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Thu May 25, 2006 9:16 pm

And so the first post from me starts. You'll be seeing a lot of me as my 1969 bus project starts and never stops.

So my first question: What is a good way to deaden sound within the bus?

All the pannels have been removed and will be replaced, all the carpet/flooring is gone. Everything is open and ready to be reworked, but I want it quiet inside before I start laying carpet and pannels.

I've slightly looked into sound deadening paint, and sheets (like Dynamat). Has anyone used any, and what are their thoughts on the product(s) that they used. I'm not rich, so $ is questionable on any and all materials.

This project will NOT be a restore back to factory condition, as there are lots of plans for this thing. I'll get into that once I start into my electrical aspect of the project and power distribution.

Thanks for any advice!

I've taken a few pictures of the bus in it's current state located here: http://cityhicks.com/gallery/v/Goatscars/BusProject/

Thu May 25, 2006 10:11 pm

Cool bus!

Dynamat rules. Dont skimp on it and put it everywhere you can and you will have a nice, quiet ride. Also helps to deaden vibrations from subs if you have plans for them.

Fri May 26, 2006 8:56 am

Lots of options. Use the search function and check some of the threads on the topic. It's amazing what has been mentioned. It can go from a few bucks to hundreds of dollars. Just depends on your budget.

John

Fri May 26, 2006 2:48 pm

johneliot wrote: Lots of options. Use the search function and check some of the threads on the topic. It's amazing what has been mentioned. It can go from a few bucks to hundreds of dollars. Just depends on your budget.

John

I did do a search before I posted, but I searched to "Sound Deadening" and didn't want to weed out all the misc. posts to get to what i'm after. I re-searched today for "Dynamat" and voila! Just what I've been looking for!

Thanks John

Sat May 27, 2006 4:02 pm

This is a nice alternative:

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

John

Sun May 28, 2006 7:24 pm

I have used fatmat www.fatmat.com on my Civic. It works great and is a lot less that Dynamat, but they have screwed up both my orders so far thus taking them forever to arrive.

Sun Jun 04, 2006 5:58 pm

This is a really good tutorial on how to insulate and sound dampen your bus.

http://www.type2.com/library/heat/index.html

I would be really hesitant to use the Cool Patch and asphalt tiles mentioned here for fear of an out of control fire that you would have no hope of putting out. The theory is sound, but I would exlpore options of less flamable materials.

Cheers,

Duke

Tue Jun 06, 2006 10:07 pm

Watch where you put this stuff..

There are a lot of posts about (as Duke mentions):
Not! I repeat Not! Installing this in the engine compartment. Unless it is specific to high heat applications.

But yes, insulate the crap out of the interior!

Sat Jun 10, 2006 7:25 pm

here ya go

http://www.sounddeadenershowdown.com/conclusion/

Wed Jun 21, 2006 2:54 am

you can buy the generic dynamat off ebay its 1/2 the price and it works just as good. make sure you use a heatgun! it will mold to all contours and stick wayyyyy better! remember sound deadning material is heavy thats what stops the noise and vibration. take into consideration when doing large areas. i had a bug with 6 15 inch fosgate woofers so i matted the whole car and when i was done i sprayed liquid dynasheild. it worked wonders

Wed Jun 21, 2006 5:23 am

While we are on the subject, does anyone have any idea exactly how many square feet of sound deadening material it takes to cover the inside of a beetle?

Tue Jun 27, 2006 9:09 am

nosmr2 wrote: I have used fatmat www.fatmat.com on my Civic. It works great and is a lot less that Dynamat, but they have screwed up both my orders so far thus taking them forever to arrive.

I ordered 100sq/ft of Fatmat off of fatmat.com on 6/8. On the 14th, my card still wasn't charged so I called them, they charged it and said they would ship the stuff within 48 hours and I would have a tracking number. On 6/20 I called again and asked where my tracking number was, they said it was shipping today and I'd have a tracking number in a few minutes. 4 hours later my tracking number finally arrived. It's now 6/27 and it's out for delivery to my house.

Fatmat is the slowest company I think I've ever delt with, but, you can't beat the price. I'll find out in a few days how well it works.

Thanks for all the info!

Tue Jun 27, 2006 11:19 am

Goatspunk wrote: Fatmat is the slowest company I think I've ever delt with, but, you can't beat the price. I'll find out in a few days how well it works.

Thanks for all the info!

Ditto here on my experiences with FatMat and their shipping practices. Only after calling the company to complain did my order finally get shipped. However, I think you'll find that it is a really good product, easy to apply, priced right, performs well.

As far as how much do you need for the inside of the Beetle, I used a little less than 100 square feet for my car. I used 50 square feet of FatMat and 50 square feet of high temperature resistant B-Quiet Ultimate after reading the write up in sounddeadenershowdown.com. I put the B-Quiet in all the areas where I thought temperature could be an issue (roof, luggage area, floors, etc.) and finished with a layer of FatMat on top.

