[diesel_maniac]

I have been in love with Automobiles since the day my family bought our first Premier Padmini back in 80’s. I have always had a penchant for tinkering around with the cars and don’t leave any chance to get my hands dirty. The satisfaction and bliss of seeing ones hard work turning into something nice and productive is worth all the effort. I have been researching on the ICE section since the day I placed a booking for the Swift Vdi. One thing that I learnt was that a good ice setup will not deliver if one does not go for proper damping in the vehicle. I had experienced the issue of metal vibration and bad sounding speakers in my Innova. SO I was going through threads and posts related to options in damping material and scouring through the pictures of various installs in the ICE section to learn how damping is done.


Thanks to GT500 who provided answers to my query on the Damping material thread I got hold of two packs of Wurth Damping Sheets from their regional office in Delhi. Since then I had been waiting to get some free time to work on the doors. Had to take a forced break from work today due to CWG opening ceremony, came to know about fresh orders that even all markets will be kept closed. So here I was all ready to go to work but nothing in Delhi was opened apart from the Cine-plexes and restaurants. Wife and kid were at my in-laws so I thought let me spend the day with the newest member of the family, My Swift Vdi. It has been about a month now since we got the Swift home and I have been dying to get it ICE’d and some other stuff done. Due to a busy work schedule and incessant rains in Delhi was only able to get new seat covers and a Teflon treatment by Dupont done. So here I was armed with my tools and the sheets to start the work.

Tools Needed: Screw Driver, Measuring Tape, Long Metal Scale, Scissor or Paper Cutter for cutting(I preferred scissors as using them was almost effortless), Damping sheets, patience to withstand hot Delhi sun, if you are working outside and willingness to start again even if you go wrong at first chance .


It was turn of the driver side door first, took me about five minutes to take out two plastic clips, two screws and little pull here and there to get the plastic cover off the door. Was disappointed to see the quality of the door panel material, I mean Maruti used to have 20 times better door trims in Zen way back in 90’s even though Zen was lower segment car than Swift. Anyhow back to business. First comes off the metal piece screwed to the door frame that hold the plastic door panel. After that I remove the transparent plastic covering and plastic mount for seaker that is riveted to the door panel (had to drill through the rivets to take them apart) to expose the work area. Voila!! I find that Maruti has been generous enough to provide a factory fitted Damping inside the door, albeit it is a miniscule piece of about 3”x 6”. I laugh and begin with the real work of measuring the size of the pieces to be cut, I measured twice to make sure I don’t end up going too big or too small with the pieces as handling the material after the butter paper is removed from the adhesive side is tricky. Slowly but surely I start making progress fixing one piece at a time. I covered the outer metal skin of the door first. Since it was a sunny day the hot sun and warm temprature made sure I don’t had to used the hair dryer/hot air gun to warm up the sheets so that they can handled more easily. Then I covered the inner metal frame. I have left a small area above the speaker mounting point uncovered to let the installer have some space and light to run the speaker cables through. It will be covered with the material that is left with me when the swift goes for the ICE-ing hopefully in a week’s time. It took me about two hours to complete the first door. It was lunch time by now and after a quick bite I got back to work to complete the passenger side door. Due to my increased confidence in handling the material and all the measurements being handy I Only needed to make sure that I reversed the side of the sheet to make a mirror image of the pieces cut earlier, It took me about 1 and half hours to finish this one. After 4 gruesome hours I ended up having decent (as per my limited knowledge on the subject goes) damping on two front doors and big smile on my face. I wish I had clicked more detailed pictures of every step but once you get to work it is difficult to break the flow to click pictures. Here are few pictures that I could manage to click while working on the doors. I am sorry for the poor picture quality as I clicked these with my Cellphone…….


….to follow. Episode 2: DIY Damping Rear Doors.


Cheers for now.

[Sankar]

Nice. Good and neat job!
How much does this cost/sq foot? Is the outer surface of the damping sheet aluminium or some other material?

