Sound deadening a Golf...any results?

So I just purchased my 04 golf tdi (200,000 miles on it) in July and realized that with it being a smaller car, the road and wind noise can be quite annoying. Has anyone used sound deadening material? Any results? Does it help? Brands?

Im not planning to thump my car out like im deaf, I just really want to reduce road/wind noise.

Also, seems as though all my windows when rolled down and back up leave a streak from the roller. Any idea how to get rid?

http://www.sounddeadenershowdown.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi

http://www.raamaudio.com/pages/How%252dTo.html

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/technical-advanced-car-audio-discussion/75418-rammatt.html

http://www.secondskinaudio.com/index.php

http://www.e46fanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=560718

http://www.myturbodiesel.com/1000q/multi/soundproofing-car.htm
Adding soundproofing to your car:
This article will show you how to add soundproofing to your car, give some basic soundproofing theory, and list some good brands of soundproofing for cars like dynamat, brownbread, bquiet, or raammat.

Dynamat or any variant, 3/4" carpet padding, poly fill, copious use of all 3 makes a car quite quieter!

TdiNC said:

...Also, seems as though all my windows when rolled down and back up leave a streak from the roller. Any idea how to get rid?

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There's a seal on either side of the glass. Clean it carefully, make sure you never move the glass if there's material (bird dung, dirt, messy bug splats, etc.) on either glass or seal.

Yeah, I know. We're living on the wrong planet again. Oh, well, I think we'll just have to put up with life on this planet for now.

powder hound, how do you clean the seal? do you have to take off the door panel? what would you recommend to clean it with?

Put a .681 5th gear in it. The reduction in noise at highway speeds is incredible.

Some folks here have added sound deadening to MKIV cars, and reported that there wasn't a big change in noise levels. Maybe others will comment.

I don't think there's a lot of wind noise in my MKIV. But I've been driving it for 10 years so perhaps I'm just used to it.

You really need to check the seals around the windows. They pull away from the frame after some time and really do let a lot of wind noise in. You may also have a particularly loud set of tires as well.

Wheel bearings good? Often the start of wheel bearing noise is very subtle and progression is slow so you get used to the noise. I changed mine and could NOT believe the difference.....just saying

I've got about 125 lbs, of MLV, closed cell foam, and a bit of vibration damper.
I knocked the db level down by 4-5 db at 70 (very dramatic). HOWEVER my car feels no quieter, in fact I got a tin canny comment. The difference, the noise floor dropped down below the squeaks/ rattles and now you hear crap rather than engine/ road noise.
I would need to go through the car bit by bit and eliminate all of those noises to genuinely make a difference.

Also note I've got a 6 speed and a quiet exhaust if that means anything.

Wheel bearings good although I need an alignment and new tires.

Dremd, would you say it's worth investing $500 (+/-) on?

I had steal wheels on and noticed a big difference when I put 17 Audi tt wheels on. When I get new tires early next year I will be getting bigger tires to reduce some of the noise. But I am also debating if this is worth the investment. Anymore opinions/ideas would be welcome

Sound proofing you say?



That works really well

TdiNC said:

Dremd, would you say it's worth investing $500 (+/-) on?

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Worth and $ is such a subjective thing.
I probably wouldn't spend that much, but it is addictive/ keep adding thing, so you may end up in that category.
I'd make sure that everything was sorted/ upgraded prior to adding sound deadening. Tires, bearings, gears make as big of a difference, so keep that in mind.

I used dynamat on my floor on the driver side, found out I had a hole in the floor. I got it patched up and it is a lot quieter now. I don't have the hood liner in place yet, but plan to dynamat the hood as well and see if it makes a big difference. I will have quite a bit of leftover dynamite if you are interested, send me a PM.

I'm only interested if it is enough for a whole GOLF.

Oh, yeah, some other notes.

Factory belly pan + side skirts is a noticeable improvement. I'm running a Panzer again, but plastic was nice. I'd like to get the plastic piece glued / rivited to the top of my aluminum plate.

Engine cover with good sound insulation is also noticeable. I'm using aluminum covered wool which is often times sold as hood liner/ fire mat.

Squeaks + rattles are often louder than the road noise you are trying to kill.

When I researched doing a quieting project on my '04, I remember coming to the conclusion that it wasn't worth it. The work that made the most difference was very labor intensive and the result was a db reduction that wasn't significant.

I think paying attention to tire noise reviews (tirerack) would provide some reduction.

I would think doing the main door seals would give the best bang for the effort, but that's also costly. I guess it depends if you have more money or time.

Wheel wells were the biggest bang for the buck. Please see my post in the thread linked above.

After that, it's a tie between pulling the interior and door panels and installing soundproofing there, including the trunk, and doing the engine compartment assuming you have an FMJ: do the FMJ, add some to the hood under the liner, add some to your engine cover.

My six-speed conversion only dropped things by about 2db. Engine bay was maybe 1-2db. Wheel wells dropped noise by 4-6db. Interior/door panels only 2db. Really estimating here.
Now, running a taller final gear might make a bigger difference if the other stuff wasn't done, if you get my drift. So, take this all with a grain of salt. Doing the wheel wells really honestly did make the biggest difference.

So, I started out at around 82db at 80mph. I ended up with about 73db. That's a 9db difference, which is 8 times lower in sound pressure. At 70mph, I was at about 79-80db. I'm now at 69-70db. For comparison, my buddy's 2016 GTI measures just about exactly the same as mine.

Wish a vendor around here would source and do a group buy on door seals!

When you say "wheel wells were the best bang for the buck", what exactly did you do there?

Add Dynomat-type stuff to the plastic liners? Or pull the liners and apply to the body metal behind the liners? Just wondering how much work to maybe take on...

I recently opened my passenger door and the rain channel seal came off.

I’ve gotten tired of waiting for a group buy of seals so I got the window channel seal (which had split apart next to my head) resulting in significant noise reduction, I can hear the tires rotating on pavement now!

Also I got a new rain channel seal for the side that came of but they are NLA on drivers side. So someone please manufacture these seals. My drivers side one gets stuck frozen and has holes in it but it’s holding on for now.

Make sure all of the body plugs are in place under the car. Replacement plugs are dirt cheap from IDParts, Roseland or other vendors and installation is a few minutes. They make a huge difference.