Im in the final stages of restoring my Ute, and just bought some carpet to put in the interior... Ihavnt driven my car for about six months but i remember that there was heaps of road noise when i was driving around- especially at any speed over 80km/h. Does any one know how to get rid of this problem? I know it will probably add weight to the car but at this stage i dont care... any advice on the subject would be really appreciated

simple! wear ear plugs!!
i remeber one of my mates parents bought a toyota(camry, i think) and they were saying that is really quiet because it had a tar layer in the cabin and all over the under carrage and as a result it was heavier than a commodore, another fellar that owned a 1600(510) he thought of a bright idea of filling the guards with an expandable foam,the kind used by buiders. The original idea was for strength while rallying, the idea was on the off chance that he stuffed up and side swiped a tree the car would just bounce off and keep going, he comented that it significantly reduced the noise, only problem with the idea was when he finished the race he had that much gravel in all four wheel arches you could use it as road base for a drive way, there was sh#t loads, so that idea can canned. Me personally, i love the noise, i wouldn't have it any other way. From memory if you ring companies that rustproof cars, some of them also sound deaden, they might might be able help you or lead you in the right direction. let us know how you go.

Hi Astro... you have a couple of choices... You can go with any or all of these. I design custom car interiors and this is what I've done in the past... I've just finished my own 120Y and the difference was tenfold.

1: put a sound deadening mat on the inside of the bonnet and on the firewall. I have on my XR2 Turbo Convertible and that made it as quiet as a mouse.
2:install underlay prior to putting in the carpet. Use the hessian stuff, not the foam (fire resistant)
3: use Dynamat and put it wherever you can afford to. I say this because it is very expensive (not worth the money IMHO)
4: use cloth materials wherever possible, It absorbs road noise (which is about a 200 hertz frequecy) well. eg - cover the cardboard kick panels.

If you follow these steps, you should make a difference. I hope this helps you out.

Excessive road noise is fun,......for a little while, untill the adrenelin rush passes, ....then it sucks, particularly on longer trips. Who cares if it adds a few pounds weight. If it makes the car more pleasant to drive, then it's worth every cent & every ounce.

With utes especially a good trick is to put the stick on sound deadening material that was mentioned earlier under the hoodlining and behind the seats. I've also tried the spray on stuff inside the door skins and under the guards.
I'll squeeze it where ever i can cause I like it nice and quiet, rattles sh%t me right off too

A guy at the car audio shop near my house recomended this stuff called sound off, at $50 dollars for 1 litre( he recomended at least 4 litres) Im thinking its a little too much!! I bought a new moulded carpet, and i askked for the underfelt so that one thing ive got. I went to jaycar the other day, and they sell sheets of sound deadener for 10 a roll- each one weighs about 4kg but they seem pretty good... I think that most of the noise was coming from the firewall, but i do remember that at higher speeds allot of noise would come form the diff- mostly because it was'nt geared for 100km/h speeds? I think... Has anyone else experieced this?



Thanks so much for all your comments

Hi Astro...

You'll probably be fine by putting the deadener on the firewall as well as using the underlay.

One other thing I sometimes use is a product calles BlackMastic. It's a bitumen based compound and feels like, for lack of a better word, goo.

Remember you need to eliminate the road noise, your underlay and deadener will take care of the engine, but your TYRES make the road noise. Consequently, you need to get some of this BlackMastic, put on a rubber glove and smear it all over the inside of the mudguards. That will kill a lot of noise.

Have fun !

I've put down the deadener and the underfelt and the carpet... Im feeling pretty confident that these layers will kill most of the sound. Now im just worried about the noise from the diff. but hell it's been so long since i've driven the car im not sure if i was imagining things...

Thankyou so much for helping me out guys

Anb008 im off to look for some of that BlackMastic stuff tommorow thanks!

Glad to help... Remember, it is a LOT easier to apply on a hot day, the hotter the better. Also, it takes at least 24 hours to cure so it is an exercise in patience too