everything is pre-wired and tested. Tested the line-level input from my portable DVD player and it sounds like the movie theater in the car now

BTW, I forgot to mention that when there's no phono cable plugged into the AUX jack, pins 2 & 6 set to VDC, will show around 3.25VDC, positive or negative depending on how you touch the terminals using the DMM. If a cable is plugged in, the voltage will be grounded and it will show 0 volts (negligible voltage). This is how I determined to short those out.

Can't wait to install the Dynamat then the drop down DVD player. Bought the pop rivet kit last night from Harbor Freight for about $22.

Today was a real cool day, had to go to work at MetLife Stadium to see Giants and Falcons duke it out. Giants won by large margin and it was really exciting to watch from the Press Area. Now season's all done here in East Rutherford NJ and will be waiting for the next season in August. Giants will play Green Bay next and I think Nur lives in Wisconsin, not sure if he follows football though... Nur?

Lastly, just found out that most likely, 9 sheet Dynamat will most likely arrive tomorrow, if not definitely Tuesday. So guess what I'll be doing after work tomorrow after helping the kids out with their homework? Though I may not do anything too complicated like putting the headliner back on, tend to make mistakes more at night so may just wait until the weekend and start early in the morning while the kids asleep.

Okay, here are some photos of the Dynamats installed. It's not complete but managed to get most of the sheetmetal covered. Will be doing the driver's side A-pillar; it's making quite a difference with windshield wind noise when applied. So I will make sure that the Dynamats are applied well on the pillars as well as any hollow cavities in the sunroof area from the interior.

One picture I am not showing on this update is that the Dynamats have been applied inside the liner on the hood. Just the pieces inside the reinforcement of the hood that makes it rigid. It made a huge difference in engine noise, and I hardly hear it now when accelerating. Without feeling any sort of vibrations coming from the hood and surrounding area, car feels silky smooth.

Next do-to is to add the reinforcement metal bar on the subshade bracket to make it slightly stronger to withstand the added weight of the new DVD player, which I anticipate will be around 10 lbs so it will definitely help to have reinforcement to stop it from sagging.

I wound up returning the rivet gun bought from Harbor Freight for $19 and bought one from Lowe's -- an Arrow brand. Definitely looks much better put together than the one from Harbor Freight. It has 5 (4 of which are on the handle) different sized heads with a built-in wrench. Cost was around $21 but did not come with pop rivets so I bought a box as well for about $6.

After reinforcement is added, Dynamat will be applied inside the fenders as well. BTW, I used the 9 Sheet Bulk Kit Dynamats from Amazon and I should have bought this kit from the get go than the 2 door kit at a time. Each pieces are almost 1/3 wider and longer and I think there's enough material so you can cover all the doors, 1/4 panels, hood, and the roof with no problem.

As far as music volume goes, now the radio sound crystal clear and loud at volume set to around 32-35. Uncomfortably loud at 40 and up. Speaking of volume level; if I had installed an additional 4 channel amp in the car prior to Dynamatting it, I can just see that it would have been difficult to get granular sound adjustment because most likley, the amplication would be just too much. In retrospect, I am glad that I did not install the 2nd amp.

Just finished putting down Dynamats on both A and B pillars. Also applied some on the sunroof area. But yesterday, before all the pillars were applied with Dynamat, could hardly detect wind noise. Hopefully, commute today will be quieter. I even got one of my coworker who is a diehard Honda fan says he is impressed with the quietness. Actually, he ordered Dynamats for himself to be applied on his 2011 Honda Accord.

Headliner will go back on Saturday morning with the sunshade reinforcement bar attached, I primed it last night for rust protection. Last spots waiting to be Dynamatted is the rear roof level spoiler (inside) and also inside the fender. But those I can do with headliner attached. Oh forgot, before the headliner goes back on, I will be putting down 5% VLT tints I bought yesterday, will go on the rear hatch window; 15% VLT's for the middle and rear-most windows.

Driving in this morning, it was windy and raining pretty heavy. Only rain noise hitting the car now are from windshield and it's eerie to notice the car's so quiet. When I parked in my usual spot at work, I could not hear or feel the engine. It's actually quieter than my home office at home. It's almost too quiet now. I would need to roll my window down every once in a while to get a feel that I'm actually moving LOL!

