Anyone with before and after bracing results?

[ssh 924]

Has anyone done any TL testing with a vehicle before bracing and after bracing?

Mainly looking for daily driver type results.

I've added sound deadening to my vehicle (2002 volvo v40), in hopes of getting rid of rattles and other annoyances.

I haven't applied any treatment to the roof yet. Once I have the subwoofers playing, I'll be able to tell if / how much it needs to be deadened & braced.

I'm just toying with the idea of bracing the roof with 1/8" steel strips, bracing door sheet metal, and other flexing panels across the vehicle.

So not doing any stripper poles, or bolting shut doors.

Just curious if it would be worth it, if there would be an audible increase in output. (When I say this, I'm also aware that sound deadening can sometimes lower spl. But I'm trying to make my vehicle free from rattles and as loud as possible. I don't believe power is key)

Thoughts, tips, any input?

Subwoofers are 2 15" xcons. Amp is a saz3000d.

[CrazyKenKid 64]

hatchback I assume?

I know when I deadened my car (95 grand AM, ya i know POS but why not) which entitles:

4 doors

trunk

my overall gain was 0.1db's on a TL

Once I deaden my rear deck I gained another .4 db's so in my application the doors weren't any huge gain but I also lost a bunch of the rattling once it was all deadened! plus my truck lid doesn't rattle as much any more!

this was all done within a 24hour time frame and amp settings and what not conditions were all the same for all tests.

Now i did NOT deaden my roof of my car because my sub is firing directly into the cabin of the car. and I realize what I posted isn't quite what you are looking for but I thought I would share my findings all the same.

also something to keep in mind which I found out after I deadened everything is that only about 30% of the exposed steel needs to be deadened for sound deadening to be effective! so in a nut shell I added a lot of deadener and wasted cash in the process when I could have had the same results with less deadener!

[ssh 924]

hatchback I assume?

I know when I deadened my car (95 grand AM, ya i know POS but why not) which entitles:

4 doors

trunk

my overall gain was 0.1db's on a TL

Once I deaden my rear deck I gained another .4 db's so in my application the doors weren't any huge gain but I also lost a bunch of the rattling once it was all deadened! plus my truck lid doesn't rattle as much any more!

this was all done within a 24hour time frame and amp settings and what not conditions were all the same for all tests.

Now i did NOT deaden my roof of my car because my sub is firing directly into the cabin of the car. and I realize what I posted isn't quite what you are looking for but I thought I would share my findings all the same.

also something to keep in mind which I found out after I deadened everything is that only about 30% of the exposed steel needs to be deadened for sound deadening to be effective! so in a nut shell I added a lot of deadener and wasted cash in the process when I could have had the same results with less deadener!

Thanks for posting.

Yep hatchback. I know sound deadening won't be a audible increase or decrease in output, but perhaps roof, door, quarter panels, hatch area, and pillar bracing could be noticeable.

Bracing would entail steel strips, wood, epoxy, and expanding foam. But it would all be under the plastic panels, so aesthetically you couldn't tell the difference between stock and it.

Wish I had a tl or spl meter to record my results

[CrazyKenKid 64]

I picked up one of these back in the day!

http://makeitlouder.com/products_soundmeter.html

on ebay for about 80$ bnib! lol! if you would like to borrow mine drop me a pm we can talk business!

[ssh 924]

I picked up one of these back in the day!

http://makeitlouder.com/products_soundmeter.html

on ebay for about 80$ bnib! lol! if you would like to borrow mine drop me a pm we can talk business!

Yeah I've seen those, I just figure the amount spent for one, could pay for more sound deadener and bracing material

I think I'll just keep a log of everything I've done, and dates and meter results from all attended shows.

Depending on show dates and after I get a new alt in, I may shoot you a pm, thanks

[djjdnap 78]

well in theory more vibrations from the car is a loss of DEEBEEZ.

Thats y people all hold the doors and sit on windows at shows.

I'd do it just because sometimes vibrations just sound like ass from the outside of the car.

[ssh 924]

well in theory more vibrations from the car is a loss of DEEBEEZ.

Thats y people all hold the doors and sit on windows at shows.

I'd do it just because sometimes vibrations just sound like ass from the outside of the car.

Yeah I won't have my car rattling like soda cans when I'm driving it down the road.

I'm just gonna install subwoofers, play'm see what all makes noise and flexes, then go from there.

[heckvr4 2]

also something to keep in mind which I found out after I deadened everything is that only about 30% of the exposed steel needs to be deadened for sound deadening to be effective! so in a nut shell I added a lot of deadener and wasted cash in the process when I could have had the same results with less deadener!

i have heard this a lot lately...

could you explain ?

sorry for the thread hijack OP

[emh9009 199]

also something to keep in mind which I found out after I deadened everything is that only about 30% of the exposed steel needs to be deadened for sound deadening to be effective! so in a nut shell I added a lot of deadener and wasted cash in the process when I could have had the same results with less deadener!

i have heard this a lot lately...

could you explain ?

sorry for the thread hijack OP

Search around in the sound deadener section, and hit up http://www.sounddeadenershowdown.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi. Really nice guy, give him an email, or post a question in his "ask a question" topic.

[///M5 2,833]

Even if someone responds with results they've measured it will not apply to your car.

Has anyone done any TL testing with a vehicle before bracing and after bracing?

Mainly looking for daily driver type results.

Daily and TL don't make sense. If you can't hear the difference why would you care?

well in theory more vibrations from the car is a loss of DEEBEEZ.

No. Not a rule of thumb that is viable. Vibrations in phase and matched in frequency will increase the dB's, out of phase enough to be deconstructive will decrease dB's and ones at different frequencies could do either or nothing.

[ssh 924]

also something to keep in mind which I found out after I deadened everything is that only about 30% of the exposed steel needs to be deadened for sound deadening to be effective! so in a nut shell I added a lot of deadener and wasted cash in the process when I could have had the same results with less deadener!

i have heard this a lot lately...

could you explain ?

sorry for the thread hijack OP

You only need ~25% coverage in the center of the panel to control panel resonance. This is what you would use cld tiles for...

Now mlv and ccf, your going to want to pretty much cover everything up. MLV (mass loaded vinyl) is used for sound deadening, so cover everything you can with it. The CCF closed cell foam, goes in between panels so that can't rattle against each other.

So doors for example:

Put a few cld tiles in spread apart across the door sheet metal. This will add some rigidity and help stop the sheet metal from flexing in and outward.

Then cutout a layer of mlv to cover the whole door, use adhesive or velcro to hold it in place (heavy stuff).

Lastly, add a layer of ccf so the plastic door panel doesn't rattle against the actual metal door.

[ssh 924]

Even if someone responds with results they've measured it will not apply to your car.

Has anyone done any TL testing with a vehicle before bracing and after bracing?

Mainly looking for daily driver type results.

Daily and TL don't make sense. If you can't hear the difference why would you care?

well in theory more vibrations from the car is a loss of DEEBEEZ.

No. Not a rule of thumb that is viable. Vibrations in phase and matched in frequency will increase the dB's, out of phase enough to be deconstructive will decrease dB's and ones at different frequencies could do either or nothing.

If someone had TL results with only tenths or a dB gain, then it likely wouldn't be worth it. But if someone came back and gained like 4dBs, then wouldn't that be an audible increase in output?

But I guess it's immaterial since every vehicle will act differently.

Either way, if someone has any results they'd like to post, it would be much appreciated.