Addressing Sound Quality Issues (or "Gee, what's in those doors?")
I wonder.... that door card's back side looks rather impressive.
Note: The rear door cards are NOT soundproofed; the back side of those are bare.
Nor is there ANY dampening on the inside of the door skins. I am adding it to the skins on all four doors, plus the quarter panels, which is how I found this. The quarter panels have the typical 1x4" dampener from the factory which is grossly inadequate.
Yeah, I'd say that's the reason I think the car is pretty darn quiet "as delivered" but I don't know when in the production cycle it changed. Nonetheless this is quite "stuffed" and I intend to finish the job and do the same with the rear doors. I was intending to put MLV in there but may not given this; the dampening is going in right now. I am also contemplating changing the factory speakers.
I noted that I hadn't found anything objectionable in sound levels in my car. This is probably why.....
The secret to getting the door cards off without the bitch clips playing with you is that after you remove the door card (use nylon tools and pry AT the clip location) use a NYLON (NOT metal!) tool that has a notch in it of the right size to remove the clips from the door. With a bit of care you can get them all out without breaking ANY of them. DO NOT CUT THEM OFF OR YOU HAVE TO REMOVE THE INSIDE PANEL TO GET THE PIECES OUT!
Note that removing the rear door glass to get the inside panel off so as to be able to clearly access the outside skin looks to be a REAL pain, requiring removal of the quarter window first. I DID NOT DO THIS and instead went through the access point for the cables (removable and secured with butyrene rope which if removed from the door with care is reusable as it remains sticky) and the speaker opening.
You only need to cover about 20-25% of the panel on the inside to materially dampen the resonances. ~25sqft of deadening material (Dynamat or similar) should do all four doors, the two quarter panels (in front of the fuel fill I couldn't find reasonable access to) and the lid of the trunk. The difference should be VERY material when done. I'm in the middle of the job now and will report on the results below.
It also looks very easy to put a material amount of sound insulation in the rear wheel wells between the well and the interior; there's a lot of room there. In addition the Sport's are pre-wired for damn near everything -- now I suddenly want a factory chassis and body manual REAL BAD so I know where all those go and what's in the car because there are a hell of a lot of capped connectors in the trunk space in particular.
This looks to be one of those "take an afternoon and $100 worth of materials and it will make a HUGE difference" things. If your front door cards are not stuffed then you know exactly what it looks like on the 2015s -- and why they're quite a bit quieter.
Note the difference between the front and rear door back sides
I wonder.... that door card's back side looks rather impressive.
Note: The rear door cards are NOT soundproofed; the back side of those are bare.
Nor is there ANY dampening on the inside of the door skins. I am adding it to the skins on all four doors, plus the quarter panels, which is how I found this. The quarter panels have the typical 1x4" dampener from the factory which is grossly inadequate.
Yeah, I'd say that's the reason I think the car is pretty darn quiet "as delivered" but I don't know when in the production cycle it changed. Nonetheless this is quite "stuffed" and I intend to finish the job and do the same with the rear doors. I was intending to put MLV in there but may not given this; the dampening is going in right now. I am also contemplating changing the factory speakers.
I noted that I hadn't found anything objectionable in sound levels in my car. This is probably why.....
The secret to getting the door cards off without the bitch clips playing with you is that after you remove the door card (use nylon tools and pry AT the clip location) use a NYLON (NOT metal!) tool that has a notch in it of the right size to remove the clips from the door. With a bit of care you can get them all out without breaking ANY of them. DO NOT CUT THEM OFF OR YOU HAVE TO REMOVE THE INSIDE PANEL TO GET THE PIECES OUT!
Note that removing the rear door glass to get the inside panel off so as to be able to clearly access the outside skin looks to be a REAL pain, requiring removal of the quarter window first. I DID NOT DO THIS and instead went through the access point for the cables (removable and secured with butyrene rope which if removed from the door with care is reusable as it remains sticky) and the speaker opening.
You only need to cover about 20-25% of the panel on the inside to materially dampen the resonances. ~25sqft of deadening material (Dynamat or similar) should do all four doors, the two quarter panels (in front of the fuel fill I couldn't find reasonable access to) and the lid of the trunk. The difference should be VERY material when done. I'm in the middle of the job now and will report on the results below.
It also looks very easy to put a material amount of sound insulation in the rear wheel wells between the well and the interior; there's a lot of room there. In addition the Sport's are pre-wired for damn near everything -- now I suddenly want a factory chassis and body manual REAL BAD so I know where all those go and what's in the car because there are a hell of a lot of capped connectors in the trunk space in particular.
This looks to be one of those "take an afternoon and $100 worth of materials and it will make a HUGE difference" things. If your front door cards are not stuffed then you know exactly what it looks like on the 2015s -- and why they're quite a bit quieter.
Note the difference between the front and rear door back sides