cheapest way to quiet car interior? NO dynamat

Like the subject says... My car's been in the shop for the last week, and I've been driving moms. I never realized how LOUD mine is compared to most. The sounds of the engine, wind, everything... it's near impossible to have a cell conversation, and even in-person ones are difficult. What's the best, CHEAP way to quiet down a car without resorting to dynamat-style solutions? I don't have the time or money for that.

Buy a better car.

Some diesel car/trucks (GM for sure) have extra sound deadening materials on the engine side of the firewall and also underneath the body. Or find a old Caddy or Lincoln and take the underlay from beneath the carpet...Maybe you could find this from auto wrecker..

I don't really understand what you are looking for...a cheap way to make your car more aerodynamic to cut down on wind noise? a cheap way to make your engine be quieter? If its not like vibrations in your cabin, there is not much you can do...

KaosFaction wrote:

I don't really understand what you are looking for...a cheap way to make your car more aerodynamic to cut down on wind noise? a cheap way to make your engine be quieter? If its not like vibrations in your cabin, there is not much you can do...

Some cars have no form of insulation on them. Some of that roof stuff that peel and stick stuff might help quiet things down in your car.

Some wheels are really loud, replacing those could help out.

Although that is more expensive than sound deadening material.

Buy about 10 of those camping foam floor pads. The cheapest style possible which is just a foam pad. Cut them up as needed and duct tape them inside your door panels, under your carpet, behind your headliner, etc.

When I had a 9500 in the hatch of my probe, dynamat didn't help. I tried everything I could think of, and what ended up working best was filling the rattle spots with expanding foam.

Go behind a carpet superstore after they close and grab all the thick carpet pad scraps you can find out of their bins, then pull out the carpet and line the floor, tranny tunnel, and firewall .

Lots and lots of packing peanuts

KaosFaction wrote:

I don't really understand what you are looking for...a cheap way to make your car more aerodynamic to cut down on wind noise? a cheap way to make your engine be quieter? If its not like vibrations in your cabin, there is not much you can do...

The only vibrations in the cabin itself that I know of is my dash, which being a Cavalier, is cracked to all hell and there's very little I can do anything about.

As of now, removing the carpet is the thing I don't have time for... If I'm gonna do that, I may as well dynamat it. My car is a daily driver so I can't have it gutted for a week.

How much of a difference would just dynamatting the doors make? Would dynamat (or some other brand of it, like Edead) hold up okay in my weather? It gets up to the 90's in the summer, down to the teens in winter. What about replacing the weatherstripping around the windows/doors to cut down on wind leakage, which I know there is some?

Changing the weatherstripping would help some if your current is in bad shape. Deadening just the doors does help a little bit.

If you decide to go the deadening route, I highly recommend secondskin. It holds up well in all temps and is really easy to apply.

Dude,just get yourself a bunch of rebar and cement and have at it with those doors.
Seriously though...there's lots of great ideas in this thread.This ^^is not one of them. Good Luck with it.

Dynamat doesn't do much for road and engine noise which is a high frequency noise.

You need a thick foam to reduce engine and road noise. The carpet padding is a good idea too.

Phil wrote:

Buy about 10 of those camping foam floor pads. The cheapest style possible which is just a foam pad. Cut them up as needed and duct tape them inside your door panels, under your carpet, behind your headliner, etc.

this is an excellent idea. It wouldn't weigh that much either.

Be VERY VERY cautious using foam .... What does foam do with moisture ?? It ABSORBS it ...
That will cause RUST in the areas ...

Spray on/Rollon truck bedliner works VERY well and won't rust ... I took my car in for Rhino lining ...
They sell a peel and stick rubberized liner for roofing , that works every bit as well as dynamat for 1/10 the the price ...

Canned Foam? did wonders sealing my house.

I think I heard somewhere about using closed-cell polyfill (aka pillow stuffing) inside doors. Anyone tried something like that? What effect would it have on the windows opening/locks/speakers?

Ear plugs!!

My doors came stock with the pillow stuffing stuff already on the door panel...I just don't want to take the stuff off....there is not interference from the stuff due to it being maybe a couple of thin layers in there....If you are getting a lot of "road noise" then I would check your tires and if it really is road noise then there are a lot of things you can do to lessen it, but most probably will not work very well....

Cooper wrote:

tranny tunnel

Amused me I'm elementary.

lbjshaq2345 wrote:

Cooper wrote: tranny tunnel Amused me I'm elementary.

Should be even more amusing because his car is FWD and doesn't have one.

^^lol

I second what A-Ray said. Second Skin is some of the best for much less than dynamat costs. dampen the sound with damplifier and also hepl reduce vibration, then for little vibrations here and there, get some rattle pad.

Best bang for the buck, and pretty much the only way to do what you're trying to do...

corvettecrazy wrote:

lbjshaq2345 wrote: Cooper wrote: tranny tunnel Amused me I'm elementary. Should be even more amusing because his car is FWD and doesn't have one.

My car is FWD and has a rudimentary transmission/driveshaft tunnel. Hell if you pull out the back seat it has the perfectly shaped raised areas to clear a RWD solid axle. Must be a holdover in design from the good ol days of RWD.

GlowinPontiac wrote:

corvettecrazy wrote: lbjshaq2345 wrote: Cooper wrote: tranny tunnel Amused me I'm elementary. Should be even more amusing because his car is FWD and doesn't have one. My car is FWD and has a rudimentary transmission/driveshaft tunnel. Hell if you pull out the back seat it has the perfectly shaped raised areas to clear a RWD solid axle. Must be a holdover in design from the good ol days of RWD.

That tunnel is where your exhaust pipe is and under your back seat is your gas tank. Yes it is a "tunnel" but in no way is it large enough for a transmission and drive shafts. Also, the tunnel serves a structural purpose.

^^Mine has Real Time 4wd and doesn't even have a tunnel. Thats why I have a nice flat floor.

^^ just a different way to design. Instead of having lower floor boards and a tunnel you raise them up and have all the extra room underneath with a sacrifice on the inside. But on the element where it is just a box, they can just make the roof line higher without changing looks.

A fun game to play on owners of vehicles like yours is to put zip ties around the center and rear axles...

Hehe, like the baseball card in the spokes right? Nice.

lol, we do that to the service techs vans with the big heavy duty 18" zip ties.