Sound Deadener - How To
Many people use sound deadener in their installs. Why? Because it helps stop rattles/vibrations by adding mass to the panel it’s applied to and increases bass response in drivers mounted in doors. It can also help reduce road noise, therefore you don’t have to turn your system up so loud and make it work so hard. Road noise can also mess with some frequencies resulting in loss of detail and skewering response.
In this guide I will show you how to apply the deadener in your doors, if you want to apply it anywhere else in your car just use the same techniques.
You will need a heat gun and a stanley knife. Ideally it’s best to do this on a hot day. Then you can lay the deadener out in the sun (see pic. 1) for about an hour and it will become very soft and easy to work with, but be careful because it can get very hot to handle and a bit sticky. You can wear gloves if you wish.
First you will need to take your door panel off, normally there are a few screws holding it against the door, locate these and take them out. Next you should just be able to pull it off but be careful not to break any plastic clips. If it doesn’t come very easily look around for more screws, sometimes they are in hard to see locations.
If there is a plastic sheet (see pic. 2) over the access holes in your door pull it off. It will leave a mess on your door, which looks and feels like bubblegum (see pic. 3), clean it up with some dishwashing liquid and water (see pic. 4).
If the inside of the outer panel is dirty you can give that a clean too, if it’s really dirty the deadener may not stick as well.
Once you’ve cleaned it all up the fun part begins, if the access holes aren’t big enough to get a sheet of deadener through cut it into strips, this can also make it easier to apply. Start on the outer panel and apply the deadener (see pic. 5 & 6), if it starts getting cold and hard to apply heat it up some more with the heat gun. Make sure you get it in the right place because it can be hard to get off once its stuck.
Try and get as much coverage as possible, the more gaps you have the more sound can escape.
If you want to make sure there are absolutely no rattles, take the lock rod and door opener rods out and rap them in a few layers of insulation tape, this just adds a little bit of weight to them and should prevent them from rattling.
When you have finished the outer panel its time to start the access panel. For this panel I covered the access holes with aluminium tape, this makes it easier to apply the deadener, as it won’t sink into the holes (see pic. 7 & 8). Put a few layers on. Apply the deadener in the same way you did with the outer panel (see pic. 9), make sure you don’t cover any holes that the plastic clips use.
Some people also put deadener on the door card itself, this is up to you and you can do it at any time, if it rattles and annoys you, deaden it.
Put the door panel back on (see pic. 10) and stand back and admire your handy work, now your bass should be booming.
