Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

-   In-Car Entertainment (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/car-entertainment/)

-   -   The Damping Material and Sound Deadener Thread (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/car-entertainment/13307-damping-material-sound-deadener-thread-92.html)

Just back from the denter. Other than the denter ranting about the sheets there was no issue. He peeled from a side to work the issue and reattached it back.

Seeking inputs from forum members. Looking at buying a Toyota Hyryder and in general happy with the decision. What irritated me during the test drive was the NVH aspect (3-pot engine when deciding to accelerate quickly and also the whine from the vaccum pump of the brake). Will damping help in this scenario or is it throwing good money for negligible results?

Recently did a DIY door damping. Thought of providing some details of the materials in this thread. I used below material from Motorogue.in. Satisfied with their service and prompt delivery. Bought it from them after reading good reviews in different TeamBhp threads.

This is what I bought, i-Copper i-D9 DB 2mm damping mat
https://www.motorogue.in/products/sp...-mat-bulk.html

It contains 9 sheet and 1.4kg each sheet. I could finish my required level of damping with 6 sheets and a little more in a Seltos (4 doors and dicky). You need a roller to make it stick properly.

For sound absorbent material, I used nitrile foam (bought from Amazon.in) and found it basic but helps a bit for sure. This is only 6mm thick. Easy peel and stick type tape. Very strong adhesive and it does not need rolling unlike damping mats after application.

Not detailing here, you can read about it in DIY section.

I have three specific enquiries to make. Will remain grateful for informed opinions.

1. What material is the stock under-hood insulation provided by the car companies? I am familiar with the damping material used in high-end audio speakers, which can range between medium to high density foam to bio-membrane. But in cars, the stock under-hood insulation material seems to be different.

2. Assuming that the purpose of under-hood insulation is (apart from heat insulation) to prevent ringing of the metal hood / bonnet, effectiveness of sticking the insulation material to the metal surface with an adhesive Vs. using plastic clips to hold it close to the metal surface (which seems to be the route taken by most car companies). Which is more effective?

3. After sticking a damping sheet such as the STP Hood Solution (10 mm thick) beneath the hood, do I have to retain / refix the stock insulation over an above that with plastic clips?

The car I have in mind here, is a BS-IV TATA Harrier.

Hello all.
I heard from my mechanic that using damping material, by sticking it to the car body increases the chance of corrosion.
As an example, he showed me an old Honda City, 2nd generation (Dolphin model).
On the door interiors were attached factory damping sheets.
There was corrosion observed on the outside metal sheet of the front doors.
The corrosion has started on the inside and started showing up on outside as bubbles on the paint work, in a very straight vertical line.
Sorry, I did not take a picture.
His explanation was that the interior metal of the door comes in contact with water, (Washing or rain water). The damping sheets absorb this water somewhat and the metal continues to be in close contact with water. This causes corrosion over long term.

I had read LEOSASHI's application of damping sheet on his ERTIGA and he had used some wax spray over the applied damping sheet.

Members in this forum, please share your experiences with damping sheets with respect to corrosion of the metal on which the damping sheets have been affixed.
Thank you.

Came across a Russian product on the net called ‘STP Heatshield XL’ that does not require to be pasted or fixed to the hood. It simply has to be laid over engine bay, and fits snugly once the hood is closed. Claims that it reduces the engine noise as well. However, the product is not available in India.

Inspired by the same, I obtained a spare hood insulation from Boodmo for TATA Harrier for Rs.1,400/-. I plan to simply lay it over the engine-bay just like the ‘STP Heatshield,’ such that it aligns exactly with the stock insulation matching the indenture beneath the hood, and close the hood. Since the space between the stock insulation and the engine-bay is minimal, the hood should hold the additional insulation tightly. The side of the TATA insulation facing the engine-bay appears to be flame retardant.

Is it okay to go ahead, or should it be avoided at all costs?

I am looking to install damping in my Seltos. I have the following basic doubts 1. Will damping the four doors reduce road noise (tyre noise, air noise etc) or is it purely for music enhancement looking? 2. What is the ideal thickness of damping? 1.5 mm vs 2 mm, will it have any significant difference? 3. Is the damping required to be done in two layers? Meaning installing on the sheet metal from inside and then another layer on the frame?
4. Any specific brand to look out for?
Experienced people, please guide

I have done damping in my Seltos recently, I talked about it in details here https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/diy-d...d-quality.html

Just to answer your questions -

1. Damping only 4 doors would not reduce noise as such. At least not enough to feel any significant difference. It's purely to increase sound quality.

2. for sound improvement, 2 mm is sufficient to reduce resonance and vibration of sheet metal/plastic-trims. 1.5mm would also have significant difference than not having any damping. Thicker than 2mm would have additional weight on each door. Not that it would break. It's up to individual choice; I feel 2mm is sort of middle ground of available damping options (price vs performance).

3. Better if it is done in two layers. If damping is for sound quality, and one wants to keep the usage of damping material at minimum, covering all flat surfaces (door inner metal, some part of middle frame, door pad etc) should be sufficient.

4. Most brands are decent, stick to "butyl" material. I used a Russian one named I-Copper i-D9 DB bought from www.motorogue.in

Thanks for the reply. I have indeed gone through your thread. I have couple of doubts
1. I have the basic sound system and not the Bose one. How big you think the impact will be?
2. You used six sheets IIRC. Is it single layer or dual layer?

