Element

iTrader: (5)

Price out Second Skin for sound damping. Dynamat is sort of like SLP - it's a big name, but most of the stuff they sell is consumer-level **** for people who don't know how to do their research. Second Skin, B-Quiet, and Raammat are all great sound dampers that aren't too expensive. It's pretty easy to apply, too - you just pull the interior out, cut the damper to fit where you want to put it, pull the paper backing and stick it down. You can use a roller to get in some of the harder-to-reach and weirdly-shaped areas. I did everything from the rear seats to the tail lights in my car over the weekend and it took about 4 hours to get everything laid out, cut, and rolled in. Could go faster if you're not too worried about wrinkles and cutting around all the strange shapes.

TwitchZ28

iTrader: (3)

I was just talking to my buddy today about doing exactly this. I am going to have the carpet up in the trunk this weekend to do the walbro pump install anyway so I was thinking of laying down some deadener back there. How much of a difference did you notice?

Element

iTrader: (5)

A decent bit; right now I'm running dumped duals with no turndowns, so there's an ungodly amount of cabin drone on the interstate, but it did make a good bit of difference after I put the damping in. I put 3-4 layers behind the rear seat upright, on the flat above the fuel tank, and down into the t-top holder area, 2-3 layers in the rest of the space back there, and 2 layers below the rear seat buckets and on the tunnel as far as I could get forward without pulling the front seats. I wound up using the rest on the inside of the console, since it was already out and it let me use scraps instead of trashing them.

If you pull the whole interior from the firewall to the tail lights and did everything, you'd notice a bigger improvement. I'll wind up doing the rest of the cabin over the winter, and probably the doors also.

Second Skin also makes a different type of damping called luxury mat which is a lot thicker than the foil-backed stuff and would probably work really well behind the rear seat upright and on the top of the axle hump...I may have just talked myself into buying some of it to try out.

TwitchZ28

iTrader: (3)

Yeah I was sort of blown away by the prices of this stuff. I mean it just seems expensive to me. I believe secondskin sell like a trunk pack or something and that would prolly cover all the area I need. Hopefully I would have some extra to do the doors.

From what I have read you want a closed cell foam to stop sound and the general dynomatt or raamat or whatever isn't actually made to stop sound but to add weight to stop vibration right?

Element

iTrader: (5)

That's pretty much right. The foil-backed damper is primarily to cut down on resonance due to panel vibration, although it does have some sound-stopping properties due to its density. The various foam actually absorbs sound, but as it's a lot thicker, it can be hard to place, and it is more expensive.

mac62989

iTrader: (1)

Its hard to get a "quality feel" if your not willing to open up your wallet, my .02

TwitchZ28

iTrader: (3)

You aren't wrong, but I am not looking to make my camaro feel like a rolls here...just trying to improve little things where I can on a budget.

Jet49

Aside from tightening all screws and sound deadening, maybe vinyl/suede wrapping the dash and all the interior pieces would help a lot? Add in a small foam in between too.

It seems most of the rattles come from the plastic pieces rubbing together.

got-a-ls1

iTrader: (12)

ill just say the more comfortable you get with something the more **** you notice. you can go drive a pile of **** and think its the greatest just because it feels different. then 2 weeks later you realize its just another pile of ****.... just my observation on cars. thanks for listening.

bad_408_vert

iTrader: (6)

The big ticket items are seats and shocks, however these 2 things will help you enjoy your car the most.
If you are comfortable , rattles & squeaks wont bother you as much.

Small ticket items on a budget are bushings & etc

look into corebeau seats.

I plan to do some sound deadening ,Alacantra (automotive grade suede material) wrap all plastics possible to get rid of all possible rattles & squeaks left over after suspension.

Pretty sure even then, it wont be like driving a Audi S5 or Infiniti G37 or a BMW M3.

Orange Juice

iTrader: (3)

I went on a quest to do the same thing. I pulled off my poly/rod end lca's. Wasn't happy with the Stranos springs so I added air bags to the rear spring. That stopped the suspension from bottoming out. I pulled out all the interior and put in 16 sheets of dynomat. Pulled the poly motor mounts out and replaced them with stock, I couldn't stand the buzz. Then I went to the bank to take out a loan to buy a set of Recaro's.
Its almost there and then I started to get this strange vibration in 6th gear. Car has been in the trans shop for a month and they have pulled everything apart. As I type the driveshaft is being rebalanced and put in to see if that is the issue.
I'm away for another 8 days so I won't know until I get back if the have found the problem.

BudRacing

iTrader: (3)

New control arm bushings help a TON. A nice set of tires can also make a huge improvement if your old ones are cheap and worn.

I went through the same thing with my 2 door blazer years ago. I pulled the whole side apart and wherever there were pieces that touched each other met I put some form of dampener. Helped a lot.

bp m1009

iTrader: (2)

im not sure what rear you have but check your pinion bearing. a slightly worn pinion bearing will cause terrible vibrations at higher speeds

FiredUpZ28

Maybe on paper.... Although I agree that 4 valve is a nice motor.

I'm gonna be insulating my car for road noise as well as lining some of the interior plastic panels with felt so they dont squeak against adjacent panels.

autogeek23

iTrader: (13)

oh my gosh. speaking of rattles and squeaks. ever since i have replaced my LCA's and panhard bar i have this squeak in the rear when the car moves side to side and going over bumps. i spray MY-T-Grease on all my bushings and it just comes back.

my car has 171k mi on it and i do not have SFC's. im on stock springs. rear shocks are kyb gas non adj. front struts are stock. i have a lot of work to do this winter.

i want to do the sound deadening also.

any bump relatively bad my rear suspension sounds terrible. everything is tight suspension parts wise. i guess having **** Kumho ecsta supra tires doesnt help

NW-99SS

iTrader: (6)

I have never ridden in any "quad shock" mustang that felt better than an F-body.

I agree with a few posts above, it wasn't that the Mach was better, it's that it was different and unfamiliar. Give yourself two solid weeks driving the Mach and you will get a real picture of which is the better car.

Of course on tech, Mach's and Turbo Civics are the fastest cars, so quickly get rid of that ls1 garbage and jump into a 4v anything.... LOL

OffspringZ28

iTrader: (8)

Here you go:

- Strano/Konis (Makes it a brand new car, seriously)
- Rip out carpet, install second skin, dynomat, etc
- Get a drone free exhaust out the back (my recommendation: Hooker catback, sounds good, free flowing, no drone)
- Replace suspension bushings
- Replace tranny/engine bushings
- Fill rear end with thicker oil
- New tires
- Replace seats with 6Liter Eater seats (side support, comfy, feel good, etc)
- rub down all weather stripping with some quality moisturizer (shinjitzu grease I think it's called, Honda uses it iirc) this will help windows seal better when closed
- Update stereo/etc to be more modern (iPhone/iPod integration, etc)



This will be a brand new car . Money will be spent but it will be worth it. I've got a couple things checked off that list and my car feels great. Good luck.

TwitchZ28

iTrader: (3)

You know man you very well may be right. That might have happened with that mach. Pretty glad i kept my z...ran a 12.4 @ 108 last night on street tires. Bolt on's only.

ANGRY BIRD

iTrader: (2)

I just replaced my seats with leather Ebony seats and the leather wrapped wheel. My car really feels a lot nicer driving it. Crazy the difference in feel from the base model cloth seats to a set of Trans Am seats.

Im pretty happy with the way my car rides with the eibachs and slp billsteins. Just somethin' to think about.

Orange Juice

iTrader: (3)

The VERY best mod that I have ever done was a $50 set of air bags that keep the back end from pounding. I told a friend of mine this and he couldn't believe it. We both had Stano's suspension except mine were the double adjustable Koni's. He even pulled the Strano's rear spring and put in a different make still had pounding until he added the air bags.