Hi guys, hopefully you can help me out or some1 has done this before. So here is what happened: My friend just got a '01 Lexus ES300. Let me tell you, the car isnt perfect performance wise, bt it is sooo quiet inside the car. When we turned the music off there was hardly any road or wind noise. Now when I got into my maxima. The cabin is soo loud when you turn the music off lol. You can hear all the cars pass you on the other side of the highway and everything. Any1 have any clue on whether its possible to somehow make the cabin of the maxima be more confortable in that sense? I never really thought of this until I got into a "quiet" car. Thanks for your help.

 

I agree. I used to drive a GS400 and the noise is the biggest gripe I have with the Maxima. I'm thinking maybe if I Dynamat everything in the car, that might help? Anyone who has done this?

 

a lot of people put extra insulation inside the door seals as shown here: http://www.innerbean.com/housecor/wi...ind_noise.html to quiet down some of the wind noise coming from the door....also, if you have a sunroof, this: http://www.innerbean.com/housecor/su...noise_fix.html is in excellent thing to do...it took me about 5 minutes, and although it didn't totally silence the wind noise coming from the sunroof, it definitely improved it....also a lot of people line their interiors with special silencing material such as dynamat (you can get that at any audio store, or best buy...there are even other brands that can be bought at hardware stores) .... lining the interior consists of underneath the carpets, under the interior door shells, etc. etc.....hope that helped a bit...this is also annoying to me, but it is quieter than several other cars i have been in, including my dad's 2002 expedition and 2005 mini cooper

 

how about dynamat or some other sound insulation?

 

Lexus uses piezo-technology electronic sound cancelling devices. They are basically little electrical devices that are "tuned" to the noise that the car creates, and they emit a signal (silent) that "cancels out" the noise to some degree.

It's kind of like those headphones you can buy, that when you put them on, totally cancel out all outside noise.

I don't think it is really viable/possible to effectively do these on the maxima, since the Lexus ones are actually part of the car.

 

I Extreme Dynamatted my entire car and it is a bit quieter but probably not even close to a Lexus. If you want to give it a shot, start with the front doors and drive the car around. If it seems quieter, move on the the rear doors then the trunk. You may also want to do the floor. I know that there is a lot of sound transmitted through the firewall on vehicles that is why Lexus has a double wall filled with sand for their firewall.

 

insulate the doorpanels and under your carpet..that cuts down on road noise a bit.

 

Thats funny. I complaind that my Max was loud and I got blasted on this site. Go figure?

 

I think we all agree that the maxima is not the quietest of cars.....

 

I don't think its fair to compare a 45k car with a 26k car. The Maxima still gives the best bang for the buck. Here is a MOD you can do: I recently removed all my trunk panels. Then I sprayed the entire trunk (masked the parts that I didn't want painted) with undercoating. While the undercoating was wet I laid down 3" of fiberglass insulation. Then I put back the trunk panels. The car is more quiet now and the MOD cost me around $30.00. I need to do the inside of my door panels with undercoating too.

 

i highly doubt that dynamating will do anything substantial (especially for the cost). dynamat is to add weight to the panels to keep them stationary. it is great to control vibration but not deaden noise.

 

That's odd. My trunk came with asphalt-like dynamat material underneath the felt liner. I thought it was a factory spec. You guys are saying it's not?

I'd like to do my entire interior when I get a chance, but I'm wary of breaking plastic clips or bending something so that the interior bits end up rattling even more. I once drove a rental that had a loose headliner and it was the most annoying thing. I'd like to try the foam-rubber sheets. It's supposed to be easier and lighter than dynamat (more expensive though). Anybody have experience with it? Anybody think about subframe connectors? I think that would eliminate a lot of the reverb through the cabin.

 

well im sure SFC's would stiffen up the cabin a bit, but it wouldn't help any road noise....there still would be vibration from the miscellaneous bumps on the road and the all to common with the maxima wind noise would still be there as well...

