I'm going to start to hunt down and fix the rattles and buzzes in my Mini so far I have identified the following:

1. Passenger side door panel
2. Passenger side rear side panel
(seems to be better when the back seats are down)
3. Tail gate

I can't blame Mini too much for these since I didn't really notice them until after I installed the springs and tires.

Is it worth it to use real dyna-mat? Circuit city has "Tsunami" sound deadening material for about 2/3 the cost.

P.S. I don't want to use roofing material, I used that under the carpet of my 68 Barracuda and for about a year there was an oily smell when the car was out in the sun. Fortunantly with no air conditioning you always ride with the windows down.

 

not sure dynamat is going to help you. You need like sound absobing material. I think dynamat is sound reflecting? Not sure about that. There was a post about all that stuff a while ago. You might wanna go read about it. Some high denisty type foam might actually be the best, or even some fiberglass home insulation, wrapped better?

 

I put some dynamat extreme in the door panels, and although I am not sure how much sound deadening I achieved, the stereo sounds a lot crisper now.

Even if dynamat is a sound reflector it is still doing what you want. Keeping the stereo sounds in and the road noise out. I think I picked up a packet for around $35 at best buy and it was enough for both doors. Also try the felt trick for around the speakers to cut down on rattles.

http://www.jwardell.com/mini/hkdoor.html

 

I used a product called FatMat and it did wonders for the sound quality of the HK. While I had the door panels off, I lined all the contact surfaces between the door and the panel (esp the speaker bezels) with self-adhesive felt. Made a world of difference.

 

I’ve been chasing rattles for years and have many more tips than time to write about them (it will take a book for the dash alone). For the reduction of road noise and exhaust resonance and improvement of speaker tone, the sound damping material will work. I also have custom insulated flooring and have filled all the frame cavities. I use both Dynamat and B-Quiet products; each has its strong points. The B-Quiet product is easier to handle and apply, costs less, and doesn’t become too gooey at high temps. Buy two of the big rolls if you want full coverage (and double coverage over problem areas) of the interior door skin, rear speaker well, rear interior panels, rear floor, battery box, and interior boot hatch. I made the mistake of buying small amounts and paying much more in the long run. http://www.b-quiet.com/ultimate.html

For rattles, most of that can be attributed to the plastic clips that secure the panels to the body and plastic-to-plastic contact. Before removing all the panels purchase a dozen of the yellow clips 07-13-1-503-417, roll of electrical tape, foam weather striping, aluminum tape and denatured alcohol. The aluminum tape is to cover the damper mat edges for a clean install and the electrical tape is to secure/damper the clips. The weather striping for plastic-to-plastic contact and the extra clips are needed because some will be broken upon panel removal or broken when installed at the factory. The alcohol is for prepping surfaces before appyling the sound damping material. You will probably find missing plastic nuts in various locations as well but you will have to wait and see and there are some grey clips which I’ll edit with the number later. The boot latch is also a trouble spot and will require some field-testing and adjustment; easy to do with the rear threshold cover removed. You didn’t mention the seat belt adjuster but that is a common issue. The fix for that will render it non-adjustable for height. Let me know if you want that tip.

 

I would like you tip on that and the part number for the other clips since my dealer is over an hour away I want to get them before I rip into the car.

 

Part numbers for panel fasteners: nut for the four main screws on the door trim 07 13 1 504 184, yellow clip 07 13 1 503 417, grey clip 11 42 51 43 0 141, white clip 51 43 0 141. You should have at least 10 of the yellow clips on hand, 6 each of the other two clips and three nuts. On page three of my gallery there is a picture of the clips.

For diagrams and part numbers this site is useful; just enter your VIN. http://www.realoem.com/bmw/select.do

 

if you're paying about the cost of the dynamat, perhaps it might be worth
it to spend the extra 1/3 for your baby??

i noticed that felt actually stops light buzzing better than these rubber-like
compound for sound deadening especially for those buzzing that occur in
cold weather.

my passenger door use to buzz a lot when one of the windows was
open. it was the door panel buzzing against the metal door. i just
hot melted some EZ felt strips (about 1/4" wide) down the bottom of
the panel and it eliminated the noise completely.

