Got an excellent deal on Dynamat from cardomain.com and wasn't familiar with other brands. I see that they no longer list it for sale, which is too bad.

 

I too, received an excellent price on Dynamat. Not being content to wait for mail delivery, I called around to about two dozen LA area aftermarket car stereo shops and found one offering Dynamat bulk packs for about the same price Amazon is asking. Added bonus is no waiting and no shipping costs. What a deal!
Regards,

 

I had originally gotten a pretty good deal from a friend at a local stereo shop on Dynamat but it fell through. Since then I have ordered and received a roll (~ 62 sq ft) of RaaMat. I was actually emailing the owner of the company back and forth a few times and he happened to throw in some of there Ensolite with the spray adhesive for my trouble (I had issues ordering).

I'll probably get around to installing it this weekend or the next. On first inspection though it looks about the same as the Dynamat Extreme. The Dynamat has a little thicker foil backing which makes it a little stiffer but as far as everything else it looks about the same. The Ensolite is a spongy foam that I have not had any experience with in the past.

 

On my 2007 MCS, I can't access much of the firewall behind the battery. How do you remove a battery on an R56? Looks like it would be a pain.

Also, the vent port for the interior filter is visible there. I think a lot of the engine noise comes through there. Not sure much can be done about that.

Amazon has a good price on the 36 sq ft Bulk Pack right now.

 

Thanks for the tip! Looks like I'll start in the rear and work my way from external wheel wells to the interior. I want to be VERY selective and add to only where it is most effective.

I installed dynamat on of my older cars a couple of years ago and let me tell you it can really add some pounds to the ride and will surely increase your fuel consumption = bigger gas bill .

Oly

 

Installed mine this weekend, sorry I forgot to take pictures. I only installed it under the rear interior and I don't think it made that much of a difference. I did swap out the speakers at the same time so audio wise it will be hard to tell what the largest contributing factor is there.

Perhaps a long road trip is in order to truly test things out.

 

I think the rear interior becomes important if you remove the rear seats, as I did. Otherwise, the seats provide some good sound insulation. Pull them out, and it gets loud.

I found the front wheel wells to make a significant difference. Perhaps that was because they were one of the biggest holes remaining when I did them.

I Dynamatted over the rear wheel wells on the interior of the car when I did the rear. I wonder if it would be worthwhile to do the outside of the wheel wells?

Putting in the soundproofing rubber under the floormats also made a noticeable difference.

So far, I've added about 25 lbs. of Dynamat. I doubt that will have as much affect on the mpg as it does on my ears.

 

I'd be nervous about using something like this in an exterior application from the standpoint of holding water and salt creating an ideal environment for corrosion. I don't see much on the Dynamat web site that talks about exterior vs. interior applications, but almost all the product installations seem oriented towards interior applications, or perhaps on the firewall or hood. Maybe I'm missing something. A wheel well just seems like a nasty place to be sticking something that can potentially trap and hold salty water.

- Mark

 

Nonsense!
If applied properly,there is no place for salt to accumulate. If not applied properly, then the dynamat will fall off an be of no concern. This just seems to be a specious comment.
Regards,

 

Dynamat is a tar-like substance with a heavy aluminum foil backing the tar part sticks to the car sheet metal. What the aluminum for could be susceptible to salt corrosion, I doubt salt would have much affect on the tar. It is not porous, nor is it water soluble. So, it wouldn't trap salt or water. It would probably act as a protectant.

Also, we are talking about removing the felt liner to the wheel well and applying Dynamat to the sheet metal under it. Then replacing the felt. Since there is an air space between the felt and the sheet metal, moisture would not get onto the Dynamat very easily.

 

Here's another "specious comment". There is a lot of wiggle room between being perfectly applied such that there is no place to trap any moisture between the Dynamat and the wheel wheel surface and so poorly applied that it will fall off and be of no concern. I'd venture that 99% of installations will fall between these extremes. And I note that the instructions for the Dynamat generally ask that you make sure there is no moisture present before pressing the material into place. This would be hard to do in a wheel well.

