Dynamat Xtreme Review

[zoomlfe]

First of all I know that others have had great results with competitors’ products. That’s fantastic and I encourage them to share their feedback on what they’ve used. This thread is solely to share my feedback with the Dynamat Xtreme product and my experience with it. I can’t provide any comments on any other product since I have no experience with them. But in the end, all these products have the same goal of reducing noise in the cabin. So as long as it works and others are satisfied with their results. Then I really couldn’t care which brand to go with. People I knew had good results with dynamat so that’s what I went with.

I did two layers on the back and all along the floor. Fire wall, chassis floor, manual transmission tunnel, and foot wells. Only did one layer on the doors and behind each speaker. In total I used a little less than 48 square feet. Bought 1 Dynamat 104455 Xtreme Bulk (36 sq.ft.) along with 1 Dynamat 10435 Xtreme Door (12 sq.ft.) from Amazon for a total of $188 free shipping. Total shipping weight came out to 30 pounds. Figure a couple of pounds packing shipping material and scraps of unused dynamat. So ~28 pounds or so of total added weight. But considering that I took out my rear speakers, don't have a spare, don't keep anything in the car and have lost 60 pounds in the past 13 months. I'm okay with ~28 pound gain for a more comfortable better sounding ride.

Driving Impressions Post Installation

Right off the bat the door closes with authority. A solid thud to let you know it's closed. If I had gone with two layers on the door and added the second one to the inside of the door panel, I'm sure it would've given that Mercedes / Porsche like bank vault thud. Sitting inside I did notice that it was a little quieter than before.

Starting the engine brought the same sounding engine and exhaust note. I was a little worried the dynamat would dampen engine noise and dullen the appeal. No need to worry. I can still hear the engine plenty well. It's the chassis vibration and the outside noise that seems to disappear. Now keep in mind that noise will still come through the windows and windshields since they're made of glass. But the lower half of the inside of the car is much quieter now. Much more like a new car feel and less like the tin can plasticky feel of imports from the 1990's.

After spending days researching and hours reading every single post I could find. I was pretty hyped about how much "quieter" and more "luxurious" the two was going to be. First let me start with: "if you want it to be like a Lexus, then save yourself the time, hassle and money and get a Lexus." Dynamat will not turn it into a luxury car. What it will do is stop vibration, reduce road noise and provide better insulation. I found the last claim appealing since the inside cabin of my car feels like a sauna during the summer. But it hasn't been hot or cold enough for me to notice a difference at the moment.

While driving around local streets, right off the bat, vibrations that used to transmit through my chassis are no longer noticeable. The car was definitely quieter but it wasn't that dramatic of an improvement. I may change my mind if I get a chance to drive someone else's MR2 back to back with mine to test this out. What it was really effective in reducing / eliminating was the higher pitched frequencies. Squeaks, creaks and some road noise.

So after a bit of driving around local streets I decide to hop onto the highway along my favorite route. At highway speed the cabin is much quieter than it used to be. What used to be an annoying buzzing vibrating mess of engine revs, exhaust note, road noise, wind noise, outside traffic has transformed the driving space into a much more enjoyable environment. Engine and exhaust still sound the same. Difference is the chassis vibration is gone. Road noise has quieted down. Wind noise is still the same but that's because my car badly needs new weather seals. There are gaps along the worn seals that I can poke my finger along and hear the wind coming in. Outside traffic noise has been cut down by a bit. You can still hear other cars but I don't really notice it the way I used to.

Call me crazy but the car just feels better put together now. Almost like a newer car. It feels as if the chassis was a little stiffer. Maybe it just seems that way because at over 60 mph I used to feel everything transmitted through the chassis. That and the constant road noise (I felt) made the driving experience less enjoyable. The dynamat made it more enjoyable to me. It just feels more confident at higher speed. Like it wants to be pushed faster. With the quieter cabin I can hear the turbos on boost more clearly. It sounds great.

The music sounds much better now too. I went from having the volume at 20 to now listening at 13. I can now hear nuances in musical notes. And my ears are happy at no longer being constantly bombarded with so much noise while driving. IMO, this level of sound deadening is how Toyota should've made the MR2 with from the start.

Conclusion

I think the improvements are noticeable but it’s not enough to change the overall character of the car. If I had to quantify this change on a scale of 1 to 10. I would say a Prius running on electric power is a 1. It’s super quiet without the engine running and because of its efficient aerodynamics. On the flip side, I’d give a stripped out race car with full exhaust and no cats a 10. Talk about loud and uncomfortable. The MR2 before dynamat was a 6. After dynamat it improved to a 4. Not a tremendous change, but just enough to make the driving experience more enjoyable while being more comfortable. I thought it was worth it while gaining ~28 pounds.

Some others have had even better results by applying 2-3 layers dynamat along with a layer of dynaliner on top. Applied on all metal surfaces along the firewall, floor, foot wells, manual transmission tunnel, inside roof, quarter panels, inside trunk, inside frunk, all three hoods. But this is more for the hardcore looking to compete in SQL. And the weight added would be much more than ~28lbs.

Plus I think that someone wisely said, “You will always be chasing to sound dampen the next loudest thing.” My goal was to reduce cabin noise enough so that I can enjoy both the music and the driving experience more. So I’m pretty satisfied with the overall results.

[tranger]

This Sunday Im going to use deadner paint and add dyomat on top of it. Because Im on conference calls alot as I use this car for telecommuting I want to deaden all noise as much as possible. Im also going to put seal and peel outside of the firewall because I heard seal and peel stinks dont want it inside the car. Also planning on using quick foam to fill in any areas with lots of air pockets and seal up known issues with air coming through where the tweeter is located. Ill keep you guys posted and see if just how much better this is. Deadener paint $80 at Amazon. $80 for 50 Sq Ft Rattle Trap FatMat 80 mil. 2 seal and peels $35. About $200 invested DIY project. Lets see if its worth the time and money.

[Smurfcrusher]

The top post is very similar to my experience with Hushmat Ultra. My only regret is that I couldn't hear the whine of the turbo afterwards. The lower frequencies are much harder to silence.

Tranger, I'm very much interested to hear your results. FYI you can get a free sound meter app for Android that let's you measure decibels. It's actually calibrated with professional equipment for a number of phones. If I recall correctly I was about 96 dB after installation. I didn't have the app before installing.