nathan.chase Posted November 13, 2006 Share Posted November 13, 2006 Hey all, I have an 87 gl wagon 5sp and it is rather noisy at higher speeds. I was wondering if anyone had tried to quieten the ride up on these awesome vehicles? some of the things I was thinking about targeting due to seeing other cars and listening to mine are: Wirewall floor mats stick shift wheel well headliner I have a leak in my reasonator but I can't imagine that is creating that much noise. Any ideas as to what material I might use and what I might target first. thanks kindly! Nate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nkx Posted November 13, 2006 Share Posted November 13, 2006 dynamat or the spray insulation/undercoating. just be careful with the latter, it puts off some nasty fumes that seem to linger more than spray paints. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virrdog Posted November 13, 2006 Share Posted November 13, 2006 I am on the same mission. Things like the wind noise (not frameless window noise) you can not make go away unless you change the aerodynamics on the front end where it creates the noise. Some sort of sound insulation on the floorboards and inside the doors will knock down a lot of the road noise. Doing the same with the firewall would help with engine noise, too. Eventually you will get to the point where you will hear the noise through the glass itself. The roof on my wagon needs reinforced and sound deadened. I want to take it all apart one day to see whats going on up there. But I can see the entire thing bulge upwards when I close the rear hatch. And on top of sound deadening, it helps to have a sound absorbing layer on key parts of the body. Closed cell foams are recommended for cars so they don't mold. More info can be found at Raam Audio and Sound Deadener Showdown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subaru_Mechanic Posted November 13, 2006 Share Posted November 13, 2006 oh man! i use bedliner in a can and that does amazing well (runs $8 a can) heres me way of making it almost silent: rip out carpet and padding, clean floor very well, spray two layers of bedliner (its thiner but stronger). then get adhesive spray and lay down dynamat everywhere you can or your problem areas. then spray another two layers of bedliner on top of the dynamat (even more sound proof but acts best at water seal) then re instal the carpet. IF you dont want your carpet i recomend boat carpet. (its really strong and water vaccumes right out of it) im thinking of a way to silence the wind noise that comes from the windows... did this help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4WDFrenzy Posted November 14, 2006 Share Posted November 14, 2006 A good undercoating will reduce road noise significantly. I undercoated my GL-10, and the next day(after allowing it to dry overnight) I could immediatly tell the difference upon driving it. I'm not quite sure how many coats I applied, but I know I went through about 8 cans. When undercoating, just remember to apply it in the wheel wells, as that is where alot of road noise is transfered from. Patrick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryry46d9 Posted November 14, 2006 Share Posted November 14, 2006 OR go the lazy way and get a 1" 12" woofers (or in one of my buddys case in a wagon:slobber: 6 12" woofers ) replace the dash,back,and/or door speakers with something bigger/better (ran off an AMP) and BLAM your done i used to have 4 12" sub-woofers 2 10" sub-woofers and 2 8" mid-bass taking up the WHOLE back of my hatch (if i ever get that back window fix im doing it again:banana: ) and that my friend is how you kill the road noise Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgd73 Posted November 14, 2006 Share Posted November 14, 2006 This may help. I am on my second wagon, all oem stuff keeping acoustics, insulation. The only time noise was prevailing was with bad bearings in back end and/or driveshaft. Bent wheels, hubs rotors don't do it. Not even a glasspack and straight pipe about a foot away from drivers seat wide open does it. I have had roof rack rails missing and a floor open, as well as rocker panels and door seams.and bad struts letting out of balance shake.The entire cause was rear bearings for annoying noise at high speed. A true lsd is a bit noisy as well- but I would be checking the steel around that area that held everything too, as the rear seems to last forever contently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virrdog Posted November 14, 2006 Share Posted November 14, 2006 A good undercoating will reduce road noise significantly. I undercoated my GL-10, and the next day(after allowing it to dry overnight) I could immediatly tell the difference upon driving it. I'm not quite sure how many coats I applied, but I know I went through about 8 cans. When undercoating, just remember to apply it in the wheel wells, as that is where alot of road noise is transfered from. Patrick I might have to try something like this, especially in the wheel wells. But I'll make sure I don't cover up any of those important 14mm bolts that hold suspension stuff. OR go the lazy way and get a 1" 12" woofers Already have Infinity Kappas up front amped and a 15" Kicker in the back. I still want the car to be as quiet as reasonably possible to hear all the detail my Infinity's can produce. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daeron Posted November 15, 2006 Share Posted November 15, 2006 Already have Infinity Kappas up front amped and a 15" Kicker in the back. I still want the car to be as quiet as reasonably possible to hear all the detail my Infinity's can produce. then ditch the 15 and get a pair of mild 10s. too much sub-bass sucks. you spent the cash for the kappas, (right? i hope you got the 3-ways with the EMITweeter, they ROCK) so why drown them with a Kicker????? bass is great, but you dont need a backrub. you want music, not magic fingers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virrdog Posted November 15, 2006 Share Posted November 15, 2006 then ditch the 15 and get a pair of mild 10s. too much sub-bass sucks. you spent the cash for the kappas, (right? i hope you got the 3-ways with the EMITweeter, they ROCK) so why drown them with a Kicker????? bass is great, but you dont need a backrub. you want music, not magic fingers Woah, this was out of left field. Ummm... thanks for your input. There are waaay more factors to how music sounds than just the size of the speakers. For example, enclosure size... Anyways, the amount of certain frequencies depends on the users ear, as in personal preference. I didn't pay a dime for the Kappas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daeron Posted November 16, 2006 Share Posted November 16, 2006 Woah, this was out of left field. Ummm... thanks for your input. There are waaay more factors to how music sounds than just the size of the speakers. For example, enclosure size... Anyways, the amount of certain frequencies depends on the users ear, as in personal preference. I didn't pay a dime for the Kappas. okay, sorry for the threadjack, but I didn't realize how dickish I sounded with that post. I am also an owner of a freebie set of infinity kappas, and I could never think to drown them in subwoofer.. I am simply not such a fan of the heavy sub-bass as many of my contemporaries are. For my tastes, almost any loudspeaker/enclosure combination would suffice, because I wouldn't have the bloody thing amplified to any absurd volume.. just enough to give me some harmonic convergence in the lower registers. Something to avoid letting the kappas bottom out, you know? no more. I read "15 inch kicker" and thought, "Ugh, overkill." Thats all. no flame intended Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virrdog Posted November 16, 2006 Share Posted November 16, 2006 okay, sorry for the threadjack, but I didn't realize how dickish I sounded with that post. I am also an owner of a freebie set of infinity kappas, and I could never think to drown them in subwoofer.. I am simply not such a fan of the heavy sub-bass as many of my contemporaries are. For my tastes, almost any loudspeaker/enclosure combination would suffice, because I wouldn't have the bloody thing amplified to any absurd volume.. just enough to give me some harmonic convergence in the lower registers. Something to avoid letting the kappas bottom out, you know? no more. I read "15 inch kicker" and thought, "Ugh, overkill." Thats all. no flame intended Thank you for apologizing. You have to realize that the size of the subwoofer does NOT tell you much, besides what it is capable of. I have it tuned so it sounds like it is coming from my front stage (like it should). In fact I can adjust it so that I can barely tell its still working. I was listening to Radiohead Kid A this morning on the way to work and the kick drum sounded just right and was nowhere near drowning out the synth strings coming out of the Kappas. If you were to ride in my car, you would have no idea what I had under the cargo cover. Just because you drive a 500 hp sports car, does that mean you leave black strips of rubber everytime you take off from a stop light pulling 11 second quarters?? Or can you cruise around without nailing the gas pedal? Same with my 15, I don't have it cranked and it happens to be a very smooth sounding subwoofer which is what I like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyberbackpacker Posted November 16, 2006 Share Posted November 16, 2006 Back on topic... check out http://www.soundproofing.org Look for their sound deadening manual. Forget about dynamat and that other stuff... these people have been doing it for years industrially and to eliminate noise in small aircraft. There is no comparison. They have very good information in their free manual you can download, and their products are top notch. Check them out, I think you will be pleasantly surprised. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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