I'll also note that various tar-based rustproofing materials applied in the aftermarket to the underbody of cars as rustproofing have been shown to actually encourage rust rather than preventing it. And these are specifically designed for exterior applications.

Do whatever you please, but I don't think a wheel well is someplace to be applying sound deadening material designed for interior applications. I like the idea of it in the interior though.

- Mark

 

I bet you a dollar to a donut, that after driving for fifteen minutes in a rainstorm the Dynamat material would be absolutely saturated with water, felt or no felt. It's a high-pressure car wash in your wheel wells. The whole idea of the felt liner is to provide an air space between it and the bare sheet metal behind that can drain and dry which is exactly what you're defeating by gluing the Dynamat to the metal.

- Mark

 

I’ve put sound deadening material throughout my R53 over the years, two areas I think are very effective for this application are the center channel underneath the chassis above the heat shield, and the forward floor section (firewall) in the engine compartment. The exhaust system will require removal along with the heat shield to access those areas. This application should be valid for the R56 also. The material is still tenaciously attached after more than a year; the heat shields are good at keeping the area protected from the elements. A second thermal barrier layer increased noise suppression even though that’s not what it is designed for.

 

The Dynamat wont be saturated with water because it doesn't absorb water. Put a piece underwater and it wont absorb any.

Have you looked behind the felt to know what we are talking about? The air space is far more than the thickness of the Dynamat. Adding Dynamat reduces the distance by a tiny fraction.

 

For sake of comparison, I used Second Skin Audio products - a layer of Damplifier (Dynamat-like noise/heat) followed by Luxury Liner (neoprene like noise barrier) on the following:

- doors
- boot
- rear seats & sides
- floor pan to the front edge of the seats

The results are definately noticeable and worth the time & effort. (Raw material cost was $350, and it took 2 people 1 full day thanks to all the great info on the forum.)

I plan on using their Spectrum product on the wheel well areas as a last sound proofing effort. Based on the posts to this thread, the wheel well areas (especially front) make an additional, significant difference in quelling noise. Thanks for all the great info and pics, Robin. I will certainly chime in again after the Spectrum is done this week.

 

For those of you that had your Dynamat professionally installed, how much did they charge you? This weekend I am supposed to get a quote from the car audio company that installed systems in two of my previous cars and I want to see how they compare to other installers.

 

...don't everyone speak up at once!!

i've been a little busier than i anticipated so i wasn't able to make it to the car audio store until today, but i was able to get some helpful information.

my neighborhood car audio store prefers roadkill to dynamat. this store has four levels of sound dampening setups for cars, the 4th level offering the most sound reduction. their level 4 covers everything inside the car, including inside door panel and skin, roof (or area around sunroof) and rear of car, including the boot area. under the carpet they put the roadkill peel and stick type material on the car's metal, then lay a layer of roadkill rubber matting, then put the carpet back on over that. in the roof area, in addition to the peel and stick roadkill, they are also adding a roadkill sound reduction foam before putting the headliner back on.

they said this work dramatically reduces the amount of noise inside the car itself. when i asked approximately how much weight it added to the car they said it would be about 80-100 pounds of weight. this was just a guess on their part. i'm not too concerned about this as i don't race my car, but I asked out of curiousity.

the work is going to take 1-1.5 days and cost $1,500 (or less depending on if they have to use all the material or not). honestly, i had no idea how much car audio places would charge for this type of work, which is why i posed that question here to see what other people had paid. I honestly figured it would cost more like $3K or $4K, so I didn't bat an eye at $1,500.

i'm hoping it's going to be as effective as i think it might, but I will update again once it has been installed and i'll let everyone know how much of a difference it makes.

 

Damn, I'd pay $1,500 for someone to do ALL THAT for me! Is that a guaranteed price, or can they raise it when they discover what hell they are going to go through? Does that include labour, or is that just the material price?

If you don't mind me asking, where is this shop located? I need some sound deadening, if only to cut out road noise. I'd still like to hear the engine, though!

