Rep Power: 360

Hey guys sorry for the long post...
Tomorrow seems like a good day to grab a heater and get some work done in the garage. (its going to be about 40-50 in the day tomorrow)

So I need to finish the Xbox installation under the passanger seat. By that i mean hide the inverter and wires since its all connected and working but the inverter is on the floor. Also I will install the Dynamat trunk kit i purchased a little ago.

First off...about Dynamat:
I need any tips for installing this dynamat.
I have the all Xtreme kit(which i only paid $106 for since i got so much from the store up here earlier...yay) and Im going to do the actual part of the trunk that opens and bottom of decklid first, then inside quarter panels and then floor with whatever is left. Anyone who has installed or worked with Dynamat Xtreme give me some pointers!

Second:
I just finished installing a lighted switch in the plastic piece in the center console next to the cigarette lighter socket. That will be for the power inverter which i will just always have switched on so i can hide it up by the HVAC wires next to my dvd player. Like stated before my xbox is in my car and I have been playing with it already but I need to finally hide everything. So ill have pics up soon and you all can see the awesomeness when its done.
Also so you know I will do this first, and then the dynamat if I finish before I need to go to work.

 
Rep Power: 337

some pointers for the deadener:

the biggest biggest biggest thing I can say is that more often than not, the cause of rattle in our trunks are caused by rattle, rather than resonance. that means its a contact issue, now a deadener issue! this of course doesnt mean that you shouldnt dynamat your lid! but what it does mean, is that if you simply deaden the lid, right over the two pieces that are contacting, then theres a good chance that you will forever block whats really rattling in there, and render it nearly impossible to fix!

are you the kind of guy who has rattle rather than resonance? I have no idea. but you cna protect yoruself rather than pray and find out otherwise:

go out and grab a can of expanding foam. regular or minimal, not triple. spray in the cracks between the trunklid frame and the trunk lid skin. this will puff out and make sure the lid never contacts the frame. Next, grab some nice thick puffy weatherstripping and use it between your liscence plate and the frame of the car. make it impossible for the plate to contact the trunklid skin. now you can use the dynamat extreme without fear of sealing in rattle!

I like wooden rollers more than rubber ones. they put a larger contact pressure comparitively, despite being a little rougher on the hands. doesnt matter really for youl, you are putting on enough to deaden a trunk, not enough to deaden seventeen cars or something. itll ensure a better adherrance.

here is the most important thing to keep in mind, I will put it in bold: a sheet deadener like dynamat works most effectively when solidly adhered to its metal substrate. Thus, your deadener becomes must less efficient or even ineffectual if there are bubbles or its not even a part of the frame. so make sure you roll out all the bubbles!

Ill knock on the frame a bunch to find the best places to deaden. any place I hear an echo after rapping on, I will know I need to mass load it a bit.

Finally, corners and curves are naturally more dead than large flat surfaces, so concentrate on the flat surfaces first, then come back to the stronger areas with your leftover parts.

should work like a champ!

 
Rep Power: 360

1st...thanks for the first intelligent answer ive gotten in a long time here!
i have lived with rattles for about 6 months now. Its not too bothering. I want it to take some rattles from the outside out, but inside its ok. More than anything i need to kill some resonace since my spoiler is begging me to stop trying to shake it off! lol

As for the deckid i will actually save myself the trouble of opening everything and i am seriously thinking that putting the dynamat on the bottom of the metal that the decklid is covering to save time and alot of frustration. I will just lie down and put it on. Like I said i am more worried about a better sound and more efficiency than rattles in the car. i just want tighter, cleaner, and effectivly louder bass; even though i dont need louder bass and i am always walking in my house with headaches!

Is a roller a must though? cause thats the only thing I dont have. If so i need to get one and i dont think the local shop has them. All i got around me is walmart, kmart, and the like. What could I substitute If I cant get one?

EDIT: should i also take it out and lay it down to let it flatten out a bit instead of letting it stay all rolled up. will this save me some time fighting to get it to spread out without creases later?
also is it worth the trouble of taking everything out to dynamat the rear deck instead? sorry, but I want to be prepared for this when i get to do it.

 
Rep Power: 337

rollers are used for removing bubbles from everything. a store you can buy laminate from for cabinets or countertops will have rollers. Home depot has wooden rollers for $2.50. circuit city has dynamat brand wooden rollers that are identical for like $7

any dynamat retailer has the option of carrying a roller.

 
Rep Power: 328

That or you could have read through the DIY he stickied a while back, that information is in there. Make sure you do the prep work very carefully, and correctly, cleaning everything thoroughly before applying any of the mat dampener. Personally, I'd deaden the top part of the deck lid first, as opposed to deadening from the bottom. The majority of rattle coming from there is the plastic contacting the metal, and the plastic contacting the glass right above the 3rd brake light. There are several means of correcting that, all of which are covered in the DIY that's stickied. Oh, and be prepared to spend a lot of time rolling. You may even want to get a heat gun (or hair dryer, either one) to ease the rolling of the bubbles, makes it a little softer, and easier to roll out.

 
Rep Power: 360

ok i just didnt see them when I was in but ill check again.I might also get up early to check best buy and if that doesnt work out the 30 minute drive wont be wasted a circuit city is about 5 more minutes away. All i got close is a lowes around me, though.
so I guess its up and out by 10 for me, since thats when NorthEast Light & Sound opens. lol and I live so close if I leave my house at 10:00 and hit all of the 2 red lights ill get there at 10:02.

