Sound Deadening - anyone added some?

[Cubbington]

Hi @ahenners,

 

You’re welcome buddy!

 

Mine was a diesel and did have the factory deadening mat fitted as standard.

 

Remember that while your petrol will be quieter than a diesel, the bonnet is a large panel sitting right above the most vibraty(!) part of the car. It wasn’t just a reduction in engine noise I experienced, just generally quieter.

With regards to yours and @srh007 ‘s comments, definitely do it warmer weather, and cutting big sheets down to smaller sections, especially when trying to wriggle around in the doors makes life a hell of a lot easier.

It is a bit of a job, but if you’re methodical, it’s worth doing the side panels in the boot if you’ve done the floor.

 

I must admit, I’m a bit OCD, and started chasing rattles and squeaks down all over the place - I ended up using hot glue on all the termination blocks in the doors to stop the pins rattling, anti-rattle tape on the climate control panel and ‘egg carton’ foam in the sunglasses holder to stop my sunnies from rattling…admittedly, the system could be played to rather uncomfortable levels without the car rattling itself to pieces 😅

 

Couple of tips if you take the doors apart and want to fit aftermarket speakers…

 

Skoda use 6” speakers. The basket they’re built in has a drainage section to allow water to escape easily. I was suffering from loads of water ingress and couldn’t figure it out until I removed the 6.5” Focal Custom Fit speakers only to find pools of ice in the bottom of them! The baskets have a lip that doesn’t allow drainage like the standard speakers, hence the water pooling, and coming into the car. I cured it by cutting a small ‘V’ into both the baskets and doors (I painted the door cutout with Hammerite anti-rust paint, then put a thin bead of silicone sealant around the inner edge of the speaker hole and basket to prevent water from seeping into the car - it was gone dry after doing that.

 

Secondly, don’t waste your time and money fitting updated speakers in the rear doors. The tweeter on the rear driver’s side door is closer to you than the front, and you just get weird imaging happening. I disabled the rear speakers completely and both time-aligned & EQ’d the front speakers for the driver’s position; the result was a focussed image in front of me, with a wide soundstage that sounded like it was not enclosed in the interior of the car - very much like a well dialled in hi-fi system 😊

Hope that helps,

 

Nick

Edited 27 August, 2021 by Cubbington

[srh007]

On 27/08/2021 at 08:28, ahenners said:

 

Definitely do it in warmer weather if you can. Not only is it more pleasant to be out in for a few hours, I think the deadening material is a bit easier to work with too.

 

Likewise thanks for your insight on the doors. Did you break any clips in the process or did you order any spares just in case? I've still got quite a few deadening sheets left, so unless I find a suitable Superb in the near future there's a good chance I may tackle the doors.

 

That's a really good point that you make about the warmer weather and I will certainly try to crack on whilst we have some lovely sunshine!

 

I did not break any clips when deadening the doors, but I did purchase a trim removal tool set and this proved invaluable. I also used the steps in the workshop manual (available via a Google search and pasted below) to help me see exactly where the clips on the door cards were located. From memory, the drivers side was more difficult as it had the master window control module to remove which seemed difficult to do without breaking.

 

 

I also have enclosed a photo of the factory sound deadening - if you can call it that! I was honestly surprised that they thought it was adequate to leave the factory with so little. But then I suppose that VAG must have some differences between the marques. 

 

 

Finally, I thought I would enclose a photo of the area that rattled the most from the lows that the speakers were playing. It was the plastic area I will show below. I actually removed the plastic panel and wrapped the edges with felt tesa tape. That really seemed to improve the seal created between the door panel and the plastic panel and eliminate the remaining rattles after the Dodo deadening was applied. I also removed the module that has connections going in (that you can see in the photo) and tesa taped underneath it, as this also was rattling! I would highly recommend choosing a playlist of songs that you can play once you think you have finished and you can then made sure there are no nasty noises left before you reassemble the door card. I did this, but not well enough! Therefore a week later I had to remove the door card again to chase down a couple of additional rattles that I had not eliminated the first time around.

 

 

I found the track Ribs by Lorde to be especially demanding of the front door speakers so played this quote loudly with the bass on the head unit EQ set to about +4 to test that I had covered all the rattles and vibrations.

 

I hope this may help and thank you again for the tips on the boot, I'll be trying that very soon!

Edited 28 August, 2021 by srh007

[ahenners]

7 hours ago, srh007 said:

 

That's a really good point that you make about the warmer weather and I will certainly try to crack on whilst we have some lovely sunshine!

