[ryland]

So I've been tossing around the idea of getting rid of my E for the last 6 months or so. The main reason being my wife and I cant stand the road noise! I never thought much of it until I moved to the city and bought a Hyundai Sonata. Now the E seems very loud. I was dreding having car payments again when it came to me that maybe I should look into Dynamat. I went to a shop that installs it today and they said it would be $810.00 to use Xtream Dynamat on the doors, rear quarter, tire compartment, and back tailgate. Its basicly this:

http://www.dynamat.com/download/vss/2654_2004_Honda_Element.pdf

But with the top part of the back door and the spare tire area as well.

What do you guys think? Is that a good price? Is it worth it? I'd love to hear from someone thats done it before.

I also dont know how much of the road noise comes from my tires? Maybe if I got ones that were made for low noise? The tires I have now are Continental Sport LX cheapys from walmart.

I figure the $800 is much less than the $10-20k it would cost to buy a new car! Plus I like everything else about the E.

 

[Burn619]

That price doesn't sound too bad. I did my four doors and rear hatch a couple year ago and it is the most noticeable mod I have done hands down. But I did double layers of Dynamat along with the Ensolite foam. One layer of each on all outer and interior metal. The Dynamat reduces vibrations in the metal but the Ensolite foam is the insulation that reduces the noise. I'm not sure how much of difference just 1 layer of Dynamat will make. It's wasn't a fun project and it took all weekend but was well worth it IMO...

-Mike

 

[1fastvx]

Bingo!!! Mat and ensolite will reduce noise. Mat alone will only do so much. Check out the link below.

John

http://www.raamaudio.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=3&vmcchk=1&Itemid=3

John

The Dynamat reduces vibrations in the metal but the Ensolite foam is the insulation that reduces the noise.

-Mike

 

[TwistedDreams]

The tires can make a huge difference. Yokohama AT-S Tires is what I have on mine, and I had the same tires on my ranger before. very quiet, very aggressive, and very smooth.

And as far as the Dynamat goes, DYI buddy! save a lot of money!
-TD

 

[ryland]

The tires can make a huge difference. Yokohama AT-S Tires is what I have on mine, and I had the same tires on my ranger before. very quiet, very aggressive, and very smooth.

And as far as the Dynamat goes, DYI buddy! save a lot of money!
-TD

I hear you but I guess I'd rather spend $400 in labor and have it done right by someone that does that all the time than spend 12 hours getting angry and frustrated. I'd hate to break something and have to replace it. I dont like doing jobs like that. Im never afraid of working on cars but I draw the line at carpet, body panels, seat covers ect. Theres just some things I'd rather pay someone else to do. plumbing, sheetrock, and I guess dynamat.

I think I'm going to have it done tomarrow. I have a db meter on my iphone so I'm going to take a reading on a stretch of hwy and then again after the dynamat has been installed. I'll let you guys know what happens.

 

[scorsone]

I wish I had gotten the db meter on my wife's iphone before I switched tires! I would have loved to have actually tested the before and after readings with my new tires. They are a lot quieter than my old set. I know if I did the dynamat install I would lose a lot of road noise from the door areas. I had thought about doing the floors at least under the drivers area too when I do it. Let us know how one layer of just dynamat works for you! I am very interested.

 

[ryland]

what kind of tires does your wife have? So the Dynamating is being done today!!! The guys are going to call me when they are done and tell me if there is some material left over and I might have them do the front floor area. I'll post again when I know more.

 

[scorsone]

sorry, I meant for my E with her phone. I just put the Nokian WRg2 suv tires on my E after wearing out the Firestone Destination LEs. Big difference in sound levels but I still hear the engine whine and some road noise as of course wind noise.

 

[ryland]

Well the Dynamat is in! I ended up having them do the whole thing except the roof. It cost an total of $1150 and......... its ok :-(. Its 15-18 db quieter. That is substantial and it is a ton better but I guess I was hopeing for silence for that price. The road noise is different now. Its more of a low tone instead of a high pitched jet engine noise. The low tone Im suspecting is tire noise so I'm just waiting 10k miles more and then I'll switch my tires out for quiet ones. So to break it down, yes it helps a lot but.... it also cost a lot. Overall I would do it again because the road noise bothers me that much. The guy that installed it says he has never seen a car with that little sound deadining material. He told me Geo Metros have more in the way of insulation. Thanks Honda :?