Hi. Just had entire mini soundproofed except the doors. Local, reputable shop said that the one-piece modularity of the '07 doors scared them and they did not want to do any damage or break them. This is a professional install place and does a lot of business but I am in an area w/ few minis. Any advice or thoughts on how to advise them to try again? Has anyone used dynamat or roadkill on their cars?

Thanks.

 

Yes, dynamat, good results.

My installer couldn't do the doors either.

 

The inside door panels are in two pieces.

There is the one that goes around the outside and has the trim around the door handle and pocket. That one just snaps on like a regular door panel on most cars.

Then there is the door panel that has the armrest and pocket in it. That one screws on and is rather difficult to get off. This is probably why they did not want to touch it. Your best bet would be to get your Mini dealer to get you a set of directions for removing this panel I have a feeling (but can not prove it yet) that some of the electronics like the window motor are attached to this panel rather than a bracket.

 

I ended up putting the "Extreme Roadkill" by Stinger which is supposed to be a good equivalent to the top of the line Dynamat. Anyway, I did speak to 2 mini dealerships and they said that the window and the window regulator would have to be removed to get to the inner portion of the outer skin. 2 hours of labor per door. Not worth it, just to get to the door and even then, the dealerships don't sound proof. All in all, it is better in my opinion, but I wish the doors could have been done.

Thanks for your responses.

 

Did you just do the whole car at once, or did you do it in sections?

If you were going to add sound deadening to a MCS (w/o sunroof), what sequence would you do things in?

 

Remember you are not really sound deadening you are sound dampening, you should be able get a small piece behind the 6.5 in speaker. What you are really trying to do is to damp structure borne sound via the sheet metal. You do not not need to cover the entire area to achieve this, if you can get small pieces in the 6.5in openning and put them on the door it should give you some positive dampening over nothing.

 

First I would do the floors, then back hatch (that's easy), then rear quarter panels. The floors and the area under the back seat and the back seat pedestal are important. I also have a rear seat delete kit in b/c I am in sales and carting things around everywhere. If found the extra 6 inches helps.

 

If you keep the rear seats, they do cut rear noise a fair amount. So, I'd do the front floors. I think you saw my thread on the Quiet Barrier floor mats.

If you do a rear-seat delete, the rear will get quite loud, and need immediate attention.

As was said, you can reach a small area in the doors for applying Dynamat. Not sure how much it helps, but every little bit contributes.

One of my next projects is to look at removing the wheel well lining and doing some sound deadening or soundproofing in that area.

BTW, got the Boss600, but haven't had time to deal with it. Need to figure out where it should go.

 

I appreciate the advice. I did end up pulling the rear seat and putting in a delete kit. I re-carpeted everything including the delete kit and with the Roadkill Extreme it's doing a pretty good job with dampening. It's not as quiet as with the seats in, but not much difference. I really wanted to do the doors bad, but oh well.

Thanks!

 

I drove around for part of a weekend with the rear seat out -- not as loud as my Jeep, but still noisy!

I figure I'll do the floors first. May need to take the headliner out (oh joy!) to do some antenna work, and if I do that, I'll do the roof, for thermal insulation if nothing else.

Robin, let me know if you need help hooking up the sub.

 

How much did they charge you to do this (if you don't mind me asking) and exactly what parts of your car did they do? I have been wanting to do this as well, just trying to determine if it makes more sense to let the pros do it or if I have the time (and skills) to do it myself. Thanks in advance!