 

I did not break any clips when deadening the doors, but I did purchase a trim removal tool set and this proved invaluable. I also used the steps in the workshop manual (available via a Google search and pasted below) to help me see exactly where the clips on the door cards were located. From memory, the drivers side was more difficult as it had the master window control module to remove which seemed difficult to do without breaking.

 

 

I also have enclosed a photo of the factory sound deadening - if you can call it that! I was honestly surprised that they thought it was adequate to leave the factory with so little. But then I suppose that VAG must have some differences between the marques. 

 

 

Finally, I thought I would enclose a photo of the area that rattled the most from the lows that the speakers were playing. It was the plastic area I will show below. I actually removed the plastic panel and wrapped the edges with felt tesa tape. That really seemed to improve the seal created between the door panel and the plastic panel and eliminate the remaining rattles after the Dodo deadening was applied. I also removed the module that has connections going in (that you can see in the photo) and tesa taped underneath it, as this also was rattling! I would highly recommend choosing a playlist of songs that you can play once you think you have finished and you can then made sure there are no nasty noises left before you reassemble the door card. I did this, but not well enough! Therefore a week later I had to remove the door card again to chase down a couple of additional rattles that I had not eliminated the first time around.

 

 

I found the track Ribs by Lorde to be especially demanding of the front door speakers so played this quote loudly with the bass on the head unit EQ set to about +4 to test that I had covered all the rattles and vibrations.

 

I hope this may help and thank you again for the tips on the boot, I'll be trying that very soon!

 

Absolutely cracking post, thanks for sharing the guide and pictures!

 

Quite fancy having a go, may order a new trim tool set first, had one ages ago which was great but can't seem to find any of the tools now! I have that guide on my Dropbox so will pull that up, it's a good shout, especially with the order of the clips. I like the idea of testing it with a track before reassembling, to be honest my door is mostly rattle free, hopefully won't introduce any more in the process!

 

Let us know how you get on with the boot, should be a doddle compared to the doors 👍

[Cubbington]

21 hours ago, srh007 said:

 

That's a really good point that you make about the warmer weather and I will certainly try to crack on whilst we have some lovely sunshine!

 

I did not break any clips when deadening the doors, but I did purchase a trim removal tool set and this proved invaluable. I also used the steps in the workshop manual (available via a Google search and pasted below) to help me see exactly where the clips on the door cards were located. From memory, the drivers side was more difficult as it had the master window control module to remove which seemed difficult to do without breaking.

 

 

I also have enclosed a photo of the factory sound deadening - if you can call it that! I was honestly surprised that they thought it was adequate to leave the factory with so little. But then I suppose that VAG must have some differences between the marques. 

 

 

Finally, I thought I would enclose a photo of the area that rattled the most from the lows that the speakers were playing. It was the plastic area I will show below. I actually removed the plastic panel and wrapped the edges with felt tesa tape. That really seemed to improve the seal created between the door panel and the plastic panel and eliminate the remaining rattles after the Dodo deadening was applied. I also removed the module that has connections going in (that you can see in the photo) and tesa taped underneath it, as this also was rattling! I would highly recommend choosing a playlist of songs that you can play once you think you have finished and you can then made sure there are no nasty noises left before you reassemble the door card. I did this, but not well enough! Therefore a week later I had to remove the door card again to chase down a couple of additional rattles that I had not eliminated the first time around.

 

 

I found the track Ribs by Lorde to be especially demanding of the front door speakers so played this quote loudly with the bass on the head unit EQ set to about +4 to test that I had covered all the rattles and vibrations.

 

I hope this may help and thank you again for the tips on the boot, I'll be trying that very soon!

Good taste in music, and most definitely a panel rattler of a test 😁

 

Great job on the panel, and I found the same in mine - you may also find that installing some Tesa tape around the clips for that control may help reduce vibrations even further…I know that I had a buzz from that too.

 

Keep going, it’s going to be so much nicer once it’s all done 🙂

 

Nick

[srh007]

Thank you @ahenners and @Cubbington for your replies.

 

I’ve greatly benefited from the help and guidance of others in the forum since joining, so I am delighted if the post is of some help to others 😀

[fabdavrav]

For those with the multilink rear suspension, your first "sound deadening" should be the installation of the OEM harmonic damper to the rear subframe, which cancels out most of harmonic resonances in the tubular rear subframe. This part was designed for this subframe when it first came out on the MK5 Golf. The part was not made available until the 2013 Audi A3 saloon..all due to penny pinching.