Okay, almost done with the "Dynamat" project. I was able to get the reinforcement beam across the sunshade bracket using a 3/8" flat steel bar that's been primed. Used 3 pop rivets and exchanging the rivet gun was a good move -- Arrow gun has a head that pivots! It's positioned on the dead center of the bracket and the estimate was correct, no rubbing issue with sunshade using rivets.

Wires are all ready and poped them inside the bracket with nylon string for ease of locating when installing the DVD entertainment. Dynamat has been applied to top of hatch for more vibration damping. I can't describe how beautiful the sub and speakers sound now. Music sounds just as good seating in rear seats as the front.

Next task is getting the headliner back up, then Dynamatting underneath the fender wells -- then finally, tinting and then I'm done finally.

A slight change of plans has me putting back the headliner this evening. It was real easy until I got to the part with A-pillar covers. Top most fastner design is a bit weird and it required me to play around with it for quite a long time before I was able to get them back on. Putting back the visors, handles, and B-pillar covers are real easy. Got almost everything placed back on the car except for the rear pieces which I am deliberately leaving out so I can tint the back window without much effort as well as cover up those few missing spots with Dynamat.

Headliners back up but tinting did not come out good. Though I was able to get the rear windows put on right, it does not look good. So I guess I need to cough up the dough to have it professionally done. Tinting is one of my archilles heel.

One thing I noticed, prior to Dynamatting the front sunroof area, especially where the map lights are located, the rear view mirror would shake like crazy where whenever my sub went off. Now with the Dynamat applied to the frame for the map light cluster, my rear view mirror does not vibrate as much -- very minimal.

Finally, the Dynamat/Alpine project is coming to a close. Purchased the Alpine PKG-RSE2 from Crutchfield after many debates and research; and the old adage "you get what you pay for" still applies. This unit's awesome, and the audio through AUX makes it like a true home, urr, I mean mobile theater. Cutting of the headliner was right on the money. Only thing was that Alpine did not supply the 4mm machine screw that was long enough so had to make two trips to the True Value hardware store. But in the end, it was well worth it. Even my wife was impressed as it looks better than the one we had in our '07 Odyssey Touring. Estimation was correct about the "negative door trigger" wire -- it's the white wire from the dome light coming from the front map light cluster. It dimms in/out at the same exact time and intensity as the factory dome lights. Now onto to the final phase: XBox360 game console installation!
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Although major projects are pretty much complete at this point, I always wanted to install a "Concealed Display" for my Valentine1. Finally found a good use for the blank switch covers (where the power sliding door switches should be). It fits exactly in that space and also made a trim ring from plastic packaging that was in the garage:

 

[Copper5gt]

Really good work, I look forward to your results!

 

[Sounbwoy]

How much did all of the insulation weigh?

 

[rat240]

who did your seats they look cool

 

[JingChuan]

Here's the photo of the roof without the headliner, looks clean eh?

My my, you're brave. I'll work on suspensions and mechanicals all day; but digging into interior trim pieces... scary. I'd manage to goof something up!

 

[Copper5gt]

dieseldriver, what is the biggest bang/buck for starters on Dynamat for a 1-day project? I notice, oddly, that the most annoying noise seems to be coming from the windshield area (wipers?). I don't even consider this car very noisy until I get to my normal crusing speeds of > 70 mph. Would the A-pillar treatment help or can you relate to my complaint on this?

 

[dieseldriver]

I would say that the noise are coming from A-pillar and also around the sunroof glass. Your best bet is to do the roof, sunroof frame area, and the A-pillars. That should cut down a lot of noise, but here's the big problem. When you Dynamat those areas, you'd definitely see improvements with speed related wind noise, but since there will be huge difference in terms of noise reduction in the area with Dynamats applied versus area that it doesn't, it will be somewhat annoying to hear these other noise without the Dynamat sound deadning.

dieseldriver, what is the biggest bang/buck for starters on Dynamat for a 1-day project? I notice, oddly, that the most annoying noise seems to be coming from the windshield area (wipers?). I don't even consider this car very noisy until I get to my normal crusing speeds of > 70 mph. Would the A-pillar treatment help or can you relate to my complaint on this?

 

[Copper5gt]

Thanks. I might try just the A-pillar as I'm trying to avoid getting too much into gutting the interior (though I have certainly done plenty of this in the past).

I hear what you are saying about moving the noise from one place to another!

