Road noise suppression (undercoating)

Would like to cut the road noise on my 2008 KIA Rondo. Not too bad but certainly not as quiet as my 2000 Silverado pickup.

Would 'Great Stuff', or other spray foam sealants, sprayed on the underside of wheel wells and floor boards be of any benefit? Are there other products? Anybody done this?

Thanks
Ivan Vegvary

Back in the 1950s I read an article in Popular Mechanics magazine about a guy who bought a new 1950 Ford car. He removed the door panels and painted some apsalt roofing inside the doors, then he painted that stuff underneath his car. He said it helped prevent rust and also made his car run quieter.

Ivan Vegvary > wrote:
> Would like to cut the road noise on my 2008 KIA Rondo. Not too bad but
> certainly not as quiet as my 2000 Silverado pickup.
>
> Would 'Great Stuff', or other spray foam sealants, sprayed on the
> underside of wheel wells and floor boards be of any benefit? Are there
> other products? Anybody done this?
>
> Thanks
> Ivan Vegvary

Great stuff is light. You need weight. I used to rub thick roofing tar on
underneath.

Greg

"Ivan Vegvary" > wrote in message
...
> Would like to cut the road noise on my 2008 KIA Rondo. Not too bad but
> certainly not as quiet as my 2000 Silverado pickup.
>
> Would 'Great Stuff', or other spray foam sealants, sprayed on the
> underside of wheel wells and floor boards be of any benefit? Are there
> other products? Anybody done this?
>
> Thanks
> Ivan Vegvary

Some swear by Dynamat: http://www.dynamat.com/

I've no personal experience with it.

Ivan Vegvary wrote:
> Would like to cut the road noise on my 2008 KIA Rondo. Not too bad
> but certainly not as quiet as my 2000 Silverado pickup.
>
> Would 'Great Stuff', or other spray foam sealants, sprayed on the
> underside of wheel wells and floor boards be of any benefit? Are
> there other products? Anybody done this?
>
> Thanks Ivan Vegvary

Small cars are inherently noisy.
They are thin and cheaply made.
There is not much you can do about it except buy
a bigger car. Move up to a Hyundai Sonota or Azera.
You will find them much quieter.
I rent cars frequently and always wear ear plugs
when driving cars smaller than mid-sized.

Road noise is transmitted up through the tires
and suspension into the cabin. The suspension is very
small and thin. You could try different tires and have
soft suspension bushings installed.

On 7/25/2012 4:35 AM, Ivan Vegvary wrote:
> Would like to cut the road noise on my 2008 KIA Rondo. Not too bad but certainly not as quiet as my 2000 Silverado pickup.
>
> Would 'Great Stuff', or other spray foam sealants, sprayed on the underside of wheel wells and floor boards be of any benefit? Are there other products? Anybody done this?
>
> Thanks
> Ivan Vegvary
>

My dad had a Dodge Caliber for a short while. I drove it a few times and
was surprised that it apparently had nothing to quiet down the large
metal panels. It reminded me of a cargo van. It was just unpleasant to
ride about in. He replaced it with a Dodge Journey.

My guess is that you should try the stuff on the doors and roof first,
if there's nothing there to deaden the sound then it should work. OTOH,
I don't have any experience with these products. My gut feeling is that
the self-adhesive mats would work better.

dsi1 > wrote:
> On 7/25/2012 4:35 AM, Ivan Vegvary wrote:
>> Would like to cut the road noise on my 2008 KIA Rondo. Not too bad but
>> certainly not as quiet as my 2000 Silverado pickup.
>>
>> Would 'Great Stuff', or other spray foam sealants, sprayed on the
>> underside of wheel wells and floor boards be of any benefit? Are there
>> other products? Anybody done this?
>>
>> Thanks
>> Ivan Vegvary
>>
>
> My dad had a Dodge Caliber for a short while. I drove it a few times and
> was surprised that it apparently had nothing to quiet down the large
> metal panels. It reminded me of a cargo van. It was just unpleasant to
> ride about in. He replaced it with a Dodge Journey.
>
> My guess is that you should try the stuff on the doors and roof first, if
> there's nothing there to deaden the sound then it should work. OTOH, I
> don't have any experience with these products. My gut feeling is that the
> self-adhesive mats would work better.