 

What's your feeling on removing the front seats and the carpet to lay the material down on the floor and along the tunnel where the exhaust is routing out towards the back? On a MINI, how hard is it to get the carpet up once the front seats are out?

 

How hard to remove the carpet is a relative term. Remove the rear seat, seatbelt anchors (different for early and late models), front seats, e-brake & front console and kick panels (have a few of the big white clips on hand). The flooring offers up some resistance if you are trying to be careful. My carpet (integrated padding) is glued at a point around where the rear heater duct inters the floor. I reason the padding on the floor is thick enough (2 inches for most of the floor area) to act as a fair sound barrier. I chose not to apply anything to the front floor area so guess you could say it’s hard to remove because I gave up. From where I’m at now in the process I don’t think the area under the front seats or legs is troublesome.

The front firewall part of the foot well is an area well deserving of some extra material but I haven’t figured out the approach yet. A lot of road noise can be squashed with a bag of flour stuffed against it so I’m sure a barrier material would be effective. Dynamating the fresh air box and the glove box has been a success at reducing some of the noise there.

The heat shield under the car is a big noise offender and I envision dampening material over the back of it but I have to stop somewhere. I haven’t investigated (rap tested) the exhaust channel from underneath yet to give an opinion on that area; up top, between the front seats, it’s heavily padded. From what I’ve seen during a SS install I think the plastic, shifter dust shield would be a good target for some deadening.

I experienced a lot of satisfaction from quieting plastic work so that would be my recommendation for applying most of your energy at the start rather than tackling the front floor.

 

Thanks. That does help me quite a bit as I'm planning on ordering material soon.

 

You can find cheaper damping material too, there is a lot of home damping mat that is the same stuff as dynamat, except maybe the higher end dynamat install a bit easier.

Damping material just changes the resonance frequency of the panel it's on by changing its weight, so I find no reason for different brands besides ease of installation, look (if u care about something u don't see), and smell (the kind I used had a strong tar smell to it for a day or so).

In any case, you can often find this kind of mat on ebay for cheap, or online, or even at home depot in many cases. I by it in rolls, as this is most convenient, and I did the doors (2 layers), trunk, headliner, and some of the floor in my last car, worked wonders. Just need a good blowdryer and a little time. There's a guy on www.elitecaraudio.com that also sells RAAMmat for a reasonable price, it's good stuff. Just a plug for one of the old forums i used to browse.

There's other stuff out there, cans that have expanding foam, etc. Basically sound dampening is the best way to go, and will give ur door that mercedes / lexus sound when closing it. Just be conscious of how much weight you are adding to your car.

 

While I was doing a short shift install and exhaust swap I put Dynamat in the center recess area and on the shifter box dust cover. The dust cover was hanging by only a few clips so securing that piece took care of some of the buzz and the new shifter is very solid eliminating some of the noise associated with the former stock sloppiness. I decided not to apply anything to the heat shield and just rely on some dampening from the sandwiched Dynamat between the shield and the body; it worked. It’s difficult to differentiate the effect of the sound deadening from the buzzing part fixes on cabin quietness but there has been an improvement just the same.

 

Don't know about that guy but we used RAAMmat on the E46s (which also had HK buzz issues, but at the rear parcel shelf) and it worked well Haven't messed with the Mini .. yet

 

tsunami also weighs 3 times as much as dynamat... even though its the same thickness

 

Heavier damps better.

 

Ive heard cars with both Dynamat and Tunami stuff.

Dynamat damps better.

 

Unless the two cars were same model and treated identically with the damping materials, it would be impossible to say that one material works better.

 

Ok, i'll listen to the sound damping expert...