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INTERIOR PLASTIC PANELS
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Now while all the interior was out for the soundproofing and carpet swap, I decided to follow Ryans advise & soundproof the plastic. He stated that the plastic can serve as another layer of soundproofing for a car. The plastic is normally a major cause of interior rattling and buzzing. One it is a loose fit over the cars body, and 2 it vibrates naturally going down the road with bumps adn uneven road surfaces. Then add bass & you give it another reason to vibrate. So making the interior plastic a tighter fit, more dense, and less likely to transfer vibration...you help curb exterior noise coming in and interior music getting out!

So the plan was to used the Sub box carpet on the backside of every plastic panel in the car!

I noticed the factory put more of that recycled fiber mat on the back of most of the panels.

They only used a glue gun and most no longer stuck. W/o it all being totally secure to the panel, it in no way can reduce the panels vibrations.

I pulled all the inner plastic panels in the basement. I gathered my sub box speaker carpet I had gotten form Ryan. I had to thoughly clean the back side of each panel with degreaser to strip off any old trim shine protectant.

Then I had to lay out the sub carpet on top of the area I wanted to install it. With a sharp pair of scissors I cut out the basic shape.

I then got the heavy duty 3M spray glue and I had to coat both the panel and the back of the carpet.

Once the glue tacked up, I carefully held the carpet over the panel, to orient it, to see how it should lay to cover everything. I then started at one end and very carefully laid the material down. I pressed & rubbed the carpet down, as I slowly worked my way across the panel. I had to be sure the 2 glue surfaces made good strong contact. At the same time, I had to be sure there were no air pockets and that the carpet laid even and taunt across the surface. With all the sharp angles on the back of the panel, some area required some stretching to get things to lay perfect. I tried to get it in all one shot, but the carpet was dense (as it should be!) and was not stretching.

Since I did not have to worry about looks, I opted to cut some areas for relief. I got out my SHARP exacto type cutting tool. I used the ones with the breakable renewable ends. Worked great. See the key is to have the blade sharp so it cuts the carpet with very little effort. This SHARP edge will cut the material instead of grabbing it and pulling it. If it grabs & pulls it can pull the material away from the fresh glued surface. This will mess up the carpets ability to stick. Its sticking securely is what gives you a soundproofed surface.

I cut the trouble area and let the carpet go where it would. I then had to go back with scraps to fill in any open spots. As long as you fill all the open spots the carpet will still do the trick, even though it is not one solid piece!

To get things to lay down tight, I also used a roller tool. Its a wooden wheel on a handle. It allows you to exert greater force, in a rolling motion, on an area without causing the material to dent up from you finger tips. It give a smooth tight finish in courners where your fingers can't get.

From there I had to let things dry a bit. The I went back to trim the edges. the knife again worked well here. I just used it by putting the blade out and tracing the edge of the panel. It cut off the excess easily as I went around!

Here is a pic of one of the harder panels in my car...the rear armrest. It looks more like a patch work job...but it warks!

I went over every single piece of interior plastic in the car this way! Some of the T-TOP moldings were such a tight fit I actually had to spray the backside instead w/ the Duplicolor Sound Eliminator, or they would not fit!

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HOME PAGE

Follow this link to additional information on the car not found on this site!
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DIRECTORY FOR RAIF'S STEREO SITE
01 Site Intro
02 Soundproofing Info
03 Soundproofing Doors and Dash
04 Soundproofing Interior
05 Thermoshield
06 Soundproofing Interior Paneling <<<
07 Soundproofing Undercarriage
08 Stereo Wiring
09 Head Unit & Speakers
10 Building The Sub Box: Making The Pattern
11 Building The Sub Box: MDF
12 Building The Sub Box: Sealing
13 Building The Sub Box: Covering
14 Amplifier Specs & Hook Up
15 Amplifier Installation
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