 

I went back to the shop yesterday (it's located in Dallas) and they told me that they had underestimated the pricing because they charged me for too little noise reduction material once we had taken the measurements of the car. So it actually ended up being $2,300 with labor and tax included....it was supposed to be closer o $2,700 total, but when I told the guy there was no way I was going to pay almost double the quote he gave me, he reduced it down to $2,300. I wasn't happy about it, but I really want to get this done so I put down my 10% deposit so they can order materials.

I was definitely disappointed that the price went up but it was still less than I had anticipated it would be. The work is being performed in about a week and I plan on having them take before and after photos for me, so if that happens I will be sure to post them here. I'm also trying to do some sound tests in the car before and after the work has been done to see what type of a difference it makes. I will post that info here too.

 

You might ask if they have done R56 MINIs before. If not, they may be in for a surprise when it comes to the doors. They are unusually difficult on the R56. So, they are going to earn their $2,300.

However, under estimating the amount of material needed for a MINI seems odd to me. There are few other cars that would take less material. I wonder what they based their first estimate on? I would check around and see what their reputation is with people who have used them. I think, at the most, one could use two bulk packs of Dynamat Xtreme in a MINI. That's about $300 from Amazon. Hardly gets you from $1,500 to $2,700. Something smells fishy.

 

I think 1.5 days of labor is a fair estimate. Robin is correct, the doors are time consuming. I used the Second Skin products. A layer Damplifier followed by a layer of Luxury Liner throughout the car. I then did all four wheel wells with their Spectrum product - six coats/layers. Total cost was $350 for materials. The results are significant. Much less road noise. Stereo performance is also much improved. (I would balk at spending $2500-3000 to have someone else do it, IMHO. If you have a Torx drill set and patience it is a great weekend project. Thanks to the forum members there are great step by step instructions on removing door panels, seats, etc.)

 

thanks for the feedback. the reason they originally underestimated the amount of material needed is because they thought the packages of padding they already added to the quote were 36 sq ft packages, but they were really 12 sq ft packages. so we actually needed a lot more padding than was on the original quote.

robincasady, of the $2,300 cost, $1,000 of it is labor. We are adding 3 - 36 sq ft packs of roadkill extreme, 1 - 12 sq ft roadkill extreme door kit, and 5 - 12 sq ft roadkill extreme carpet padding...and they obviously have some profit baked in the pricing for themselves. i did ask if they have ever done this level 4 noise reduction work to an R56 and they said they have not, though they have done quite a bit of stereo work for them. i have read the doors can be really tricky, which was also one of the main reasons I decided to take it to a shop and not try it myself...In regards to their reputation, it is top notch. they've been around over 25 years and this will be the 3rd car I have taken to them...they are a bit more pricey than some of the other shops in town, but they are also the best in town. they were able to finish work on one of my old cars on the same day i brought it in.....after another shop in town had it for a week and were unable to fix the problem. i told myself then and there that the slightly higher cost was worth the quality work.

mwiadro, i have gone back and forth many times whether or not i want to try to do this myself or pay the pros to do it...and since i have never removed the interior of a car before, i decided to let the pros do it....the thought of my car's interior laid out on the garage floor is a little too overwhelming for me! i'm also really concerned i would screw up the windows if i tried to do the doors myself. however, i did recently install my v1 radar in may car thanks to the posts on this site! i was feeling pretty good about myself that day.

 

Stinger Roadkill is less expensive than Dynamat Extreme. So, you could get all that material for under $400. They probably pay less. I would guess that they are making $1,000 pure profit on the materials. Guess I should go into the soundproofing business.

 

in the past, i've found that my sanity is worth way more than $1,000. as is relaxing while someone else does the job.

 

Prudence is the better part of valor, as the saying goes. And, yes, it was slightly anxiety producing to turn around and see my entire interior spread across my garage. (My wife thought I was insane.) Do you like your V1, btw? It must come in handy on the open TX highways...

Let us know what your impressions are after they've had their way with your JWS, please.