Tue Jun 27, 2006 3:38 pm

Calisupastarz wrote: I put the B-Quiet in all the areas where I thought temperature could be an issue (roof, luggage area, floors, etc.) and finished with a layer of FatMat on top.

Since I'm putting it on a bus, do you think that the roof will get too hot and the fatmat will fall off in the heat? What about spraying some 3M adhesive down before sticking the fatmat to it? The roof is bare metal, or close to it.

Wed Jun 28, 2006 3:18 pm

Goatspunk wrote: Since I'm putting it on a bus, do you think that the roof will get too hot and the fatmat will fall off in the heat? What about spraying some 3M adhesive down before sticking the fatmat to it? The roof is bare metal, or close to it.

I'm not sure, it probably depends on where you live and where you plan on parking the bus. I was a little afraid of the Fatmat peeling off in our Southern California heat (100+ today!) and oozing into my brand new installed headliner, so that's why I went with the B-Quiet Ultimate, which is more temperature resistant, than the Fatmat in the external body areas that would see direct sunlight and heat (roof, doors, rear quarter panels, etc.)

There are some pictures in this thread of what I did, although keep in mind that I recovered most or all of that stuff in the package tray area with the Fatmat.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=161449&highlight=

I don't think spraying any sort of adhesive would help the Fatmat to stick, in fact I think it might hinder adhesion because of differences in the chemical compositions of the Fatmat adhesive and the 3M adhesive. Fatmat says to use their product on clean, dry surfaces, to which it adheres very well. I would be a little afraid of it not wanting to stick if you applied the 3M adhesive first.

Final advice: Buy the more expensive B-Quiet Ultimate or Dynamat Extreme stuff for the areas you think are going to see the most heat. Then follow up with the Fatmat in all the other areas, or use two layers, first the more heat resistant dampener, then the Fatmat on top. The price you pay now ($100) will be much easier to absorb knowing that your bus's interior will not suffer from heat-peeling insulation, plus your vehicle will be MUCH quieter. With a bus, you've got lots more area to cover so I'd keep laying it down till you use all of the insulation up.

Thu Jun 29, 2006 6:38 pm

Thought I would chime in on this one since this is exactly what I do for a living. There are a ton of dampers out there.
For a good review done by a regular guy in his garage check out this link

www.sounddeadenershowdown.cocm

I only offer this as a guide. Second Skin, my company has nothing to do with the sound deadener showdown. (other than sending him sample when requested)

We have had a ton of customers with vans and buses use our products, so I am pretty familiar with how much of ever time of materials it will take to accomplish a variety of goals.

The most common sound deadening package I have used with your same VW goes as follows:

120 sq feet vibration mat to handle the structure borne noise which accounts for up to 60% of total reducible sound in a car. We sell 2 types, but there are many on the market to chose from. The only thing I suggests is to stay away from asphalt mats at all cost. Use only butyl based damping mats. no asphalt! it is toxic, smelly, and has a low heat rating which means it can melt all over your upholstery. This will go on the floor pan, wheel wells, doors and quarter panels to absorb the vibrations and the noise that is transmitted through them. 120 sq feet will do a solid layer through most of the van w/o the roof. add 40 feet for that.

5 Gallons acrylic coating (ceramic for heat) tons of options out there. We sell 3 types but some other good ones are Quiet Car, Stealthkote and Lizard Skin. This will go on top of the vibration damper to help dampen more of the vibrations that make it through the mat. it will handle different frequencies than the mat does. Focus the liquid in the more vulnerable areas. Tip: the bigger and flimsier the sheet metal is, the more you need.

60 sq feet Noise filter. We sell one called Overkill. basically a closed cell sponge that filters out airborne sound waves that are able to pass through the first damping layers.

13 sq feet of hood liner. A thermal acoustic liner that reflects radiant heat and noise. Good for the engine side of the firewall.

18 sq feet Vinyl backed barrier on the cabin side of the firewall to block sound waves between 200 and 20k hz.

This is a pretty common package for bus guys. We have had some customers go and double this package to make their ride quiet as a 7 series BMW..

If anyone has questions about sound deadening they can call me up
800-67-8511
I am always happy to help whether you use Second Skin or not.

ANT

Thu Jun 29, 2006 11:28 pm

Dude, I put dynamat everywhere in my bug, I have to 12" in there and the sound is perfect. WHen the 12's aren't hitting, there is no vibrations or anything from the engine, and no road noise. I highly suggest dynamat.

Mon Jul 03, 2006 6:17 am

I put Line-X in my Bus on the floor. It's more than 1/4" thick in most areas. There's Dynamat in the doors where it's difficult to spray the Line-X. Because of the corrugation in the floor, it was much easier to apply the spray on liner. Made a huge difference in the noise levels.