Quieting the Silver Beast: Sound Deadening my ‘07 Sport

[Bluesky 07]

Yes, 36 SF of each was enough.

 

[gloch]

Does any of this mitigate wind noise? I get so much wind noise on the driver's side door.

-gl

 

[Trekburt]

Subscribed! Thanks for the great pics

 

[riceandpho]

once you guys add a layer to the front floor areas, its alot quieter when you drive during rainy days. i can barely hear the splash at the wheel wells.

im waiting on new speaker adapters and should be redoing some of my deadening in a few days. took advantage of the discounts from tacotunes so i decide to replace my mdf speaker adapters, hopefully my 4 sheets of secondskin is enough for front and back speaker area. also trying some new soundskins rings. its replacing the fast rings.

 

[JVC8790]

Great thread! I have a box or two of sound deadening left over from other projects that I have slowly started to use in my 4Runner. The first thing I did was the inside of the hatch and the hatch plastic interior trim. Only issue was this added weight wasn't something that my rear hatch struts could keep up with. I think I went a little overboard haha.

In others experience, it seems like doors, rear wheel wells, and front floor are the best bang for the buck, does this seem right to those that have done a bit more deadening than I have?

 

[Bluesky 07]

[MENTION=92251]gloch[/MENTION], doing the doors & the inside of the A-pillar trim does help with wind noise.

 

[gloch]

[MENTION=92251]gloch[/MENTION], doing the doors & the inside of the A-pillar trim does help with wind noise.

Good to know. Thanks!

 

[JuniorPigeon]

This is super well done, great thread.

I doubt that I actually will get to it anytime in the near future, but man I would like to.

 

[98Runner]

Loving this thread. I have a bunch of butyl based deadener and foam in my garage waiting to go in once I figure out the radio details. Sub'd!

 

[adkfinn]

x2, great thread.

I did everything behind the rear seat with NOICO butyl this fall on a lark and was truly impressed at how much it cut the road noise... it was like someone turned the bass up on the factory sub. I was so impressed that I ordered another round of butyl and the thicker foam to go over it and plan on doing the whole interior including the roof save maybe the floor pans.

 

[Bluesky 07]

I recently did the critter screen mod and once I got the cowl off, the empty space under it looked a lot like an opportunity. Out came the Noico and by the time I was done, I had added deadening along with fitting the screen and painting the cowl and wiper arms.

Before I begin, a moment of silence for this poor bastard. Found him apparently stuck half in and out of the hole where a fastener was missing.

Here's the job I originally had in mind before the rabbit hole yawed open before me. LOL

The space lined with butyl.

And with the foam overlay.

Frankly, I didn't expect much from adding deadener there so I was pleasantly surprised to find it makes a noticeable difference and fits in well with my philosophy that every fraction of a decibel counts.

Here are pics of the painting. I used Rustoleum Trim & Bumper and regretted it; the finish is way too glossy for my taste. Had it been somewhere more visible, I would have redone it with DupliColor's excellent product of the same name.

Very happy with the results all around.

 

[chickenman9102]

OP, awesome post! I will be referring to this soon... On that note, I was curious if you have any decibel readings of your cabin? I've attached mine below, I'm quite curious what your readout would be after all of this deadening.

Idle: 46-50 dB
Surface Streets (0-55 mph): 60-65 dB
Freeway (55-80mph): 71-72 dB

These were read with the "most accurate" decibel meter you can get for an iPhone. Unfortunately, I don't have a real decibel meter on hand at this moment, but I will borrow my editor's the next time he comes in for work and let you know if these numbers stand.

The app I used was NIOSH SLM.

 

[Bluesky 07]

Thanks, glad you’re finding this helpful. I’ve been meaning to do the decibel readings so give me a day or two and I’ll see what I can do. I think I have that same app too.

Where in the truck did you take the readings? In your phone mount, or did you hold it up, or what?

 

[AuSeeker]

OP, awesome post! I will be referring to this soon... On that note, I was curious if you have any decibel readings of your cabin? I've attached mine below, I'm quite curious what your readout would be after all of this deadening.

Idle: 46-50 dB
Surface Streets (0-55 mph): 60-65 dB
Freeway (55-80mph): 71-72 dB

These were read with the "most accurate" decibel meter you can get for an iPhone. Unfortunately, I don't have a real decibel meter on hand at this moment, but I will borrow my editor's the next time he comes in for work and let you know if these numbers stand.

