My car is very quiet, but it can always be quieter! So just finished one of the rear wheel arches with one layer of silent coat, then another layer of 5mm closed cell foam. 

 

This is an easy job really:

Wheel off

Remove various torx bolts, some are a bit more awkward than others but they all come out easily. 

Clean with alcohol then set about the insulation. I stayed away from the dirty area of bodywork around the shock that the liner leaves exposed as I didn't want crud building up on the insulation. Also added some to the liner itself.

While it was all exposed I applied some rust treatment (blue coating in pic) to the dust shield and various corroding bolts.

Liner on and job done. 

About 1.5 hours not rushing things.

Will do the other side when time permits.

Edited 2 April, 20197 yr by Steviedakota

Thanks 

48 minutes ago, Steviedakota said:

My car is very quiet, but it can always be quieter! So just finished one of the rear wheel arches with one layer of silent coat, then another layer of 5mm closed cell foam. 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for posting. I am going to do the same thing soon. What is this picture showing, confused?

Photo just shows some rust treatment on the rear suspension arm. Inside the offside rear arch.

I am thinking of doing the same to mine at some point.   Has it made a noticeable difference?

12 minutes ago, daveb99 said:

I am thinking of doing the same to mine at some point.   Has it made a noticeable difference?

@Steviedakota yes, has it improved the road noise , I.e. becomes less ? I find my sport line kinda noisy on the pirellis.. annoying because sometimes I just want to cruise and chill. 

19 minutes ago, KeteCantek said:

@Steviedakota yes, has it improved the road noise , I.e. becomes less ? I find my sport line kinda noisy on the pirellis.. annoying because sometimes I just want to cruise and chill. 

 

Hard to tell yet, only did one side. But the car is very silent anyway, petrol, 17"s with 68db tyres. Also did the boot floor a while back. I'd say you will get a much better result by ditching those Pirellis.

35 minutes ago, daveb99 said:

I am thinking of doing the same to mine at some point.   Has it made a noticeable difference?

 

Every little helps, this and the boot floor and I'd say you will notice a difference. Given it is relatively cheap and easy, go for it.

34 minutes ago, Steviedakota said:

 

Hard to tell yet, only did one side. But the car is very silent anyway, petrol, 17"s with 68db tyres. Also did the boot floor a while back. I'd say you will get a much better result by ditching those Pirellis.

 

I have the Pirelli’s too.   Horrible things.   Which tyres do you have, if they are 68db?

34 minutes ago, daveb99 said:

 

I have the Pirelli’s too.   Horrible things.   Which tyres do you have, if they are 68db?

 

Landsail LS588 (215/55 R17 94W) 68CB

 

Courtesy of the previous owner from Halfords. Thought they would be Chinese junk but are super quiet and grip well in both wet and dry.

 

https://www.tyreleader.ie/car-tyres/landsail/ls588-uhp/215-55-zr17-94w-943458?utm_source=compare&utm_medium=google-shopping&utm_campaign=tyre&gclid=Cj0KCQjwkIzlBRDzARIsABgXqV__8ivRIk9kwZ2UlXmCFvxEf0uNvcjrpt8qoHk-yuIXrgI9nReZg6oaAnJWEALw_wcB

 

Edited 2 April, 20197 yr by Steviedakota

Did the nearside today. Much quicker than the other side now that I have an idea of what's what. Probably added more insulation than the driverside. Once again treated any rust while in there. 

 

Next up is the fronts using Silentcoat from Amazon and 10mm closed cell from China. €30 per axle, cheap and satisfying DIY job.

On 02/04/2019 at 22:32, Steviedakota said:

Photo just shows some rust treatment on the rear suspension arm. Inside the offside rear arch.

 

Link to your Chinese closed cell foam?

 

And so how do you rate the change in noise on a coarse chip road?

8 hours ago, digifish said:

 

Link to your Chinese closed cell foam?

 

And so how do you rate the change in noise on a coarse chip road?

€ 16,58  35%OFF | 12pcs / lot Vehicle Insulation Closed Cell Foam Sheet 10mm Car Van Sound Proofing Deadening Insulation Car Hood Insulation
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/bR0qnLGM

 

Hard to quantify the gain but it does seem like there is less tyre noise coming from the rear of the car. 

 

If you want really big gains though changing tyres is the best bet. The Contis on the rear are 72db tyres, changing to 68b would see a dramatic improvement.

1 hour ago, Steviedakota said:

€ 16,58  35%OFF | 12pcs / lot Vehicle Insulation Closed Cell Foam Sheet 10mm Car Van Sound Proofing Deadening Insulation Car Hood Insulation
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/bR0qnLGM

 

Thanks for sharing your experiences.

 

 

Great work, I’m planning to do the same on mine, together with new tyres at some point.

 

Do you think 2 layers of the 10mm foam would make much difference, and would it fit behind the arch liners?   How thick was the Silent Coat you used?

 

Or maybe a 10mm layer on the body, with 5mm on the liner itself?

 

 

Edited 7 April, 20197 yr by daveb99

5 hours ago, daveb99 said:

Great work, I’m planning to do the same on mine, together with new tyres at some point.

 

Do you think 2 layers of the 10mm foam would make much difference, and would it fit behind the arch liners?   How thick was the Silent Coat you used?

 

Or maybe a 10mm layer on the body, with 5mm on the liner itself?

 

 

 

2mm silent coat, sounds thin but but the tap test shows it massively deadens the sound. You may get two layers of 10mm in places, but I found there was not much clearance at the top of the liner. 

 

Stuff doesn't stick well to the liner as it not plastic like the front liner, but a fabric type material. Not sure the silent coat would adhere to it. The foam does, just about. 

 

Go for it. Noticed it was very quiet on the motorway today, well pleased!

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00NVF9OIA/ref=ppx_yo_mob_b_pre_ship_o0_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Another day, another wheel arch for the Silent Coat. 10mm foam. This time DS front. So getting the liner off is quite a bit more hassle than the rear, though still not too hard. Lots more screws which extend all the way to the front valance. Once it was out you will see there is not that much surface to cover, the leading edge of the arch there is no metal at all. So I covered what I could with two layers, and also put a big piece of foam into the trailing edge inside the wing. There also lots of cut outs and holes which I did not want to cover in case they were required for drainage.

 

Then I ran into trouble getting the liner back on. Foam on the arch and liner at the bulkhead side meant it was too thick, not enough clearance  the screw holes would not line up. So I had to remove some foam from the liner. That sorted it and I replaced all the screws loosely to get everything to line up. Once they were all in I tightened them up.

 

Definitely more fiddly than the rear, where I suspect you will see bigger gains. But every little helps, tomorrow I'll go at the other side.

 

Third photo is trailing edge inside the wing there that tall plastic trim sits.

 

 

Edited 17 April, 20197 yr by Steviedakota

Noise on motorway at 70mph. 

62db is very very good at 70mph. What did you use to measure the noise levels?

Just an App on my phone so maybe not very scientific!

 

I put up the wrong picture of the exposed arch, correct image here.

52 minutes ago, Steviedakota said:

Just an App on my phone so maybe not very scientific!

 

I put up the wrong picture of the exposed arch, correct image here.

Likely not very accurate and doesn't give the octave readouts but if you have a before and after reading, then it will give a good idea of reduction. 

NS done this morning, once again much quicker after doing the other. 

 

Interesting that while the brake dust shields the rear were very corroded, fronts look like new. Go figure.

 

Next job it to do under the rear seat.

So took the rear seat out, plenty of surface to cover there. While the seat at base is out you can access the bolt that secures the outside seat back cushion. Whipped that off, one bolt, lower tab and upper tab. Once again, lots off metal and holes that could be covered and also covered the underside plastic of the cushion. Also filled pathways between boot and cabin where noise can penetrate. No pictures I'm afraid as I was flat out. Everything went back as on it came off. 

 

Knackered now, need beer.

Thanks again for sharing this info. 

More OCD noise insulation. This time removing the hatchback liner and insulating inside the hatch. 

 

This job would have been tough but thanks to a photo by Purritt I knew exactly where the retaining clips where. Remove the grab handle (torx screw), unscrew the bump stops, then work you way around the clips starting each side of the boot latch. I didn't remove the cover but left the clips attached at the window glass side. This still gave me plenty of access to work.

 

Silent coat means the metal now has a nice thud when tapped, the tinny sound is gone, then applied 10mm foam to the reverse of the liner. 

 

Everything slotted back perfectly, no broken clips. Took just over an hour.

 

Once again, sorry there are no pics!

On 03/04/2019 at 05:26, daveb99 said:

I am thinking of doing the same to mine at some point.   Has it made a noticeable difference?

 

I just started on mine here. I will be doing the wheel arches next. Definitely the boot floor was a big win. Something you can do without any spanners Wheel arches next week. 

Edited 5 May, 20197 yr by digifish