Page 1 - Vehicle Info & System Diagram
Page 2 - Audio Components (Prior to Installation)
Page 3 - Sound Dampening
Page 4 - Vented Enclosure Designs
Page 5 - Leather & Wood Dash Interior
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Trunk lid:
I first removed the trunk lid cover. As you can see from the pictures, there were gobs of epoxy between the two pieces of metal on the trunk lid. I cut away the excess epoxy with a razor blade and prepped the surface twice with acetone and a lint free cloth.
I then applied a single layer of Dynamat Xtreme using a wooden roller tool. I applied it in small sections and spent a good amount of time molding each piece to the contours of the trunk lid. I used two 18" x 32" sheets to cover the entire surface. I highly recommend wearing gloves on your hands when working with this material. The edges of the aluminum are extremely sharp.
I discovered some deep hollow sections on the trunk lid behind the tail light and license plate areas. These definitely needed to be filled with something dense, so I decided to use some carpet padding foam. I cut it into small pieces and stuffed the hollow sections with it.
I also applied carpet padding foam to the backside of the trunk lid cover. I first prepped the surface with a shop cleaner, and then used 3M Hi-Strength 90 spray adhesive and a razor blade to apply the foam.
The trunk lid cover was then reapplied. The trunk lid literally weighs four times as much as it did before I began. The end result? Absolutely no audible rattles or resonances from this area.
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Rear Deck (Top):
I unbolted and removed several body panels and the rear deck cover. I then removed the factory foam padding and the stock speakers. I prepped the surface twice with acetone and allowed it to dry.
I used two sheets of Dynamat Xtreme to apply a single layer over the entire surface of the rear deck. I left the speaker cutouts exposed.
I precut some carpet padding foam to fit the contours of the rear deck. I then lightly prepped the aluminum surface of the Dynamat Xtreme with acetone, and sprayed the entire surface with 3M Hi-Strength 90 spray adhesive. I allowed a minute or so for the glue to tack and then pressed the foam into place.
The rear deck was then reassembled. Rear speakers will not be used in my setup, as I am not a fan of rear fill.
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Rear Deck (Bottom):
I decided to apply dampening mat to the bottom of the rear deck as well. Again, I prepped the surface with acetone and allowed it to dry.
I used a single 18" x 32" sheet of Dynamat Xtreme and covered most of the surface. Also, I cut out a section of this sheet and used it to dampen the back of my license plate.
All hollow sections were filled with carpet padding foam. Rattles and resonances from the rear deck were a major problem before I began, and now they are completely unnoticeable.
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Rear Seat:
I noticed some audible road noise and resonances originating from the area beneath my rear seat. The foam within seats themselves do much to filter out this noise, but I still felt this area needed to be treated. I prepped the area with acetone and used three sheets of Second Skin Audio STFU-80 to cover the entire surface. It helped quite a bit to dampen the road noise emitted throughout the rear of the interior cabin.
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Trunk Floor:
This was a major problem area. Besides emitting road noise, there were sections of the trunk floor that resonated and rattled horribly when I simply tapped on them with my fingertips. A high excursion, high powered subwoofer will do much more than simply tap against this metal, so I decided to treat the entire trunk floor. The carpet was removed and the surface was prepped with acetone.
I used seven sheets of Second Skin Audio STFU-80 to cover the entire floor and the spare tire well. I also treated the two compartments to the left and right of the trunk floorboard.
I then applied several layers of carpet padding foam to the trunk floor. Due to an odd resonance, I actually used eight layers within the spare tire well. The carpet padding helps to reduce road noise and audible resonances, and prevents the spare tire cover from vibrating against the trunk floor.
The paneling and trunk carpet was then put back into place.
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Front Doors:
I carefully removed the plastic door cover and peeled off the water guard from the outer door panel. I also removed the factory speaker and the metal panel covering the bottom access hole. I then prepped both the inner and outer door panel twice with acetone.
I used two sheets of Dynamat Xtreme and one sheet of Second Skin STFU-80 to apply two layers to the inner door panel. This area was extremely difficult to treat and thus not every inch of panel could be covered, however I was able to apply mat to most of the surface.
I then applied multiple layers of material to the outer door panel. Two layers were used on the solid surfaces and I actually used four layers to cover up the empty sections. I was not able to cover up all of the holes using the dampening mat alone, so I used liberal amounts of silicone caulk to fill in the gaps and to completely seal off the front panel. When properly implementing an IB alignment, it is essential that the front of the woofer cone is completely isolated from the back of the woofer cone.