 
Rep Power: 337

oh, ar eyou talking about the rear deck? I thought you were talking about the trunk lid! might have to adjust someof the things ive said....

 
Rep Power: 328

I read it wrong... I thought it said rear deck... should have read more carefully... Sorry for the confusion... The heat gun will help when rolling it out though, that was truth either way. You can use a hair dryer though, no need to go out and buy a heat gun, unless you can justify using it enough to buy one.

 
Rep Power: 360

lol i am doing everything in the back except the floor and either the bottom or top of the rear deck. I am going to lay down so small peices under the tool kit by the spare also. Last, I will also do the trunk lid (if thats the part that opens and flips up). im all confused what's what now
and the reason to make this thread besides ask questions is to tell my situation. im going to be in a cooler (~50-65 degrees F) garage, and have no previous experience doing this. There are also a few unanswered questions in his sticky, like if dynamating the bottom of the rear deck will work as good as the top. this is why I made this thread.
Generally dynamat and other deadeners work the same on both sides but will doing the top of the rear deck take out more rattles than the bottom without sacrificing performance?
and im definatley(sp?) going to get a roller now. If I do the top of the deck ill also get some foam strips from like walmart or something so i can get the plastic off my frickin rear windshield.

 
Rep Power: 328

I'd to the top of the rear deck (which is the piece where the rear speakers factory locations are). The bottom won't deaden between the two panels (the abs plastic cover, and the actual metal frame work), but the top will. You won't to deaden the panels that are touching to remove the rattle. The actual metal isn't what's resonating (though there is some sound coming from resonance of that piece), the majority of your foreign noise is coming from the two pieces vibrating against each other in that specific area.

 
Rep Power: 360

now i know how to do this as there is a DIY on removing the deck lid, but just how hard is it. My last car was a cavalier and all i had to do was pull and it all just came out. Im used to that so this is scary from what i've heard and read.

 
Rep Power: 328

Be careful, and take your time. Your first time, it'll probably take you upwards of an hour to remove everything. As you take it out more and more, it'll take less and less time. I can get every bit of mine out in 15 minutes or less now. Just be careful and take your time. You're wanting to do this right, so take the extra time to be careful so as not to have to replace pieces from snapping the fasteners or other pieces off of them.

 
Rep Power: 337

I would do the top of the rear deck simply so that over long periods of time, gravity doesnt undermine the adherrance.

 
Rep Power: 360

well its like 30 degrees in my garage and a small heater isnt helping much. for now i am stuck with only the trunk lid done. ill either continue this in about 5 minutes when i feel my cold, bloody hands, or another day. either way it isnt too hard to lay down this xtreme but i did find it easier to roll it after laying it all down by hand first. thanks for the help!

 
Rep Power: 328

You might want to try a tool rental place and rent one of the blower heaters, or a kerosene heater, if the heater you have isn't heating properly(if you can find it, a propane catalytic heater over the kerosene heater). Make sure you provide ventilation adaquately though. The thing I did when I did mine in the winter was to strip my trunk and bcak seat down. Once I did that, I put a space heater in there and closed the trunk as much as I could with the cord hanging out of the trunk. I let it warm for about 20 minutes or so on high (to get it up to a decent temperature. This is the un comfortable part, I got all up in there and closed the trunk back again. True, my *** was hurting at the end of the day, but at least I could still feel it.

 
Rep Power: 337

did you remember the foam in the trunk lid?

 
Rep Power: 360

didnt get to it yet

 
Rep Power: 337

I dont know how you did your lid, but usually people just cover the whole thing. which means now that its done, you cant foam it. lost access to the space between the skin and frame.

decided to leave those spaces open?

 
Rep Power: 328

Unless you cut the holes out on the x-brace type supports on the trunk and foam through those, you're screwed, you trapped the rattle in there.

 
Rep Power: 360

any part of the trunk with a hole got cut out and folded around so i actually formed it as much as possible. so now i have the whole frams done and anything i could reach behind it. but its open still. still rattles alot but i need to add some more by the license plate lights and the latch. time ran out.
next day off i will do the rear deck.

 
Rep Power: 812

Don't forget to read that big diy about trunk rattle. I just loosened those rubber stoppers and the lid closed much tighter. You can also move the latch down. Also when working with dynamat...a heat gun does help it apply easier and stay put. I've had mine for almost 2 yrs and no way is it coming off ever. Also a roller is a must. If there are bubbles, pop them with a razor and roll flat. No bubbles in there. Make sure surface metal is very clean. Googone for any glue stuff and then windex. Make sure it's not dirty.

 
Rep Power: 360

ya i did that but in the sedan it doent help much i still get alot of rattling from above the license plate.

 
Rep Power: 328

One thing I did (coupe) is remove the screws that I knew what they went to in the trunk lid ( license plate lights, etc) and either added some rubber washers, or sprayed the existing ones with rubberized undercoating, or replaced them with the metal ones with the rubber on the backside. That helped a lot to cut down on rattle in those places as well.

 
Rep Power: 337

foam. unless its the spoiler. then I dont know.

 
Rep Power: 328

The rubber washers help. As do rubberizing the ones that come installed on it. Or replacing with the ones with rubber backs. The solid rubber washers are the best though, they absorb a lot of the rattle.