Op wants outside stuff. Around here you could just take it to a
rust-proofer.
The cans of waterproofing spray are not any good, and I found the stuff
turns to dust.

Greg

On 7/25/2012 4:30 PM, gregz wrote:
> dsi1 > wrote:
>> On 7/25/2012 4:35 AM, Ivan Vegvary wrote:
>>> Would like to cut the road noise on my 2008 KIA Rondo. Not too bad but
>>> certainly not as quiet as my 2000 Silverado pickup.
>>>
>>> Would 'Great Stuff', or other spray foam sealants, sprayed on the
>>> underside of wheel wells and floor boards be of any benefit? Are there
>>> other products? Anybody done this?
>>>
>>> Thanks
>>> Ivan Vegvary
>>>
>>
>> My dad had a Dodge Caliber for a short while. I drove it a few times and
>> was surprised that it apparently had nothing to quiet down the large
>> metal panels. It reminded me of a cargo van. It was just unpleasant to
>> ride about in. He replaced it with a Dodge Journey.
>>
>> My guess is that you should try the stuff on the doors and roof first, if
>> there's nothing there to deaden the sound then it should work. OTOH, I
>> don't have any experience with these products. My gut feeling is that the
>> self-adhesive mats would work better.
>
> Op wants outside stuff. Around here you could just take it to a
> rust-proofer.

You're absolutely correct. Sorry about that. I didn't know there were
shops still doing undercoating. That sounds so 70s. :-)

> The cans of waterproofing spray are not any good, and I found the stuff
> turns to dust.
>
> Greg
>

On 07/25/2012 10:35 AM, Ivan Vegvary wrote:
> Would like to cut the road noise on my 2008 KIA Rondo. Not too bad but certainly not as quiet as my 2000 Silverado pickup.
>
> Would 'Great Stuff', or other spray foam sealants, sprayed on the underside of wheel wells and floor boards be of any benefit? Are there other products? Anybody done this?
>
> Thanks
> Ivan Vegvary
>

IMHO: bad idea. I don't even like traditional tarry undercoating as if
not meticulously applied promotes rust. I've seen cases in the past
where manufacturers experimented with filling body cavities with foam
for stiffness and noise deadening (e.g. the roof pillars of the Porsche
914) and almost uniformly they caused rust problems. I've also heard
tell of people filling the "frame" cavities of unibodies with
quasi-frame rails with expanding foam and as I'm sure you can guess I
don't like that idea either unless you drive a car that will never see
rain or wet conditions (or even have its underside hosed off.) You
won't like this idea, as it's more work, but my suggestion is this: get
some Dynamat or similar product (basically, a tar-like material with an
adhesive backing on one side and a foil facing on the other - available
under many brand names and at many price points) and remove the seats,
peel back the carpet. Stick the Dynamat (or other product etc.) to the
inside of the floor, and then if it's still not quiet enough, remove the
door panels, and stick it to the inside of the outside door skin. (be
careful when replacing the plastic water shield that is no doubt there;
you want to get that back just the way it came off and have it be well
adhered.) You don't need full coverage of the panels with the Dynamat,
even a little bit on a large panel will help deaden resonance, but more
coverage obviously is better (to a point.)

good luck,

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel

On 07/25/2012 11:58 AM, JR wrote:
> Back in the 1950s I read an article in Popular Mechanics magazine
> about a guy who bought a new 1950 Ford car. He removed the door
> panels and painted some apsalt roofing inside the doors, then he
> painted that stuff underneath his car. He said it helped prevent rust
> and also made his car run quieter.
>

I've used roofing tar as seam sealer on the undersides of vehicles...
actually works fantastically. I repaired a rocker panel on my dad's '73
Chevy pickup back when I was in high school and before I had a welder, I
used sheet steel, roofing tar, and pop rivits. Once the rust hole was
patched, I sprayed asphalt undercoating over for some texture, then
covered the whole mess with some brush on Rust-Oleum. You laugh, but
the last time I looked under that truck (many years later) that repair
was still solid. Roofing tar = good stuff.

nate


--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel