road noise

[BRZnut]

I just sprayed undercoating around the wheel wells. Not super quiet but better

[maj75]

I had an ISF before the FRS. The noise in the FRS was really unacceptable to me. It reminded me of the 1980 Toyota Tercel. I know Toyota tried to make the car light and left out sound deadening, but I decided to fix what was a problem for me.

I ordered 40lbs of NVX sound deadener and my son and I took two days to install all of it. We stripped out the entire interior with the exception of the dash. Here are my observations:

The trunk is a terrible noise generator. I stuffed seam sealer rope between the exposed edges of the trunk panels. I then covered the area with NVX sound deadener. I put more NVX into the openings sticking them to the underside of the trunk skin. Added maybe 3 lbs and the trunk no long sounds like two tin cans rattling. No resonance now when the trunk is tapped or closed.

The trunk floor is not too bad. I installed a few sections of NVX in the spare tire well. The rear quarters are very noisy. They boom like an oil drum. I placed patches of NVX over 50% of the quarter panel. Access with the interior stripped is really good. I could reach the whole quarter panel even above the wheelwell. I also put strips of the NVX on the boomy parts of the wheel well itself.

I places more NVX panels on the aa under the rear seats, about 20% coverage because it was pretty quiet. The main floor area under the seats was pretty dead, but I went with 90% coverage there. I covered the trans tunnel about 60% including the areas under the factory blanket. I did put NVX under the jute type factory insulation present in the forward footwell. It is not glued down so it is easy to move.

The doors got rope seam sealer wedged between the door skin and the door beam. We covered the doors about 80% because we had the material. The doors not shut with a thud.

The car is much quieter. There is still a fair amount of engine noise, but the tire noise, and external noise is dramatically reduced.

Was it worth it? Obviously some here think adding weight to this car is sacrelige. I could care less about another 40 lbs... It was worth the effort to me because I appreciate the sound (or lack there of) of a well built car.

One area that I left alone was the huge area in the sill. I could stick my whole arm into the sill area and still have room to move it around. This would be a great area to fill in with automotive structural foam. There would be good access to pour in the foam through the openings for the sill plate clips. I left this project for another member...

[post_break]

Originally Posted by maj75

I had an ISF before the FRS. The noise in the FRS was really unacceptable to me.

Thanks a bunch for your detailed post. I'm hoping to tackle a similar project soon! Did you do anything north of the dash?

[maj75]

No. I left the dash alone. Too much hastle with wiring, ductwork, etc.

[DanoFA20]

at 73mph i hear this winning noise only at that speed though i hear the trans spinning a lot at in most gears wanted to know if anyone else hears that high pitched winning at like 72-74 mph?

[chris's fr-s]

Originally Posted by maj75

I had an ISF before the FRS. The noise in the FRS was really unacceptable to me. It reminded me of the 1980 Toyota Tercel. I know Toyota tried to make the car light and left out sound deadening, but I decided to fix what was a problem for me.

I ordered 40lbs of NVX sound deadener and my son and I took two days to install all of it. We stripped out the entire interior with the exception of the dash. Here are my observations:

The trunk is a terrible noise generator. I stuffed seam sealer rope between the exposed edges of the trunk panels. I then covered the area with NVX sound deadener. I put more NVX into the openings sticking them to the underside of the trunk skin. Added maybe 3 lbs and the trunk no long sounds like two tin cans rattling. No resonance now when the trunk is tapped or closed.

The trunk floor is not too bad. I installed a few sections of NVX in the spare tire well. The rear quarters are very noisy. They boom like an oil drum. I placed patches of NVX over 50% of the quarter panel. Access with the interior stripped is really good. I could reach the whole quarter panel even above the wheelwell. I also put strips of the NVX on the boomy parts of the wheel well itself.

I places more NVX panels on the aa under the rear seats, about 20% coverage because it was pretty quiet. The main floor area under the seats was pretty dead, but I went with 90% coverage there. I covered the trans tunnel about 60% including the areas under the factory blanket. I did put NVX under the jute type factory insulation present in the forward footwell. It is not glued down so it is easy to move.

The doors got rope seam sealer wedged between the door skin and the door beam. We covered the doors about 80% because we had the material. The doors not shut with a thud.

The car is much quieter. There is still a fair amount of engine noise, but the tire noise, and external noise is dramatically reduced.

Was it worth it? Obviously some here think adding weight to this car is sacrelige. I could care less about another 40 lbs... It was worth the effort to me because I appreciate the sound (or lack there of) of a well built car.

One area that I left alone was the huge area in the sill. I could stick my whole arm into the sill area and still have room to move it around. This would be a great area to fill in with automotive structural foam. There would be good access to pour in the foam through the openings for the sill plate clips. I left this project for another member...

Any pics

[maj75]

No pics. It was kind of messy with the rope caulk and the sound deadener. I didn't feel like stopping the progress to clean up so I could take pictures. It took us 6 hours to strip the car because we were figuring how to take everything apart. It took us 6 hours the next day to do the installation and reassembly. No extra parts, clips or screws left over.

The forum was a huge help. We used the threads on door card removal and console removal. The hardest part of the whole process was getting the console out. The cubby in the lower dash needs to come out to reach a couple of screws that secure the console. There is no good way to get a grip on the cubby to yank it out. We used a long screw driver to push it from behind before we could get it started. It will come out, it just takes the prober application of leverage!

There are some pictures on the forum (in the audio section IIRC) that show the rear quarter speakers that do a pretty good job of showing the huge open area in the rear quarters.

My son was a huge help and he did a lot of the install. I cut and he stuck. He fits better in the interior than I do. I could lose the 40 lbs I added to the car and no one would probably know

[Sport-Tech]

1 Box - 500 pairs foam earplugs - $15 at safety supply outlet. Problem solved (except that talking bit).

[maj75]

Assuming that the car being loud is the "problem" that is not solving the problem...

Driving with ear plugs (that could keep you from hearing) wouldn't be very safe on the street. Certainly a reasonable "solution" on the track. However, no matter what some think, the FRS is not a race car.

The bottom line is that if you think the car has too much interior noise, there is only one solution, adding the sound deadener that the factory left out. It isn't hard and doesn't take much time.

If you like the interior sound level, :happy0180:

[Gen]

Originally Posted by maj75

The forum was a huge help. We used the threads on door card removal and console removal. The hardest part of the whole process was getting the console out. The cubby in the lower dash needs to come out to reach a couple of screws that secure the console. There is no good way to get a grip on the cubby to yank it out. We used a long screw driver to push it from behind before we could get it started. It will come out, it just takes the prober application of leverage!

Errm...just stick your finger around from the side amd push the USB port out. Once that is out of the way, you have a nice hole to grip. No need for screw drivers!

[maj75]

Yep. Just saw that idea in another thread that does a great job documenting the console removal. I think the pictures were in a thread about replacing the HVAC LEDs.

[Capstan]

Wow, you pulled out the entire interior. I would have no problem with adding the insignificant amount of sound deaden-er weight in order to kill the road noise but I can't see myself getting all the interior covers off. I don't think many people could do it and put it back together without damaging a lot of it.

[Fallen hero]

Originally Posted by Capstan

Wow, you pulled out the entire interior. I would have no problem with adding the insignificant amount of sound deaden-er weight in order to kill the road noise but I can't see myself getting all the interior covers off. I don't think many people could do it and put it back together without damaging a lot of it.

If you take your time and use plastic remover tools you should be fine ... Just take a little guts to get started

Trust me after you add the sound deadener you will have much more enjoyable right