Anyone install Dynamat in their MINI? http://www.crutchfield.com/S-E7cEQjq...p.asp?g=181250

Where exactly did you put it, and how much did it help?

 

Dont understand your post, why do you need it? . Vibration or what.??

 

The front doors in the R56 are much harder to do than the R53
Rear is easy though

 

Lower road noise so you can hear the audio better.

 

Was it worthwhile? Did it help noticeably?

 

At least on my R50, I found the application of sound deadening to the rear cabin, including the hatch, and the inside of the plastic wheel liners (i.e. remove the plastic wheel well liners and apply to the surface that isn't normally seen) to be very good ways of knocking down road noise. I understand the R56 has some newer style wheel well liners, so you may not see as much benefit with applying sound deadening there as I did on my R50.

 

Not on the MINI, but I've Dynamatted a Toyota Paseo and a Volkswagen Jetta. In both cases, I did the inside of the door panels, the floor under the carpet, behind the headliner, behind the side panels in the back, the underside of the trunk lid, the trunk itself, and a piece on the backside of the rear license plate. I think I used a full 36-square-foot kit on each car.

It really helped with the high-frequency wind noise, and kept the subwoofers from rattling anything. The doors also closed with a very Mercedes-like "thunk" after the Dynamat install.

I used the Dynamat Extreme with the aluminum liner on the non-adhesive side. eBay usually has the 36 sq. ft kit for about $130 shipped.

 

Dave, approx how many square feet did you use?

thanks

Amit

 

I did Dynamat in the old Cooper. I had it in the hatch, under the trunk mat, and covering all under the back seats. It did in fact make quite a difference in the noise levels coming from the hatch. The new MINI seems alot quieter though.

 

I used these vinyl sheets equivalent to Dynamat Extreme. Makes a little different in the doors, but in discussions it sounds like adding it to the rear floor helps a lot. I'd go with the lightweight vinyl over the heavy asphalt standard dynamat. And the price above is nice.

 

That's about the same price per square foot as the Dynamat Extreme 36 square foot bulk pack you can find on eBay, but I like the fact that the sheets you linked to have the leather-grain pattern on them, so it doesn't stand out quite as much as the aluminum backing on the Dynamat Extreme. The vinyl sheets would be good for treating an uncarpeted trunk or something like that where there wouldn't be anything to hide the deadening material.

 

Well..I only bought 6 feet, and only about half that was needed for the doors.

 

Another alternative to Dynamat, and MUCH cheaper:

B-Quiet sound deadening material

Of particular interest - the comparison page. Note that B-Quiet Ultimate peforms very comparably to Dynamat Extreme, for less than half the cost!

This is what I ended up ordering to install in my MINI later this month.

 

Here's a comparison worth reading: Sound Deadener Showdown

 

Dynamat does a really good job but it is on the heavy side. Also once it is installed it is a hell of a job totake it out should the need arise. As far as helping with the sound quality it does an excellant job.

 

wow! Great link. I learned alot. I used fatmat before and liked it after the smell went away in a few days. No problems so far with it (several years with it) but I don't get extreme heat in Hawaii.. After reading that I'd be afraid of it if I lived in Arizona. I have a good bit left over and I was going to put it in my MINI but I'm reconsidering now. I wouldn't want to take a chance on the stuff melting.

 

A guy at my work gave me what he had left of some FatMat. He had nearly 6 sq ft. I'm putting in the rear of my mini where I think it will make the most difference. Outer Wheels wells, floor and around the spkrs. I think it will help. Do you?

 

It certainly won't hurt. The whole idea behind sound dampening is actually very simple. Any physical structure will resonate at a particular frequency, but more-massive structures will resonate at a lower frequency. This is why hitting a bass drum will never make the same sound as hitting a small silver bell.

By using sound-damping mat or spray-on damping material, all you're doing is adding mass to the panels so that they won't resonate with any of the audible frequencies. The actual construction of the damping material is pretty much irrelevant

Anything you can do to add weight or rigidity will help. Even extra bracing helps, because bracing essentially joins two lighter components together to make a more-massive component that will be less likely to resonate in the audible range.

I've even seen installs where the trunk was lined with several hundred pounds of cement to stop audible resonance.

 

Here’s some photos from my R53 starting with page at page #5 at 12 images per page and ending at page #8 https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...5&ppuser=13976 . It’s all viscoelastic material Dynamat, B-Quiet extreme, Brown Bread & Ultimate; to prevent the material from gooping where it’s not wanted, seal the edges with aluminum tape.

 

Dude, You're gallery is insane. I put a little here and there. Your Mini must sound like a Tightly sealed cadillac. Nice Job!!

 

Just to add a little more info for you, I also did some sound deadening of my R53. I would not recommended dynamat though, unless you have a whole lot of money. Other stuff is better and cheaper. Its certainly worth it though is you like the handling of the MINI but like your car audio as well.

 

For anyone that has done a fairly extensive application of sound deadener to the interior of their Mini, roughly what square footage did you end up using?

 

If weight is a consideration (keeping everything as light as possible) where would you get the most effect from placement of the product and which would be the best product to use?
Thanks for your help, Steve

 

Most of the brands are pretty comparable, performance-wise. They differ in price, how much they smell, and whether or not there's an aluminum backing on the material.

You're going to get the greatest effect by damping large, flat panels that tend to resonate. With that in mind, I'd do the trunk floor, roof, inner and outer door panels, and rear side panels first.

In order to save weight and conserve material, remember that you don't have to cover 100% of a panel or surface. In fact, anything more than 50% coverage is probably getting to the point of diminishing returns.

 

I used 60 square feet and did everything but under the dash. If you're going dash I would say 70 or 80 square feet. If you have too much, just double up on the lower pannels right below the seats.

For half go with 40 square feet.

Either way you'll be happy. I could certainly tell a difference.