Original Dynamat is aweful

[livelyjay]

So I spent about 4 hours on Saturday installing the Dynamat trunk kit in my MSP. The kit comes with three sheets of original Dynamat and two sheets of Dynamat extreme. My first word of advice, don't buy the Dynamat trunk kit. The reason I say this is because the original Dynamat is awful. It barely sticks to my trunk surface and it doesn't conform to contoured surfaces very well. I'm going to end up replacing all of it with some RAAMAudio RAAMMat BXT, which is the same material as Dynamat extreme and it's cheaper.

Also, as most people warned me, the Dynamat and other comparable products don't do very well with noise absorption (like my exhaust noise). They mostly dampen and prevent rattling, which is what they are designed to do. For road noise, use RAAMAudio Ensolite, which I plan on installing after the BXT.

A side note, I found this very nice thread on the NASIOC forums about sound deadening: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=712026

 

[1sty]

You need the use of a serious heat gun to get dynomat original to work worth a dam. The only dynamat worth buying is extream

 

[got wake?]

You need the use of a serious heat gun to get dynomat original to work worth a dam. The only dynamat worth buying is extream

well i heard they are working on a dampening mat that is going to be like 10 times better then extreme. but i've been hearing about it for over a year now(jerkit) but yeah, original sucks ballz.


PS, enjoy the BXT and ensolite. i've got them installed in my truck and they are excellent products. not to mention rick is top knotch to deal with.

 

[chuyler1]

http://www.sounddeadenershowdown.com/

(got_wake posted that link a while back so don't thank me, thank him)

 

[livelyjay]

Yeah, I saw that after the fact. I wish I had seen it before I decided to buy dampening materials. I'll be grabbing a roll of RAAMAudio BXT and about 4 yards of Ensolite.

Stage 1: front and rear doors, wheel wells (already partially done with Dynamat extreme from trunk kit), behind rear seat (our seats don't have any material behind them at all), and deck lid.
Stage 2: cabin floor, trunk (remove original Dynamat and replace with RAAMAudio BXT), trunk lid (mostly done with Dynamat Extreme, just need to finish it up), A/B/C pillars, under dash/firewall.

 

[goku4658]

how much does this usually cost to get done if you don't do the install yourself?

 

[livelyjay]

Why would you not install this yourself? It's pretty easy to install, just time consuming. It took me four hours to get the trunk done, only because I didn't realize how much a pain it would be to get the trunk liners out (removing rear seats helps big time). Also working with Original Dynamat is a pain in the ass by itself. Working with a Butyl based mat like RAAMAudio BXT and Dynamat Extreme is easy as hell. It took me about 5 minutes to do my trunk lid with that stuff.

To do the front doors I am guessing about 2 hours for the front, 2 hours for the rear doors as well (one hour per door, and I might be overestimating). Assuming you know how to remove your door panels, it will be faster. I plan on removing my door panels, trunk panels, rear seats, door liners, etc on a Friday after work, then installing the mats on Saturday, then putting everything back together on Sunday. That's the plan, it should be a faster process than that though.

 

[goku4658]

i guess i was just being lazy...i'll go back to reading that sound deadener.com article

 

[got wake?]

how much does this usually cost to get done if you don't do the install yourself?

figure at least $40-$60 per hour of labor, and 4-20+ hours, depending on how much you want done. do the math, and it'll cost a helluva lot less to do it yourself(thumb)

 

[Greg S]

I used to charge $1000 to fully dampen most cars or $800 for trucks, about $200 less if it was being done with the spray on dampener as it was faster except for drying time. We used to do 1-2 car a week after we got know for it. You just have to take the time to organize all the bolts and clips you take out so you know where to put them back later.(boom07)

 

[bonesmp5]

if i remember right, i was charged $900- $1000 to have the whole car done -- I know i would have saved money to do it myself -- but I hade Everything done at once --

stereo, all speakers, box made for subs, alarm, amps -- you get the idea --
they had the car for 8 days -- lol

 

[anarchistchiken]

When I worked at Circuit City, the general rule of thumb for estimates was 1.5 again times the cost of the material, so if you bought $200 of dynomat, we would charger about $300 to install it.

 

[bonesmp5]

i had $700 in material -- if i had bought it retail, the cost would have been $1200+ (retail sucks) lol

 

[livelyjay]

how much does this usually cost to get done if you don't do the install yourself?

Also if you check out the thread I linked in the beginning of this thread, there is a great article from a guy who works (or might be the owner) of RAAMAudio. I actually emailed him at RAAMAudio and got some answers to some questions. Some people that followed his write up also answered some questions of mine.

Doors:
Outer shell - one layer of mat, two layers of mat behind the speaker, 1 layer foam, cover wires with foam tape
Inner shell - Cover access holes to outer shell with tin, one layer mat, one layer foam, cover wires with foam tape
Kick panels:
Cover wires with foam tape, one layer mat, one layer foam
Behind/Under back seat:
One layer mat, one layer foam
Rear deck:
1 or 2 layers of mat, 1 layer of foam, cover as many holes as possible. He said something about being concerned about the climate control (I think there is a vent in the back left of our car).
Rear wheel wells:
1 or 2 layers of mat, 1 layer of foam