Sound Deadening Square Foot needed?

[ErylFlynn]

I just ordered my Armorlite and have one box of 36 square feet. Will that be enough, or should I order more?

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[fourfa]

Totally depends how extreme you plan to go. I’ve only had one box of 25 sq-ft and have used it for three or four different Jeep projects (including additional sound deadening under Armorlite) and still have about a third left over. I’ve also seen some other people that didn’t leave a single sq in of factory surface visible. Up to you. I’d probably see how far 36 takes you personally

 

[Escape.idiocracy]

I pulled the door cards, did the inside of the door skins, the floors, and the back of the cab and it took me 2 boxes/72^2’

 

[ErylFlynn]

Just planning to do the floor is all. Sounds like I might be ok. Next issue is going to be seat jackers, can't seem to create an account with them.

 

[Buffalobrian]

I pulled the door cards, did the inside of the door skins, the floors, and the back of the cab and it took me 2 boxes/72^2’

Do you feel doing the floor and doors made a significant difference? Was mulling over doing the same on mine...

 

[Jefe1018]

When I did my interior with the same product, I bought the kit for the JT and did the entire floor, removing front and rear seats. I had like 2-3 full sheets left iirc.

Edit - by same product I mean the hotheads kit. Not sure what the sq footage is.

 

[ErylFlynn]

I used a bit over 36 square feet when I did mine. Was able to do floor and hard top with 2 boxes of Kilmat at 36 Sq feet a box.

 

[Escape.idiocracy]

Do you feel doing the floor and doors made a significant difference? Was mulling over doing the same on mine...

The doors were a significant difference. The floors- not as significant as the doors. it’s been awhile- but other Jeep owners when they have gone for a ride say that mine is way quieter than theirs .
For me- when we take road trips for several hours on the highway, our hearing no longer has to adjust… and the radio doesn’t have to be jacked up to hear tunes.

 

[ErylFlynn]

The doors sound like a major pain to do though.

 

[Escape.idiocracy]

The doors sound like a major pain to do though.

They really aren’t… there are a couple YouTube videos for how to remove the door cards.
To be honest the biggest pain was getting the panel behind the back seats off.

Doors took maybe 20min a piece?


Several videos on YouTube help with the “unknown”

 

[XraytecH]

I've read around the interwebs that just simply covering the large areas is enough to make a difference. Don't go crazy with covering every square inch and cutting shapes that look like Florida just to cover that little sliver of exposed floor pan.

 

[chr15m]

I've read around the interwebs that just simply covering the large areas is enough to make a difference. Don't go crazy with covering every square inch and cutting shapes that look like Florida just to cover that little sliver of exposed floor pan.

The car/truck forums lean heavily on full coverage, yet the AV and audiophile forums, where typically the real measuring and engineering is being done, recommend 25% coverage.

The Aluminum/butyl layer is a anti vibrational layer, so full coverage really doesnt do much. Tire and road reflection frequency is roughly in the 1khz range and nearly impossible to block or fully reflect in a vehicle. We're talking needing material that's closer to 1"+ in thickness, density dependent.

Cover what is easy to cover and doesnt require multiple boxes. The vibration layer does help with heat and some of the noise of the body itself vibrating while driving down the road, NVHs basically. Which is what most I believe are thinking is a reduction in exterior noise permeation.

You can add closed cell foam on top of that layer to help more with temperature control and some marginal sound reflection, mainly though for inside noises, higher frequency reflections etc. Which is why the Hothead headliners are nice purely for stereo and talking, but dont really do much for wind noise.

So yeah, I agree with XraytecH here, dont go crazy, do whats easy and cost effective. The floor and roof are useful, the doors and rear cab wall, considering the location to vibrating parts and reflection being lower, are less important.

Mine is probably about 30-40% covered with 80mil alum/butyl and 150mil CCF on the floor. I did that much because I used up the box I ordered and the floors are really easy to cover in the jeep, very flat and the carpet comes up easily. The roof has headliners, I recommend those, splash reflection from the tweeters and talking is noticeably reduced. I measured before and after, approximately a 2-3 peak DB reduction, which could be said to be half as loud in the truck now, but its not, since that's peaks. The idle noise is closer to 1-2db at most, cruising on the highway is the same.

Then again, if you have success with the placebo effect, disregard all this and enjoy the massive noise reduction you will get. Just don't spend a lot.

 

[Buffalobrian]

They really aren’t… there are a couple YouTube videos for how to remove the door cards.
To be honest the biggest pain was getting the panel behind the back seats off.

Doors took maybe 20min a piece?


Several videos on YouTube help with the “unknown”

I actually just finished the whole project. First I started with the floor, then did all four of the doors, and finished with a headliner. I could not get the panel from behind the back seats to come off. I eventually stopped after snapping one of the mounts clean off and decided that was enough carnage for one job. I have pictures of everything but I'm waiting for an opportunity to do a decibel reading now that the work is completed. Once I have that, I'll post pictures of everything to hopefully help the next Wrangler or Gladiator out...

 

[ALT2870]

The car/truck forums lean heavily on full coverage, yet the AV and audiophile forums, where typically the real measuring and engineering is being done, recommend 25% coverage.

Sound guy here. Yes 25% is the common number given for sound deadening. Remember that is 25% of the total surface area. Even then though every application is different and more coverage may be needed for example a particular wall/area may need additional coverage. The problem vehicles is that sound comes from many different directions unlike a theater where we know sound is coming from one particular source. I don't think it's unreasonable in a vehicle to dampen more then 25%, I'm sure you'll see a better result with more. Many different outside sound sources so 75% or better is probably reasonable. Floor and doors at a minimum would be my recommendation. Now if you want something to really irk me, those of you that boost the low, mid, and high EQ and expect a different result are insane.

 

[SaiintNick]

The doors sound like a major pain to do though.

They actually are a pain. People with patience have better luck than I had. My goal is the floor and back all before Armorlite flooring. The doors make a huge difference though. I just don't think I can do that again.

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