 

Sound deadener IS a method of creating a barrier between the outside noise and you inside. That is the main purpose of the product. Not keeping panels stationary. Not only does it work, it works very well. It doesn't control vibration of panels either. It reduces them in order to decrease audible noises created either while driving or from a stereo. I put 192 sqft of Stinger Roadkill Extreme in my car. I drove down a dirt road and heard nothing. It reduced outside noise a lot. I have one of the quitest Max's I have ever been in. Relative to the amount of deadener. It works, and very well. You don't have to go all out and coat every surface to achieve a quite interior. Just hit the worst spots.

 

yeah i want to use dynamat extreme in all the bad places. it works very well.

 

Dynamat is good, albiet expensive. If you are really going to go that far, there is something by Second Skin Audio known as LUXURY LINER. It's a vynil barrier and acoustical cell foam that serves close to as well as the peizo noise cancellation devices in the ES330. I have heard the stuff in a car and WOW, is it effing quiet.

If you want Lexus quiet, though, it'll cost ya...the stuff is $10/sqft. You do the math.

 

RUbberized undercoating is only 5.00 a can and fiberglass insulation is about 10.00 for a roll. The results are great. Dynamat is great stuff but is too expensive for my wallet.

 

What about the sound deadening materials used in the I30/I35? Has anyone looked in those to see what's used and where it's applied?

 

image does not work. you think tis better then dynomat?

 

lol, it better be at $10/sq. ft. that'll eat a hole in your wallet REAL fast....it would almost be better to put a double layer of dynamat

 

for $10 a square foot it better be amazing...unless thats the msrp on the SS product.

 

Yes. It's SUPERIOR in every way. I don't think it's better, I know it is. I have been in a car with complete cabin dampening of luxury liner...so quiet...

Dynamat is not bad, but it's so damn expensive because you have to deal with idiot middlemen.

 

Joo got it, mang.

 

damn this stuff is expensive lol. But WOW, I never knew the LExus was so sophisticated epsecially the ES model. I Guess thats why they are more expensive.

 

so wheres the worst spots on the car so that i can jsut do those?

 

Lexus also uses a different type of glass that lowers the sound going through it. Additionally, they employ diffusers on the underbody/carriage which also effectively lowers turbulence and wind noise.

 

I also second the material sberkley spoke of....IIRC, there was a little write up on some site, I'm thinking it was NPM. They used the asphault, pad,etc and noticed a huge difference. I myself used additional padding on my wife's '93 Altima and an asphault based material for the metal door panels, floor, etc and noted a big improvement. I also deadened above the headliner where there was basically nothing.

And for those who don't already know about it, you can get 40mil thick deadener that's equal to dynamat-at Lowes. Some have found similar products at HD or the northern retailers (Menards?,etc).
At Lowes it's called Peel and Seal and is used by a number of us on various car audio forums but of course, the added benefit is some reduced panel noise....

Jeremy

 

so peal and seal is basically the same thing as dynamat but cheaper right?

 

I used a roll and a half of Brown Bread (cheaper than Dynamat) and measured a 1.8 decibel reduction at 70 MPH before and after, so......it works

I Brown Breaded the trunk, both doors and the car's floor...a loooong weekend of work.

 

Yeah....I'm running a ported 12 (Ascendant Audio) which is soon to be a 15 (same brand) and was getting tremendous liftgate rattle from my work van (yeah, my best system is in my work van!). I ran 2 layers of P&S across the entire gate and it eliminated 90 of the rattles/vibrations...then I took foam adhesive weatherstripping (HomeDepot) and placed pieces under the lengths of wire/connectors/etc that were jumping and vibrating and now the gate is silent. I also ran my front doors w/a few layers as well. I cut out the plastic and metal door panels to add 6.5" Peerless midbasses and after deadening, there was a big difference....
P&S is only $13 at Lowes for ~6" x 25-30feet!! Can't beat the price! Also, regarding smell, I'm down just outside Memphis and it's been over 100deg here lately (heat index) and I've NEVER smelled any asphault,etc. Plus, I didn't even have my door panels/liftgate panel back on yet....
But for superior soundproofing, that acostic cell foam shown above (I believe it was in the May '05 NPM issue) as well as additional carpet padding in the doors, firewall,etc could help....

Jeremy

 

REEKS during the summer.