The app I used was NIOSH SLM.

Thanks, glad you’re finding this helpful. I’ve been meaning to do the decibel readings so give me a day or two and I’ll see what I can do. I think I have that same app too.

Where in the truck did you take the readings? In your phone mount, or did you hold it up, or what?

Just a little input, I'm not sure the kind of phone you have will matter that much...but having both phones in the same general location within the vehicle when measuring the sounds levels would make the sound levels comparisons apple to apples, also if the AC is on or off during measurements.

 

[chickenman9102]

Just a little input, I'm not sure the kind of phone you have will matter that much...but having both phones in the same general location within the vehicle when measuring the sounds levels would make the sound levels comparisons apple to apples, also if the AC is on or off during measurements.

SO happy to hear you're going to take some readings!

So, I held the phone in my right hand, basically above shifter (acts as a sort of shock mount, so as not to have bumps, etc, give misreading) with the bottom (mic) facing the front window. I left my AC on for these tests since it's AZ and 120 out here... AC will almost always be on so I kept it, but I'll do some readings today when I drive up to Flagstaff without AC and going 85!

Thanks, glad you’re finding this helpful. I’ve been meaning to do the decibel readings so give me a day or two and I’ll see what I can do. I think I have that same app too.

Where in the truck did you take the readings? In your phone mount, or did you hold it up, or what?

See above ^^ :cowboy:

 

[Bluesky 07]

We're in a rainy weather pattern so I'm waiting for the end of the week so as to have dry roads and no rain noise.

 

[Bluesky 07]

Rain stopped and roads were dry enough this morning so here you go. So we're on the same page, my range is the average (LAeq) up to the highest reading (Max. level) per the NIOSH instructions, so the lowest level is apparently not captured. Using a decimal b/c these are the readings right off the saved measurements. I placed your measurements in parentheses for an easier comparision.

Idle: 43.7 - 46.2 dB (46-50 dB)
Surface Streets (0-55 mph): 60.4 - 61.6 dB (60-65 dB)
Freeway (65-75mph): 68.3 - 71.2 dB (71-72 dB)

The other variable is length of the sample. How long did you keep your app going while monitoring the levels?

Hope that helps.

 

[Flash Runner]

I recently did the critter screen mod and once I got the cowl off, the empty space under it looked a lot like an opportunity. Out came the Noico and by the time I was done, I had added deadening along with fitting the screen and painting the cowl and wiper arms.

Sorry to stray away from the sound deadening topic, but can you provide any help in removing the plastic cowl and wiper blade arms?

I need to repaint my wiper blade arms, but all of my searches are just bringing up stuff about the rear wiper blade, not the fronts.

I guess I should do the critter screen while I’m in there too, what did you screw those bolts into?

 

[Bluesky 07]

[MENTION=167323]Flash Runner[/MENTION] - though it's in the 5th Gen section, the instructions in this thread are helpful in removing the wipers & cowl.

This is from my memory, so between that thread and this, hopefully you'll be set. LOL
1. Lay a small piece of blue tape on the windshield along where each wiper blade lies as a guide when you put them back on.
2. Use the smallest flat-head screwdriver you have to gently pry up and remove the small cap at the base of the wiper. The cap conceals the nut you'll need to remove.
3. Remove the nut then stand the wipers up as you would to get them out of the way when wiping the windshield. This releases the tension and allows them to slide off the bolt.
4. Reverse steps to reinstall.

The cowl is attached by clips. Remove them as gently as possible to help prevent damage then pull off the cowl. Some of mine were missing so I ordered new ones from a local dealer's online site, which has pricing as low as anywhere else I can find online. Amazon also offers lots of choices.

As for the critter screen, the opening you're screening off has a couple of tabs toward the front - almost as if Toyota meant to include a mesh cover themselves. I had some nuts, bolts, and washers of the right size so I used them in those holes. For the rest, I cut it slightly larger than the opening then flattened the edges down along the sides.

 

[Flash Runner]

[MENTION=8912]bluesky[/MENTION]_07 thank you! I’ll report back when I get to this to give it a try.

Shout Cherokee County btw, grew up there and went to Etowah. I’ve moved away since though.