Dynamat

 

D
I'm about to build a system that is sure to rattle my doors not to mention my trunk. I know Dynamat is a good for absorbing the air and giving you a good tight bass, but it is also very expensive. Are there any good substitutions for Dynamat.
 

Dynamat is expensive but it works very well. Stinger has a product called Road Kill that is very similar but I don't know how much $$ you will save..if any.

The purpose of Dynamat is to add mass to the shell of your car. As panels and pieces in your car vibrate, they consume the energy produced hy the woofers. The more mass something has, the less it vibrates and the more SPL you will produce. Anything you can do to add mass to the shell of your car will help but there isn't much that outperforms the pro-grade Dynamat.

Dynamat is a thick rubber sheet with adhesive on the back, that's all it is. The big benefit of Dynamat is that the large sheets can be cut to fit perfectly and they cover up holes. When you pull the door panels and remove that plastic liner there are big access holes all over the door. Dynamat covers the interior door frame as one big piece...much better than putting little strips on the metal parts. Besides helping the rattles, a fully 'matted car rides verrrry quiet and the heat/cold insulation is another big benefit.

New Jetskis come in a wooden crate when the dealer receives them. Under the jetski is a rubber strip about 24" wide and upwards of 7' long and THICK. Some simple green to clean the rubber and some contact cement later...works just as good. Get creative, see if you can find some thick rubber sheeting somewhere that you can have. Make sure it doesn't stink (some rubber really smells foul) and make it attach to the panels. You're not looking for a barrier like the cheap plastic sheet in the door, you need it to bond to the body panels.

You can also get that rubberized undercoating spray and put it on about 1/16 - 1/8" thick but make sure the surface is squeaky clean (or bare metal) so it doesn't fall off. This stuff is about $10 per can and you'll need to get about 3-4 cans to put a coat on the major panels (floorboards, door panels, roof..) but you can actually end up spending more for the spray than Dynamat if you get too generous with the thickness.

The rattles in the trunk are best dealt with by keeping the sound pressure in the cabin of the car and out of the trunk.
 

Almost forgot!

I have heard that Home Depot has some sound dampening material that is mucho cheaper than Dynamat. Might be worth dropping by and asking...but I've never actually seen it used, just rumors.
 

teflondog
yes motoman, home depot has a product called ice guard which is used on roofing for added protection. depending on where you live, the local home depot should have ice guard. (if you live in a place where it doesn't snow, chances are home depot won't stock any for you.) you can buy this stuff very cheap. $100 will get you 50 sq. feet. it would cost you over five times that much if you bought 50 sq. feet of dynamat xtreme. i've used ice guard and it works just the same as dynamat. you can cut it to your liking and it even has the same adhesive on the back.
 

D
Thanks alot for the help, I also saw a guy on CarDomain use carpet padding to fill the holes in his trunk. He said it was inexpensive, bought it at home depot, and more important worked very well.Thanks Again
 

teflondog if it is not called ice gaurd try ice and water. i have been roofing for three years and thats what we call it. also if you shop a round sometime the hardware stores have damaged rolls of this stuff cheaper than $100 a roll.
« Previous Thread Next Thread »



Main Forums

Today's Posts

Forum Help

Follow Us