staying_tuned
Well-Known Member
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Hey folks, I just wanted to mention that the reduction in NVH as a result of deadening the trunk, floors & doors has been amazing. I'm midway through a budget bose upgrade but the improvement is so great that I'd recommend doing this regardless if you plan to upgrade your audio or not. The end result will be a far better sounding stock system and FAR less fatigue from road, chassis, interior & exhaust noise. I spent quite a bit of time in a Porsche C4S and was astounded by how quiet that car was despite being so densely packed with capability in such a small package. I could drive it from sun-up to sun-down and not feel wrecked and I realized most of that was simply due to it being peaceful inside. I remember the only sound that stood out when not deep in the throttle was tires working.
That is what the Z sounds like now, just tires working. Music doesn't have to fight for priority and while the motor & exhaust are certainly present, they aren't intrusive. What is entirely gone is the creeks, pops, clicks and trailing shakes and vibrations that occur after every bump in the road and close of the door or trunk. If I had to sum it up, I'd say all of the incidental noise you find in anything under $85k-ish is gone. That's no bash on the Z, it's a masterpiece at the current price-point but they can only do so much. You'll notice as you reveal paneling that they tried to do what they could, a bit of factory deadening is in place but nothing like you'd see in a euro sports car etc. A weekend of part-time work will address that.
The work is straight forward in our car too, no need to gut anything. The seats come out very easily and that would be the absolute hardest part, the rest just takes a bit of time. I'd suspect you could deaden the trunk, floors and doors for well under $100 in deadener. Weight-wise I've likely added just shy of 20lbs of deadener but boy does that 20lbs make a difference.
Here are some tips in case you do it:
- Trunk: Very easy and some of the most bang for your buck. Just pull all your carpets and foam inserts. Deaden what you can see, here is a post from when I did mine.
- Floor: Lucked out on the floors for our cars as far as accessibility is concerned. Fold your seats all the way then move them all the way back. Pull the 2 front bolts on each. Then move your seats all the way forward to access the rear two bolts and remove. Tip the seats back to unplug the adapters and pull them on out. From there you need only pull the door lip trim and the forward fuse panel cover/kick-panel area. Unclip the carpet from the holders and bungee cord it up while you deaden. This will give you enough access to cover 75% of the floor, here are a few shots.
- Doors: These have to be the easiest door panels to pull, even easier than the 370 & 350. Pop off the triangle by the handle and the access panel midway down to expose a total of 3 10mm bolts. Remove, Unplug the 3 grouped electrical connectors and pull the lines for the lock. These are simple enough to do nearly blind. Then pull the corner reflector so you have a good handle to simply yank the door panel off. Unlike most, these down sit on the window track, they literally just stick to the insides of the door via clips and 3 bolts.
Ok hope that helps anyone looking to sound deaden the car.
That is what the Z sounds like now, just tires working. Music doesn't have to fight for priority and while the motor & exhaust are certainly present, they aren't intrusive. What is entirely gone is the creeks, pops, clicks and trailing shakes and vibrations that occur after every bump in the road and close of the door or trunk. If I had to sum it up, I'd say all of the incidental noise you find in anything under $85k-ish is gone. That's no bash on the Z, it's a masterpiece at the current price-point but they can only do so much. You'll notice as you reveal paneling that they tried to do what they could, a bit of factory deadening is in place but nothing like you'd see in a euro sports car etc. A weekend of part-time work will address that.
The work is straight forward in our car too, no need to gut anything. The seats come out very easily and that would be the absolute hardest part, the rest just takes a bit of time. I'd suspect you could deaden the trunk, floors and doors for well under $100 in deadener. Weight-wise I've likely added just shy of 20lbs of deadener but boy does that 20lbs make a difference.
Here are some tips in case you do it:
- Trunk: Very easy and some of the most bang for your buck. Just pull all your carpets and foam inserts. Deaden what you can see, here is a post from when I did mine.
- Floor: Lucked out on the floors for our cars as far as accessibility is concerned. Fold your seats all the way then move them all the way back. Pull the 2 front bolts on each. Then move your seats all the way forward to access the rear two bolts and remove. Tip the seats back to unplug the adapters and pull them on out. From there you need only pull the door lip trim and the forward fuse panel cover/kick-panel area. Unclip the carpet from the holders and bungee cord it up while you deaden. This will give you enough access to cover 75% of the floor, here are a few shots.
- Doors: These have to be the easiest door panels to pull, even easier than the 370 & 350. Pop off the triangle by the handle and the access panel midway down to expose a total of 3 10mm bolts. Remove, Unplug the 3 grouped electrical connectors and pull the lines for the lock. These are simple enough to do nearly blind. Then pull the corner reflector so you have a good handle to simply yank the door panel off. Unlike most, these down sit on the window track, they literally just stick to the insides of the door via clips and 3 bolts.
Ok hope that helps anyone looking to sound deaden the car.
