DIY 2005 Toyota Camry Acoustic Damping

[12savefuel]

Hey guys, I have an 05 Camry which is a company car. When I got the car the car has been previously used by another person. So what I noticed was that when I closed the boot lid it sounded very metallic and hollow like closing a standard Viva door with its hollow metallic sound.

Since it's a company car I'm not going to spend loads of my money on a car which isn't mine. So I took this opportunity to try out some DIY acoustic damping to dampen the metalic banging sound when you close the boot lid.

So I went to the the hardware store and bought some weather seal bitumen with alu foil roll. The size was the standard 2"x10m. Cost RM13 after discount.

Firstly I opened up the clips holding the insulation molding.

Once removed you will be able to see the ribs and the sheet metal. Upon inspection I found that the ribs was not attached to the sheet metal like normal. It seems like all the glue has detached from the sheet metal which makes the metallic bang even worse when closing the boot not to mention added vibration and sound when driving the car and sound reverberating off the loose sheet metal.

So started to cut the bitumen strips and started sticking then to the sheet metal and ribs. I decided not to stick the strips all the same direction as to help not to create the same harmonics so with each strip at a different length and direction. I hope to not have the sheet metal have the same resonant freq so different spots will resonate differently helping to reduce any resonant sound which might occur.

After some research and much reading, I have found that fully damping the metal also doesn't really help much more and it just adds extra weight. You have to get the right balance and position. Basically if you tap the sheet metal and that part still "rings and echos" you need to dampen that area. So from what I have read about 70-80% coverage is more than enough. If you over dampen the panel, you will add weight and the car will start to feel "pressurized and enclosed" what you want to get is an "airy quietness" which is less stressful. (But this is very personal, but some would like it the other way round which is fine).

Once finished I put back the insulation molding and all clips and tested the boot by closing it and it sounds just right. Nice thud but yet still light. Then I took it out for a test drive and it was quite noticeable that the back was quieter and the road noise started to shift slightly forward.

Then I went back home and had some extra bitumen tape left. So I decided to open up the side right and left insulation moldings to expose the rear side boot panels. I saw that the factory has already factory stuck a damping panel right in the middle of the whole panel. So with what I had left, I started to tap the side panel where the metal sounded hollow and ringing. So that was the place where I stuck the bitumen tape. It was basically in the lower half section of the panel. The upper portion sounded ok as the upper portion started to curve and was quite solid and didn't flex. The lower portion was more flat and flexible which needed some damping. So I had just enough to do both sides, with that I finished up. There was some places which still could have done with more damping but will leave that for next time when I get some more. So after installing everything back I went out to for another test drive and it was even more quite at the rear. The tyre noise started to move further up closer towards the rear back seat (bench). I guess that is where the fuel pump and tyre wheel arches are and there usually is little damping there. So that was the end of that short test.

So what I learn was how to properly place the bitument tape and it is accurate to say that you should not over damp the metal. I'm more than happy with just RM13 spent. Will start to buy more to do the door and the floor next. The good thing about doing the Camry is that the car already has sufficient soft type of sound absorption material which helps alot so you don't need to stick stuff like Superlon insulation which helps to save money as well. I think when you start to do that you might get very close to over damping the Camry. I also checked the rear deck board where the speakers hang, its also pretty well damped from the factory so no real work needed there as well. But Could do with alittle to plug up some holes and little tape here and there on the back board.

 

[12savefuel]

UPDATE NO.2: Rear Side panels and Rear Doors.

Here are more pictures of the work I did. Will slowly work my way up the car. Haven't decided to do the floor of the car as it sounds like its ok. But will decide once the whole car is done, if its ok will just leave the floor and too much work and lazy, some more I don't own the car.

You can see from the picture of the inside door panel that the factory has done half the work by putting in soft sound absorbing material and a brown coloured foam block on the lower right of the panel.

So guys, do any of you know where I can get the same soft "used/discarded cotton" that the factory is using to cut in to proper sheets to stick on various parts of the door? Does the material have a proper name?

Right rear side panel

Left rear side panel

Rear Right Door: Same work done on the left side.

 

[eohl79]

Good job. Bro, thanks for introducing a cheaper alternative to deaden noise from car body panels. This is going to come in handy for my MPV and k-car. Will definetely go to the hardware shop to pick up a few rolls of that stuff. Also wonder where to get that cotton material.