 

[cdnballer]

This is one heck of a post, well done! I plan on doing some sound deadening to my mazda5 as well, although not to the extent that you did! A-pillar is a definite start.

 

[hkphoto]

just a thought Dynamat is a asphalt based product...is there any smell in the heat of the summer???

 

[dieseldriver]

There's no smell at all. I don't think asphalt based, more plastic/rubber based. I think FatMat and other brand use asphalt or similar material which I heard does smell somewhat initially but never tried it so can't speak from experience. I knew that I heard of Dynamats for a long time so wanted to go with something that has been around for a while and many people did install it before me. No regrets going with Dynamats. Even my next Mazda will be Dynamatted as well after seeing the results on this car.

just a thought Dynamat is a asphalt based product...is there any smell in the heat of the summer???

 

[dieseldriver]

Thanks, since this post, have installed a number of additional add on's such as rear hitch receiver with wiring harness, roof rack, and clear bra. Latest install has been the Micca Media Player in the golve compartment which literally replaced the DVD function with flash drive based video player which is a lot more convenient. Having known this, I'd gone with just the flat panel display rather than the Alpine unit with the built in DVD player. Also, recently installed a second battery in the trunk with 400W inverter, and will be installing a Voltage Sensitive Relay which separates the main battery from the aux in the trunk so I can run electrical appliance during camping trips without draining the starting battery. Waiting to install the VSR however, just ordered that today. So my Mazda5 essentially became a communication, entertainment, and outdoor/camper van! LOL

This is one heck of a post, well done! I plan on doing some sound deadening to my mazda5 as well, although not to the extent that you did! A-pillar is a definite start.

 

[gravyzoom]

Hi DD

thanks for the great descriptions and photos.
I was looking at the dynamat instructions and it says to remove all grease/oil from the surface first. This makes sense from an adhesion point of view. But where I live, we salt the roads like no tomorrow in the winters and cars usually die from rust. Any thoughts on how this would work with oil-spray anti-rust treatments?
if sprayed after dynamat install, the oil's not reaching the metal to coat and prevent rust. if sprayed before installing dynamat, you end up removing all the oil? or, I'd have to install on inner door surface (towards the car interior) and not on the inside of the outer-skin?

tks!

 

[dieseldriver]

You will yield the best result if you Dynamat the inner skin (inside of the sheetmetal that's facing outside the vehicle). This metal is very thin on the MZ5; which I think vibrates a lot. Dynamat acts like a sound deadner which retards the vibration. Just test it to be convinced. First, select an area and knock on it with your knuckles. That hollow sound is a result of the sheetmetal vibrating. Now put a small piece behind that same section, then knock on it, you'd see the result right away. Now just think that hollow vibration is throughout the car, now that's a lot of noise!

When you remove the door panel (make sure you get some extra fastners at the dealer as some will break in the process of removing the panel), you need to remove the black plastic panel inside, not all the way, but just enough so that you can get your hands inside the outside sheetmetal. Cut sections of Dynamat and try to cover as much surface as possible. You'd need to carefully cut Dynamat in section that you can manage at a time, otherwise, they will stick together, it's very sticky stuff. Also, wear a glove because if you don't, it will hurt a lot after when you press down on it a lot to get the bubbles out.

Just take your time applying Dynamat. Don't plan on finishing in one day because to do it right, you'd need a few days. Just do the front doors first. Then the middle sliding doors, then the hatch, then maybe the roof. That should give you plenty of sound deadning and you'll never miss those road/windnoise!

BTW, there aren't (none that I've seen) grease or oil on the metal surface of my car at least anyway when I was applying the Dynamat. Dynamat will stick pretty much to any surface, in close to freezing temperature as well, though I do not recommend applying it in those extreme temperatures anyway.

Hi DD

thanks for the great descriptions and photos.
I was looking at the dynamat instructions and it says to remove all grease/oil from the surface first. This makes sense from an adhesion point of view. But where I live, we salt the roads like no tomorrow in the winters and cars usually die from rust. Any thoughts on how this would work with oil-spray anti-rust treatments?
if sprayed after dynamat install, the oil's not reaching the metal to coat and prevent rust. if sprayed before installing dynamat, you end up removing all the oil? or, I'd have to install on inner door surface (towards the car interior) and not on the inside of the outer-skin?

tks!