Has anyone applied Rhino Liner or other similar products to the undercarriage of their 2007+ MINI??

I read some threads about people using it in older cars or their trucks, but I am interested in adding sound reducing materials to the car (like Dynamat) and am curious if spraying the under carriage would be as effective if not more effective when it comes to cutting out road noise. I love my MINI but the road noise on trips longer than 2-3 hours pains my ears!

 

As an update, I did speak to a rep at a local Rhino Lining dealer and he said that he did not think it would work well. Basically he said they would be unwilling to do it because of the amount of components that would need to be removed from the car in order to spray the undercarriage and wheel wells properly.

 

Noise removal will probably require a closed cell foam type product as the air gap will reduce noise transmission. Dynamat is a great product and will help but not eliminate as in a vehicle the road noise is transferred from the suspension into the cabin, wind noise is just turbulance and will not be eliminated without design changes. If you want to undercoat the body I've used Wurth USA Body Shultz on Mercedes & BMW it is water based and dries hard as a rock, very thick product. you will need a specialized gun which is not very expensive to apply the product. I'm may reduce noise a little, but not as much as I think you want. - Mark

 

thanks for your help oldchicago. yeah, in a perfect world i would prefer the car to be about 20 dB lower when driving at highway speeds. I've owned a few cars in my day and I love the MINI a lot, but it's almost as loud on the highway inside as my '97 soft top Defender 90 was!

 

20dB! Goodness... is that possible with simple sound modifications? How much money and weight would you have to spend to get that?

20dB is like comparing a telephone dial tone (80dB) and a snowmobile or motorcycle (100db).

Source (since that is popular these days)

 

How much money and weight must be added to fix this issue is beyond me, but it is my intention to find out! I would much rather the inside of my car sound like a dial tone and not a motorcycle engine!

 

Also something to think about, are you still on the stock runflats? I just got rid of mine and it does help reduce road noise on the highway as well as other added benefits. I didn't choose the quietest tires so something better would be even quieter for you.

 

yes i am still running the stock run flats. i have heard that there are tires out there that are not as noisy, but i figured i'll probably wait until these tires need to be replaced before i get new tires. what are the other added benefits of non-run flat tires besides less noise??

 

increased traction(dry and wet) and steering response, increased treadlife, and a more comfortable ride. I didn't replace mine till my stock tires died either. But hopefully my new ones will handle better and be lots better in wet. Mine came with continental runflats and they were terrible in wet weather from day 1

 

thanks for the info dwebber18, i'll definitely look into them once my stock tires are done for!

 

The most effective noise-cancellation technology would rely upon a 180 deg. out of phase signal being generated inside the car. I'm sure such technology exists, but do not know if it has been applied in an automotive setting yet...