[diesel_maniac]

Thanks !! The pack contains 6 sheets sized 22" X 10" each. Works out about Rs 245/ sq Ft. The outer surface is coated with a no-woven fabric which has a slight grey colour.

Mods I think I clicked the submit thread button twice, Please delete the other copy of thread. Thanks

[DerAlte]

Fantastic, @diesel_maniac, true DIY spirit. Which make / brand are the damping sheets?

[coolaks7]

A very neat job Sir. This thread will surely help me in getting the front doors of my Ritz damped. After seeing this, even I am planning to go the DIY way.
By the way how many sqft damping material is required for each door? Also from where in Delhi did you procure those sheets?

Note from the Team-BHP Support Team : Please take the time to use proper punctuation as per Team-BHP rules. Avoid...typing...like...this. Thanks.

[diesel_maniac]

@DerAlte: Thanks for the encouragement. The sheets are of Wurth make, Most probably made some where in EU. They are bitumen based product and are quite good at cutting down resonance in metal frame of the door. Will post an review when the ice is installed.

@coolaks7: Thanks Man !! I actually exhausted a full pack of sheet on a single door. Sq footage will be around 4.5 sq ft. The sheets can be bought from Wurth India's Delhi regional office. It is located in Patparganj Industrial Estate. You can have more info on the damping material thread. here is a link.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/produc...ml#post2081397

[GT500]

Awesome Stuff, Diesel_Maniac

Glad I could be of help to procure the sheets.

Press the damping material firmly on the door so that it takes shape of the sheet metals' curves, dont press them so much that the black goo comes out, but enough to make sure there are no air gaps left, ensuring the performance.

I see you have used the sheets liberally ,nice move.I used a single pack for 2 doors!! I Cut small patches and applied them though.Not a very wise move but it takes care of most vibrations.The real test will come after installing the AMP, will buy the extra sheets required of your leftovers


Though do take note, I have also used some small (like the maruti one) patches in the plastic door panels to make it a little heavy to ensure there are no vibrations in plastic portion, especially where the speaker is, use 2-3 very very small patches and apply them at the curved angled edges near the speaker.I wish I could show you the exact location , but I cant open the door panel

OR you could just try out by installing the ICE and then seeing if any further damping on the plastic door panel is required or if the liberal application on the sheet metal will take care of the plastic door panel also.
If still the vibration persists, Try playing a bass heavy track, set it on repeat, and try figuring out the area on the plastic door panel where the vibrations are coming ,push it hard with your hand to confirm,and apply 1-2 small patches in that area.

Loose wire clips,loose screws, loose MDF RINGS are the real culprits!!Tighten every screw before fitting the door panel back, tape back any wire clips hanging (they tend to produce noises after coming in contact with a surface)

IMO the best way is this only, try your ICE out at insane volumes, and trace the trouble making area.

Cheers!!

GT

[aargee]

@DieselManiac - Congrats & Thanks for sharing the knowledge. Posts like this is encouraging me to carry out with similar setup on my WagonR. Never knew Wurth has such products. Thanks a ton for that too.

I've few questions & would be glad if you can help me understand.

From the attached pic of yours...

1. What happens if the area marked 1 & 2 is only covered leaving the rest of the area as it is? The dampner wouldn't have much effect is it?
2. Why is the circled portion in RED left still open? Is there any significance? From my understanding, if that is also closed, wouldn't the NVH come down further? The one below it is for speaker which I can understand, but the one marked in RED, I couldn't understand.

[Sankar]

Originally Posted by aargee

From the attached pic of yours...
Attachment 436929
1. What happens if the area marked 1 & 2 is only covered leaving the rest of the area as it is? The dampner wouldn't have much effect is it?
2. Why is the circled portion in RED left still open? Is there any significance? From my understanding, if that is also closed, wouldn't the NVH come down further? The one below it is for speaker which I can understand, but the one marked in RED, I couldn't understand.

@Diesel_Maniac: The portion marked inside red circle should be closed. All holes should be closed the best that can be done. The idea here is to make the door cavity into a sealed box (as sealed as it can be done), to separate the backwave of the speaker from the front wave. Leaving the hole open will be detrimental to sound quality. Covering that is more important than damping the outer door skin.

