How to Soundproof a car - Car soundproofing case study

Many of our clients advise us that the hardest question when deciding to soundproof a car is where to start!

Overall I have spent over 15 years in the field of car soundproofing working with the likes of Jaguar cars, Bentley Motors, Land Rover, Nissan and VW group developing and designing world class car soundproofing components for production vehicles.

Usually there are only three to four steps / processes which can be followed to obtain amazing results when soundproofing your car.

Car Soundproofing Applications

1) Plan you car soundproofing project.

Planning your car soundproofing project is most important step as this can save you time, money and weight within the vehicle. An outline plan will usually provide the best acoustic performance for the least materials, cost and time.

For example: In my experience, unless you are soundproofing a classic car or doing a full restoration, the floorpan has the highest performance soundproofing fitted in the vehicle by the manufacturer. This serves as a benefit if you are only looking to improve your current car soundproofing as this is the hardest part to take out. On the otherhand I find that under rear seats and boot areas are usually very easy to remove and re-fit with premium car soundproofing products.

Here are three items which I always consider when at the planning stage:

Decide the areas of the vehicle which require soundproofing and the order which you plan to soundproof them. Consider the use of one soundproofing material covering multiple areas of the car and if the shapes can be nested together to reduce the amount of material required.
Research which car parts will need to removed and how to do this online. Roughly plan the time it will take to remove the parts. (allow for 15-30 minutes per area cutting and fitting car soundproofing materials)
Plan the tools you require to remove the panels of the vehicle. (for cutting and fitting the car soundproofing materials you will only need a sharp knife / scissors and a board or area to cut them)

2) Choosing the right car soundproofing materials for the right areas of the car is the starting point for soundproofing your car.

There are many complex noise issues created within cars which cover most of the acoustic frequency spectrum.

Usually soundproofing materials are split into three types. (click the links to the relevant categories)

Car sound proofing materials: These lofted soundproofing materials allows sound waves carried in the air into the materia and are usually fitted into air cavities within the vehicle. As a general rule, the thicker the better and the denser the lower frequency which gets absorbed. (see picture below)
Sound transmisson loss products: These products are usually very dense and tend to be thinner materials act as sound barriers and reduce the amount of noise passing through the material. These products are also known as acoustic barriers.
Panel dampening and anti-vibration materials: These products usually bond to body panels and reduce the structure-borne vibration.

To successfully combat a complex noise issue and soundproof your car it is usually advisable to fit a combination of two or three material types to provide optimum acoustic performance.

3) Ordering enough soundproofing materials for the job.

This is always key to saving time when soundproofing your vehicle. If you need to remove seating or door cards the last thing you need is to run out of soundproofing material half way through the job and potentially pay shipping fees twice.

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