 

My how to guide on it..all info in this here:-

 

How to retro-fit the rear subframe harmonic damper from the Audi A3 Saloon (2013->) | GOLFMK7 - VW GTI MKVII Forum / VW Golf R Forum / VW Golf MKVII Forum

 

Also for the multi-link rear suspension I recommend that you fit the MK8 Golf lower arm aero covers, again my how to guide here:-

 

How to retro-fit the Mk8 rear suspension aero covers or stone guards to a Mk7 Golf. | GOLFMK7 - VW GTI MKVII Forum / VW Golf R Forum / VW Golf MKVII Forum

 

 

Edited 30 August, 2021 by fabdavrav

[ahenners]

5 hours ago, fabdavrav said:

For those with the multilink rear suspension, your first "sound deadening" should be the installation of the OEM harmonic damper to the rear subframe, which cancels out most of harmonic resonances in the tubular rear subframe. This part was designed for this subframe when it first came out on the MK5 Golf. The part was not made available until the 2013 Audi A3 saloon..all due to penny pinching.

 

My how to guide on it..all info in this here:-

 

How to retro-fit the rear subframe harmonic damper from the Audi A3 Saloon (2013->) | GOLFMK7 - VW GTI MKVII Forum / VW Golf R Forum / VW Golf MKVII Forum

 

Also for the multi-link rear suspension I recommend that you fit the MK8 Golf lower arm aero covers, again my how to guide here:-

 

How to retro-fit the Mk8 rear suspension aero covers or stone guards to a Mk7 Golf. | GOLFMK7 - VW GTI MKVII Forum / VW Golf R Forum / VW Golf MKVII Forum

 

 

 

Thanks for posting, read that thread for the harmonic damper a few weeks ago and added it to my parts list👍🏻

 

I'm still torn on whether to keep the car or change it so any additional spends for now are off and if I recall it wasn't an especially cheap part?

[fabdavrav]

47 minutes ago, ahenners said:

 

Thanks for posting, read that thread for the harmonic damper a few weeks ago and added it to my parts list👍🏻

 

I'm still torn on whether to keep the car or change it so any additional spends for now are off and if I recall it wasn't an especially cheap part?

 

Its about £60 to £70 I think now...

[match14]

7 hours ago, fabdavrav said:

For those with the multilink rear suspension, your first "sound deadening" should be the installation of the OEM harmonic damper to the rear subframe, which cancels out most of harmonic resonances in the tubular rear subframe. This part was designed for this subframe when it first came out on the MK5 Golf. The part was not made available until the 2013 Audi A3 saloon..all due to penny pinching.

 

My how to guide on it..all info in this here:-

 

How to retro-fit the rear subframe harmonic damper from the Audi A3 Saloon (2013->) | GOLFMK7 - VW GTI MKVII Forum / VW Golf R Forum / VW Golf MKVII Forum

 

Also for the multi-link rear suspension I recommend that you fit the MK8 Golf lower arm aero covers, again my how to guide here:-

 

How to retro-fit the Mk8 rear suspension aero covers or stone guards to a Mk7 Golf. | GOLFMK7 - VW GTI MKVII Forum / VW Golf R Forum / VW Golf MKVII Forum

 

 

Can harmonic damper be fitted to Octavia Mk4/Golf Mk8?

[fabdavrav]

7 minutes ago, match14 said:

Can harmonic damper be fitted to Octavia Mk4/Golf Mk8?

 

From the pictures of the underside of a MK8 Golf the two holes are there on the Multilink rear subframe..

[Cubbington]

On 30/08/2021 at 12:47, fabdavrav said:

For those with the multilink rear suspension, your first "sound deadening" should be the installation of the OEM harmonic damper to the rear subframe, which cancels out most of harmonic resonances in the tubular rear subframe. This part was designed for this subframe when it first came out on the MK5 Golf. The part was not made available until the 2013 Audi A3 saloon..all due to penny pinching.

 

My how to guide on it..all info in this here:-

 

How to retro-fit the rear subframe harmonic damper from the Audi A3 Saloon (2013->) | GOLFMK7 - VW GTI MKVII Forum / VW Golf R Forum / VW Golf MKVII Forum

 

Also for the multi-link rear suspension I recommend that you fit the MK8 Golf lower arm aero covers, again my how to guide here:-

 

How to retro-fit the Mk8 rear suspension aero covers or stone guards to a Mk7 Golf. | GOLFMK7 - VW GTI MKVII Forum / VW Golf R Forum / VW Golf MKVII Forum

 

 

Excellent post, thanks!

 

I’ll forward this to my buddy who bought my car 👍

 

Nick

[foregonereality]

Hi all,

 

Am seriously thinking about adding some Dynamat to my own 2015 RS but I don't trust myself to not damage the interior of the car in the process. 

 

Has anyone used a professional installation service they would recommend? I see noise killer offer the service but they won't do the door panels - whereas I'd like the whole car done.

 

Thanks.!