Sound Dampening; a brief guide.

[AceX]

If you're like me, you're truck is probably old. Older than you maybe. Also, if you're like me, one or more of your relatives has a much newer truck. Nice isn't it. It rides like a caddy and is quiet on the freeway when compared to your ageing bow-tie.

That's alright, we can make it all better.

The first thing to realise about sound is that it likes to bouce more than a 9 year old with ADD all hyped up on sugar. It will find anything it can to bounce off of too. That's all well and good, but it gets annoying on a long trip or if you've just installed a new set of pricey speakers. You can hear the echos in the doors and through the floor. Annoying as hell isn't it...?

Thankfully, there is a God, and he does love us. He bestowed upon man the gift of Dynamat which will absorb sound like you won't believe.

While expensive, Dynamat, when applied correctly, is probably the most unnoticeable thing you will do to your truck. It's usually hidden from view (although it is shiny) and can fit almost anywhere you can manage to get your hand. Once its installed and hidden away, you kinda forget it's there, which is just the way it should be...

The biggest problem areas in our trucks, are the doors. Big surprise I know... Doors are big, hollow, and steel, and sound loves big, hollow, steel areas. Putting a solid layer of Dynamat on the inside (of the outside skin) of the door should be your first step. You can then chose to put a layer on the inner part of the door which attaches your door panel and such, or you can do small patch jobs or Dynamat, either is fine, it just depends on how much you spend and the kind of results you are after.

The next largest problem area of the truck is the back wall that seperates us from what makes a truck a truck. Putting Dynamat on the entire back wall will do wonders to eliminate even more unwanted sound from reaching your ear.

Next to be covered would be the floor and especially the kick panels. This will eliminate alot of road noise, but, it won't be as dramatic of a change as the two previous areas.

Next would be the firewall and cowl if possible. Again, lots of roadnoise to be eliminated here, but you may need to have some carpet made to cover up all this shiny new Dynamat. Shiny stuff, while cool to look at, is often distracting. Keep your eyes on the road...

Lastly, I would go for the roof. There isn't a whole lot of noise to be eliminated here, but since you've come this far, you might as well finish it off. It does sound better, don't get me wrong, but its definitely not high up there on my "Must Dynamat This Now!" list...

Lowest on my list are the license plates. I have a big stereo. It's going to only get bigger. For $20 a kit, I might as well, and hey, stopped them from shaking when I'm blasting "Doomsayer" by Hatebreed.


For all these applications, Dynamat Xtreme is my preferred choice. You can go to Dynamat's website ( http://www.dynamat.com/ ) to learn more about it and your own application and the other materials that they may suggest. They even have a few simple videos on how to best install your Dynamat in your vehicle.