Sound travels through the sheet metal surfaces in your vehicle. Your floor covers the bulk of this. Sound damping this area will significantly reduce noise traveling through your car.
I’ve gathered this information by researching many different sources of information. Sometimes it isn’t easy to find helpful information, but I’m sure you’ll find this useful.
- Firstly remove the front and back seats, the center console, and the floor carpet of your car
- Then prepare the surface area
- After that, apply Dynamat
- Finally, reverse the steps of removal
Installing Dynamat on the floor of your vehicle will
- reduce engine noise
- reduce wind noise
- extend and improve the performance of your vehicle
- improve your car audio sound system (less noise for your car speakers to contend with)
The process for removing the carpet varies from vehicle to vehicle, so I’ve just looked at the most common setups. You’ll need to check your specific vehicle’s user manual and scrutinize the areas yourself.
You should check your car’s manual first. For around $20, you can find a detailed version. The easiest way to find the hard copy repair manual for your vehicle is to select Repair Manuals by Make and Model. Or you can get an electronic version. They both have all sorts of instructions and guides, whether it’s for customization, maintenance, repair, or even simply just learning about the inner workings of a particular vehicle.
Table of Contents
What you’ll need
A panel removal tool kit is required for the panel pins. This is because they avoid breakage of the pins during the removal of them. It’s also useful for prying away the panels without doing damage to your vehicle’s paint job.
Aluminum tape is also needed. You can patch up the parts where there might be gaps left or use the tape to give your application a clean finish.
Wear a good pair of workman’s gloves while working with the material. The foil edges are sharp and cut through your skin. The glue is also best avoided.
You can use metal shears instead of scissors for products like Dynamat and others. You can also use a switchblade.
Use the correct seam sealer (if required) to avoid it setting and causing ripples on your trunk lid. In addition, the seam sealer should maintain some flex when dries.
You may want to get a set of additional Bumper Retainer Clips, just in case you damage some or if you find a few missing already.
Use a portable light system to make it easier for you to see.
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First things first
Start by disconnecting the battery to avoid damage to the airbag. Then remove all the items from the car. Lastly, prepare an area that you will use to keep the items you remove (Seats, console, etc.)
Removing the seats, belts, and trims
Front seats
Begin by pushing the seat all the way back to access the two front bolts. You may find plastic clips covering these bolts. You may hold these clips in place with panel pins, but sometimes they have a screw keeping them in place. Then once the clips are off, you should see the bolt or bolts. Remove these bolts, then pull the seat as far forward as possible. Now the back of the seat may have up to 6 bolts (3 on either side). Again there may be clips concealing these bolts. Finally, following the same process, remove the bolts holding the back of the seat in place.
Front seat Safety belt
The safety belt anchor is attached to the bottom of the seat and will need to be removed first. It is usually concealed within a plastic cover. Remove the cover and the bolt.
Front seat wiring
As mentioned in the beginning, you should have removed the battery terminal. If you lift the seat from the back, you should be able to see the wiring. Then carefully unplug the clamps that hold the wiring in place. The wires are held with a plastic clip to the bottom of the seat. Remove that carefully, then remove the seat through the front door.
Backseats
Cushion
First, you may need to remove the bolts and/or screws holding the cushion in place. You’ll find bolts or a single bolt positioned in the middle of the seat. Use your hand to feel between the top half of the seat and the cushion. Removing this bolt will release the rear cushion pin. You may also find screws at the bottom of the cushion which need to be removed as well.
There is a pin at the back of the cushion and two pins in the front that lock the cushion in place. You can remove these pins from their corresponding slots. You’ll find these roughly in line with the middle of the passenger seat and the middle of the driver’s seat. Begin by lifting the cushion from the front.
You may need to use a lever to achieve this by placing it underneath the cushion and gently lifting the pins on either side. It would be best to release the pin at the back once you lift the seat up and forward. It’s not always required to remove the seatbelt anchor in this step. Lastly, thread the seatbelt clips through the cushion and remove the cushion from the car.
Top half
First, drop the seats forward, and you should find four bolts that release the top half of the backseats that need to be removed. Sometimes they’re covered by a carpeting trim. You may have to remove the plastic clips holding the trim in place first. Then remove all the bolts. Finally, you may need to remove the seatbelt from the guide to avoid it snagging.
Side cushion panels
Once you’ve removed the top half and cushion of the back seat, you may still have side cushion panels in place. These are fitted with a bolt at the bottom that releases them. Loosen these bolts, and you should be able to slide the panel up and out.