If you're gonna use rear speakers and run them from the amp its best to seal the holes properly.

[aargee]

Ok, Thanks for the clarification. Now that helps me understanding as what needs to be done when working with a dampner.

Since I'm a fan of Wurth products , I'll grab one from them as they have an outlet in Chennai. May be I need some little help in removing the door panels.

What I understand is, I need to take the measurements from the door panels & simply paste the sticker (dampner) on to the interiors of the doors.

But wouldn't that affect in putting back the door trims? In my case its plastic; wouldn't it be difficult to put them back? Pls help understand. Tks.

[diesel_maniac]

@GT500: Thanks for all the help on this man. I owe you one, you are more than welcome to take loose sheets if you need them. I just bought a third pack for sheets for the rear doors, but looks like I might just need a couple of loose sheets to get them done properly. So might have to pick another pack, do drop me a live if you need a couple of them will buy them accordingly.

I will be putting the dampimg work on test this wednesday(Hope to). I am going to install the HU and a set of Comps in front first. An Amp and Co-axs in rear doors will follow soon. Will check for vibrations on the Plastic panels as you suggested and work on them then. Any Idea id a light foam based product will work for the plastic panels. As it will be much lighter than these sheets and will be cheap cost wise. I am already looking at close to 8 grands for damping four doors if I have to buy a fourth pack.

@Aargee: Thanks for the appreciation dude. the area marked in red has been left open to give some open access for the ICE Installer to draw wires and to do other work required to mount the speakers. After the speakers are put in place, the remaining area will be covered to properly seal all the openings. i have covered the whole area on the inside frame since there are a number of round opening of varied sized present all over. I just wanted to cover them up just make sure that I am able to cut down on as much vibrations as possible.

@Sankar: The portion marked in circle will be sealed once the speaker is installed all the wiring is taped or secured as suggested by GT500.
Will try to cover up all the holes and gaps.

Hope to provide you people with a preliminary feedback on the efficiency of these sheets in a couple of days.

[GT500]

Originally Posted by diesel_maniac

@GT500:
Any Idea id a light foam based product will work for the plastic panels. As it will be much lighter than these sheets and will be cheap cost wise.

@ Diesel _maniac

You have used the sheets very liberally in the front doors as compared to my install. As you know , I only used only one pack for both front doors, again, the reason being I used one sheet on the inner metal frame/door, one on the outer metal frame and one on the plastic door panel.
I cut the sheets into patches of various sizes,left gaps in between applications ,and did not apply whole sheets as you did, thats the reason I required only one pack.

I advise you to finish up the rear doors in one pack only, as the doors are shorter as compared to the front doors, they'll not require so much.

Use one sheet cut into various sizes on each area of application,that is, inner metal frame behind the window glass pane assembly, outer metal frame where the speaker is mounted, and some on the plastic door panel, in this way , you are effectively distributing weight every where there is a possibilty of vibration.So three sheet per door is my advise.

I may be wrong,since I havent amplified the speakers and I just wanted to kill the vibration and it worked out for me, try it out, you can always buy more sheets later, and apply them.

This sheet infact is more thick than Dynamat, which is 1.5 times expensive.

Cheers

GT

[abhipuru16]

How many sheets by Wuerth would be required to damp the front two doors and boot of a Fiesta?

[diesel_maniac]

Hi Abhi,

I am not very sure but if the area to be covered on the front doors of Fiesta is similar to a Swift and you intend to cover the whole area like I did in the pictures. You will need two packs containing 6 Sheets each to cover the front two doors.

As far as covering the Boot area is concerned. can you post a picture of the boot showing the area to be covered than I might be able to help with an approx idea. One pack of six sheets covers around 9 Sq. Ft. If you can measure the area to be covered with a measuring tape you will have a good idea about how much stuff will you need. Hope this info helps you out.

[straight6]

So for 4 doors of an SX4 will I need 24 sheets of Wurth? The sheets I'm getting are 1000mm x 500mm.