Final Update on 4Runner Audio Retro-Fit.
My apologies for the delay in updating the progress in the speaker, head-unit, subwoofer and MLV/CLD install.
First off. Let me say this was a MUCH more invasive process than I originally estimated. I know the trim/panel construction of my 4Runner better than I could possibly imagined. To put it in perspective, at one point i had removed/stripped the entire interior cabin from the rear hatch all the way to the front firewall, every seat was removed, all of the trim, carpet and fasteners What I expected to take a weekend to install ended up taking nearly 10 days and over 44 man-hours of actual work.
The final product is pretty impressive. I love the new sound. It is exactly what I was looking for. Speakers: The head-unit/speaker install was very straight forward (I ended up going with 6x9 components in the front door with he Tweeters and crossovers stashed in the front dash). With the seats, carpets and trim removed the dual subwoofers were an easy install (the Sony ATT ON wire does not push enough juice to kick on the subwoofers so i had to tap into the 12V power running the cigarette adaptor in the center consul.
CLD (DynoMAT, KilMat) - I ended up using 144 square feet of CLD on the entire cabin. I know this number is a little overkill but I had invested the time and wanted to err on the side of caution versus possibly regretting adding more later. Driving a few days with just the 4Runner with CLD tiles was a unique experience. To a small degree it does drop the noise but for the most part i would say it “dulls” the noise… I don’t know if that makes sense (forgive my South Carolina education here), but the CLD tiles make the truck feel solid (i love the way the doors feel like a luxury car when you open or close them). The CLD tiles make a definitive improvement to the ride but they don’t truly “knock the sound down.” The BEST example i can give is if you are riding with the front windows down and then you roll down the rear hatch window. Both have a certain degree of noise but they SOUND DIFFERENT. If anyone can articulate more concisely what I am attempting to explain here please jump in. Bottom Line: CLD tiles serve a precise role in sound deadening a 4Runner they just don’t significantly make it more quiet.
MLV (Mass Loaded Vinyl): OHHH… MLV… How I love to hate thee… If you have never worked with MLV, it is an experience. I used Luxury Liner Pro (MLV integrated with 1/8’ closed cell foam) from SecondSkin. 90 square feet in 10 sheets. Think of a 18 pound yoga mat you would buy for your wife if you wanted her to be sweating by the time she got from the car to the yoga studio… That is pretty much what a MLV sheet is like. It is great to work on flat, horizontal surfaces but a true bear to work in curves, angles or around ridges. The goal is to create a solid, unbreakable “mat-layer” running from the firewall all the way back. With that being said I DID NOT MLV my rear driver/passenger doors or the rear hatch (i would have run out of product). It took some time to get get used to working with such an unruly product. To join seams I used an electric kitchen knife (think carving a turkey) to remove the closed cell foam from the back from scrap MLV and used HH-66 contact cement to join two pieces.. I concentrated most of my sober attention to the driver/passenger cabin and the rear trunk, wheel-wells and sidewalls. I was surprised the large amount of noise that was coming in the 4Runner from the firewall AND the rear trunk.wheel-wells. (Side Note: Placing MLV inside the driver/passenger door is possible, it just takes a LOT of trial and error. The results are phenomenal but I actually let mine sit overnight closed but not attached so the next day I could see the indentations in the MLV to know exactly where I needed to trim.) I am still not 100% finished with the drivers door but am very happy that I have an entire slab of MV starting 8 inches above the pedals on the firewall running all the way too the rear door hatch seal.
Final Thoughts….
Let me say the first problem I had when putting the rig back together and taking her for a ride was i looked down on a road I had driven 1,000 times before and realized I was doing 24 mph OVER the speed limit (ok… so I normally hover around 4mph). It was astonishing to me how I subconsciously associated noise with a certain speed. The dramatic drop in cabin noise make my mind think I was traveling at a lower speed…
The noise/sound deadening and blocking between the CLD and MLV is PHENOMENAL. I can not hear the sound of the engine regardless of the RPMs and at highway speed I can clearly hear an audiobook (because here in South Carolina no one ever taught us to read), at volume level 5. It is incredible how much the difference is between before and after. The car feels more solid from the CLD and the MLV does an outstanding job of blocking the road/engine noise form the engine, wheels and road. Of course it is not “dead silent” there wind hitting the windshield is now more pronounced (because of the lack of sound anywhere else) but it is hard to describe how quiet the car runs even with all the windows down and the sound system off.
If I had to do it all over again, I absolutely would. I would attempt to recruit help (I did 100% of this project by myself) it is not difficult work just very tedious. To do it all over again, I might think about just replacing the 4Runner’s carpet since I had pulled it completely out of the cabin anyways and would purchase a roll of MLV without Closed Cell Foam to be used as a seam joiner between MLV sheets…. IT was an adventure but I am impressed.
(SO a friend pointed out the program that I am using to measure dBs is not “calibrated” but used it one last time to measure the CHANGE in dBs (before and after). I am going to run a true dB test with a calibrated device on Sunday but will update my numbers below for the changes I observed).
Total Invested: $1,689.00 (Increase 81.00$)
Hours: 48.2 Hrs
dB Reading Idol: 18 dB (Decrease of 14.3%)
dB Reading at Speed: 39.7 dB (Decrease of 22.2%)
dB Reading at 65 MPH/Highway: 56.7 dB (Decrease of 31.1%)
Final Adjustments are still being made to the driver/passenger MLV. Pictures will follow, please feel free to correct any errors I made in my explanation or articulation of the install….
Replace Carpet?
MLV (without CCF)