1. Does not matter what speaker one has in his car, damping would definitely have some amount of improvement on the baseline of sound quality from the same speaker. Some possibility is there that it brings out some more weakness of the speaker, but this is the first step to improve on sound quality. I have got very good improvement in this case, so, not doing anything further for now. When I did the same on my previous car, it had some improvement, but got very good improvement just by changing the speakers (without any change in HU or adding amp).

So after damping you can move to upgrading speaker, better aftermarket HU; adding an amplifier and a DSP; so on so forth - whatever you feel required.

2. Yes, I used around 7 sheet of damping material for 4 doors and the dicky. So when one say 2 layers of damping, it's not one sheet above another on same surface. If you open up and see the door, it has three layers - outer metal, middle metal frame and plastic door pad. So I added one layer on inside of door metal; one layer on middle door frame (this is where the speaker is mounted, and has other cut outs) and some on inside of plastic door pad. Mainly on flat surfaces, not on complex curves and joints and bars. Because vibration and resonance mainly happens due to flat surfaces. Also I added one layer of sound absorbent foam on the layer behind the speaker. This helps reduce echo if any.

Hi, I do have a Venue and am troubled by the door plastic vibrations when playing songs above 13/14 in the Club or Lounge mode. Have read that almost all Venue users face the same issue. I have tried adding sponge to the speaker / tweeter, packing hard foam but the vibrations exist. I am going to go for damping. One question, did you reapply the plastic sheet over the damping as that is needed for waterproofing.

Yes I have installed the plastic sheet for waterproofing, over the damping.

I got damping done on my 2019 Honda Amaze Diesel. This has been something that I wanted to do for a long time and finally took the leap last week. One thing that I hated about the Amaze Diesel was its NVH levels and the poor audio quality. With the stock headunit, the audio quality was very dull and I preferred riding with no music in the early days of my ownership. As the car aged, there were vibrations coming from at least one of the panels all the time which was a bit irritating for me. So, to mask the vibrations and the rattle, I started to listen to music on the stock head unit and the poor audio quality forced me to upgrade to an Android head unit with DSP. The result of the upgrade was quite surprising as the audio quality on the stock speakers were lightyears ahead. Recently, I have been doing a lot of long-distance drives and extensively listening to music during my long drives. This created a need in me for improving the audio quality and the overall listening experience.

As the first step, I installed a pair of tweeters from Hertz (Dieci DT 24.3) on the front. The tweeters were capable of producing distortion-free music even at higher volumes and they were totally worth the Rs 3500 spent.
Now, one remaining problem was the rattling of different panels at higher volumes and at higher bass settings. So, I started my research on damping on this thread and unfortunately couldn't find anyone who has done damping on Amaze. There were a couple of YouTube videos with details regarding damping on Amaze but they weren't enough to give a clear idea about the benefits. I was not sure about the cost Vs benefit aspect of the damping.

Finally, last week I visited some of the car accessory shops nearby and decided to do damping from the shop that showcased more damping works. Their Google reviews were also good.
They quoted Rs 750 per damping sheet and estimated around 16 sheets for covering 4 doors, the floor, and the hood. Their choice of damping sheet was Vibrofiltr- 1.80 mm and the time frame needed was two days. The rates quoted by other shops were also more or less the same.

Took the car to the shop on a Monday and spent some time at the shop watching the progress. As they dismantled the door panels and disconnected the speakers, I was shocked to see how basic the speakers were. The Honda speakers retailed at around Rs 600 per piece and they were quite decent in their performance. However, when I saw the speakers, I instantly identified that they will be the next bottleneck in the audio quality and decided to upgrade the stock speakers. My choice of speakers for the upgrade were

1. Morel Maximo MKII component speakers on front
2. JBL Stage 1 621F- Coaxial Speakers for rear coupled with the Hertz tweeters

Also, I decided to get the damping for the roof all other panels applicable.

Here are some pictures of the car getting damped.
Just starting

The stock speaker

Speaker detached

Hood

Roof

Floor





Total expense




Final thoughts

• No more rattling/vibration of the door panels while playing music at high volume or high bass
• There is a considerable reduction in road noise. Comparable to wearing noise-canceling headphones.
• Less engine noise and less tire noise. A negative aspect is that I am speeding more now as the engine's noise is felt less inside the cabin
• Doors close/open with a different sound - feels premium. Also feels different if you knock on the doors/hood.
• The rates seems to be on the higher side. The online prices of the speakers and damping sheets are lower than what was quoted.
• Overall, in my case, I am happy with the outcome.

That is really an epic installation. As much full-surface insulation as damping?

I am not much bothered about the audio quality, as we seldom use it, and it scores "ok" when we do. On the other hand, I would love to get the general noise/vibration levels of my diesel Polo reduced. Your report suggests that this may be the way to go.

Thank you!

For dampening a new Swift AGS AT, I have been trawling the web for material and methods, the whole of last 2 weeks and what l found was mostly "FOR" with just empirical evidence. Most people are Ga Ga about it!

l found a thorough and objective trial with measurements with a decibel counter and...the results are NOT convincing that we spend huge amounts on dampening:

https://youtu.be/rnHbHJ1BQXA

This thorough trial evidence with 3 layer dampening:

- May not be comfortable for "dampening gurus" ...goes against general consensus that more dampening, the better, more money spent on it, awesome results etc.
- That it reduces in cabin noise considerably. This trial noticed only about 5-8 decibel difference. lt explodes a myth?
- So from practical point of view, simple, if at all, door dampening would surface for improved music quality, lMO.
����