Centre console
Begin by removing the gear stick head unit. You can do this by unscrewing it, or you may find a release clip. After that, remove the gear stick cover. You may need to shift the gear stick around to achieve this. Use a flashlight to see where the pins are holding.
Next, remove the plastic or rubber matting in the armrest compartment and cup holders. There should be a set of screws or bolts underneath that need to be removed.
Underneath the handbrake should also be a set of screws usually covered by a clip. Using the trim removal kit, take off the clip and loosen the screws.
Then check the side and back of the armrest compartment for bolts or screws. If you have a cupholder, this should be removed, which may reveal another set of screws. The sides of the front part of the console also may have plastic clips or screws. Remove all of these as well.
After that, the plastic/rubber housing around the gear stick should clip off, revealing another set of screws. This part will need patience as you will need to move the console around until you find the right angle to remove it. Finally, you should be able to unclip the console and remove it entirely from the car.
Seatbelt
It’s usually not required to remove the backseat safety belts. The front seat safety belts are anchored to the floor. There should be another plastic clip covering a bolt. Remove these.
Plastic/Metal trimming
Some of the side trims or kickboards will need to be removed to get to your car flooring. You will need to inspect the panels first. Sometimes you’ll find the weather stripping covering the panel. This needs to be removed.
First, check for any exposed screws holding the trim in place and remove these. If you do not find screws check the panel to see where the clips are positioned by moving it around a little to establish the pressure. At the pressure point, you should find the clip underneath the panel. Then using the panel removal tool, slide the head under the panel and gently push down on the lever to lift it. Do this around all the door frames (Where the carpet is being held in place). Finally, if needed, unplug all the wiring carefully.
Using the proper tool here will avoid you breaking the panel pins which you need when replacing everything.
You may also find a pedal plate holding the carpet in place, which needs to be removed by loosening the bolts.
Rear deck
Adding Dynamat to the rear deck will improve the sound quality of your car speakers. However, this is not required to remove with a floor installation. You may want to consider it while you’re at it.
Removing the flooring carpet
If you followed the steps above, you should be ready to remove the carpet. Do a last check to ensure the carpet is loosened from all clips, screws, and bolts. If this is the first time you’re removing the carpet, you may find the foam sticking to the carpet and the car floor.
The best way to remove the carpet is to roll or fold it as you go along. Start from the front under the steering wheel where the pedals are. Then move to the front passenger side and then up to the gear. These are the trickiest areas to get out. Next, thread through all the wiring carefully. Once you’re done in the front, your carpet should be folded or rolled halfway. Then continue rolling the carpet up to the back seat. Finally, remove it completely from the back car door. You may want to give it a good dusting and vacuum it whilst it’s out.
Preparing the floor surface
The surface area needs to be cleaned before you apply the Dynamat. First, use a vacuum to remove any loose dirt. Then use a cloth with rubbing alcohol to clean off any oil and grease marks.
Installing DynaMat
The best product for this project is Dynamat Extreme. Dynamat Extreme is a sound damping material and comes in 36 Sq. Ft (9 X 18″ X32″). It is designed to reduce resonance and vibration on metal surfaces which in turn reduces road noise. For a more effective solution, you would want to add a layer of sound deadening material. Dynamat offers DynaPad, a Dynamat sound deadening material that can be placed on top of the Dynamat Xtreme (amongst some forums, they go as far as recommending two layers of Dynamat and then Dynapad). This will all depend on your requirements and whether or not you have space under your carpet.
Damping material and comes in 36 Sq. Ft (9 X 18″ X32″). It is designed to reduce resonance and vibration on metal surfaces which in turn reduces road noise. For a more effective solution, you would want to add a layer of sound deadening material. Dynamat offers DynaPad, a Dynamat sound deadening material that can be placed on top of the Dynamat Xtreme (amongst some forums, they go as far as recommending two layers of Dynamat and then Dynapad). This will all depend on your requirements and whether or not you have space under your carpet.
See the detailed installation guide of Dynamat
Re-installation
Follow the steps of disassembly.
Conclusion
By applying Dynamat to your car floor, you may find other areas becoming weak points, and you might want to address them also. Your car’s door panels should be the next to be addressed and then your trunk area. See my post on Car Door Damping DIY and How to soundproof your trunk.
So whether you have a hot rod or just your regular family car, installing Dynamat will afford you a more quiet journey.
Good luck and happy soundproofing!