Rep Power: 276

i have some left over raammat and wanted to know is it worth deadning the spare tire trunk cargo? will i increase overall spl? heres some pics i took from transformedbg from his super trunk project to show the area im wanting to deadnen...






let me know what you guys think


also got some of that foam padding from raamaudio as well...should i add that on top of the deadner or is their no point?

 
Rep Power: 337

deadening the spare tire well will help reduce road noise. I highly recommend it.

if youd like so hear what kind of road noise penetrates the spare tire well, pull out your floor, your spare tire, then fold down the rear seats and drive down the freeway.

I bet you'll agree that the spare tire well is a good thing to dampen!

 
Rep Power: 276

double post, sorry

 
Rep Power: 276

will adding Ensolite on top of the deadner in the trunk benefit me?

http://www.raamaudio.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi?p=pr

 
Rep Power: 0

Almost certainly. The only situation where a layer of closed celled foam on top of a vibration damper will NOT improve things is in a pure SPL setup. If you are fighting noise and trying to improve the car's acoustics, the relatively inexpensive final step will make a dramatic improvement.

Closed celled foams like Ensolite and Neoprene are a great general purpose treatment. Closed cell will not hold moisture which is especially important in your doors where an open celled foam will rot and mildew. There are uses for open celled acoustic foam in a car, but only where it will never be exposed to moisture. For most people, using a second type of foam will be more trouble than it is worth. For audio competitors it will be worth it, but most of us can get the bulk of the benefit using closed cell.

The layer of foam compliments the vibration damper in several ways. It will absorb a lot of the noise that passes through the damping layer. It also reduces reflections inside the vehicle, reducing distortion and lowering the overall noise floor. Finally, it will protect your carpet and upholstery from the exposed adhesive at the edges of your damping mat and add some more cushioning under foot.

It is very versatile stuff. I use it everywhere I apply vibration damper, stuff it behind trim panels to stop rattles and even use it inside my computers and line the drawers in my toolbox to keep things from sliding around.

 
Rep Power: 337

almost certainly it will also improve things. I dont have any data to back that statement up, and I invite you to doubt it fully. Heres how you can gather real data (and please report back your findings if you do!)

gut your trunk floor and drive on the freeway with the back seats down once or twice. get a baseline for roadnoise. then start with your raammat, layer it up nice and solid. Then drive out on the freeway a couple times again, see what improvement there was.

then line up the foam in there and see what kind of improvement you get again. if there is measurable improvement? keep it installed! let us know there is now data to back up our hypotheses