 

[muzhaffar]

maybe you can consider buying this..quite cheap..
(WTS)SoundProof @ Heatproof ( NEW PRICE UPDATE)

 

[didie]

Hmm. Just to share my experience with this bitumen DIY. Ive done this the past 5 years (if any of you guys can remember, at that time, this is the 'in-thing', there are a lot of peoples making money out of this bitumen by selling it for more than RM 40 per roll :p ), to my previously owned Satria, yes the effect is there. I installed it at the back part of the car, covering the back wheel arches, so it can dampen the sound from the absorber (that's what I thought at least :p) . Can feel the difference after installing nonetheless. It is superb. But the problem came when I want to sell off the car, and sent it for re-painting. For some reasons, and of course logically you can see, after a moment installed, been abused under the hot blazing sun, the bitumen tend to melt. And it sticked to the metal, and the repainter had a hard time removing it, and in the end, just let it be like that. And when the bitumen melts, its just a mess. Well, im not against anything, Im just sharing what have been done, in the end, its up to your own preferences. Just my 2 cents :)

 

[12savefuel]

Hmmm. thanks for your 2cents. It must have been pretty hot for it to melt. Mine that I used says all weather seal Some times under direct sun on a hot day on the roof gets pretty hot.

Maybe yours is slightly different composition than mine???? No idea. The ones that the OE can uses also never melts. There is the Wuerth one that I use for about 10yrs in my car. It didn't melt but hardened and just breaks off. So its funny that your melted. I know that turpentine melts and dissolves bitumen.

Melt in the sense as melt and stated to drip and flow or melt as in soften and stuck to the metal and and cannot be removed? If soften and melt and stuck there cannot be remove not so bad as can paint over it and then you can't see the tape because it covered up by linings in the car.

So let us know which it is.

 

[radhie]

hey there,nice job there..actually ive done this on my previous car,yes,there is improvement in sound proof.but after 4-5 months,the bitumen will melt and its hard to remove it,i need to use a steel ruler and a thinner,honestly,its not easy to remove the melted bitumen..
maybe the bitumen roll that i used is the cheap one i think,and thats why its melted ,btw,im just sharing my experience no offence bro..

here is some picture that i found on google

 

[Izso]

Hmmm. thanks for your 2cents. It must have been pretty hot for it to melt. Mine that I used says all weather seal Some times under direct sun on a hot day on the roof gets pretty hot.

Maybe yours is slightly different composition than mine???? No idea. The ones that the OE can uses also never melts. There is the Wuerth one that I use for about 10yrs in my car. It didn't melt but hardened and just breaks off. So its funny that your melted. I know that turpentine melts and dissolves bitumen.

Melt in the sense as melt and stated to drip and flow or melt as in soften and stuck to the metal and and cannot be removed? If soften and melt and stuck there cannot be remove not so bad as can paint over it and then you can't see the tape because it covered up by linings in the car.

So let us know which it is.

I think it's the latter - soften and melt and can't be removed. My Dynamat Extreme has softened too but luckily it's more 'crispy' than gooey. Turpentine removes this stuff? If yes I'mma gonna do it for my doors. Bloody irritating when it doesn't do anything other than get in the way of repairing my windows.

Btw, that wurth product you tested, do you recall what it looked like?

 

[12savefuel]

I think it's the latter - soften and melt and can't be removed. My Dynamat Extreme has softened too but luckily it's more 'crispy' than gooey. Turpentine removes this stuff? If yes I'mma gonna do it for my doors. Bloody irritating when it doesn't do anything other than get in the way of repairing my windows.

Btw, that wurth product you tested, do you recall what it looked like?

The Wuerth one I tried is like a bitumen sheet with foil on top of it. I think about 1.5 to 2mm thick.

Ok so it melts and drips. Will keep a look out on it.

Thanks for the heads up.

 

[didie]

Hmmm. thanks for your 2cents. It must have been pretty hot for it to melt. Mine that I used says all weather seal Some times under direct sun on a hot day on the roof gets pretty hot.

Maybe yours is slightly different composition than mine???? No idea. The ones that the OE can uses also never melts. There is the Wuerth one that I use for about 10yrs in my car. It didn't melt but hardened and just breaks off. So its funny that your melted. I know that turpentine melts and dissolves bitumen.

Melt in the sense as melt and stated to drip and flow or melt as in soften and stuck to the metal and and cannot be removed? If soften and melt and stuck there cannot be remove not so bad as can paint over it and then you can't see the tape because it covered up by linings in the car.

So let us know which it is.

Hi 12savefuel, it is exactly as how Radhie posted. That pictures it all. Yes, it can be covered with the linings, so, it doesn't bother me much, afterall it does work its purpose on dampening the sound, but, just for the sake of sharing my experience. Because i think that, if let say, you can get your hands on something, the material like a foam, i think, it would be a safer choice. Yes probably, bitumen i bought are on the lower grade, i dont know, but thats one of the possibility, but im pretty sure that i bought the one applicable for the roof tops.

 

[12savefuel]

I hope mine doesn't turn out like the pictures. I can get some foam, but we still need to dampen the panel first then attach the foam as its the panel which is undampened which causes the problem. Then foam stops any other sound from the vibration of the panel coming through.

So if this bitumen tape doesn't really work, seems like we have to go back to the much more expensive stuff.

So will cross my fingers and hope for the best.

Thanks all for the heads on the potential problem will update if this will happen on my car.

Does it happen after some time like 1year+ or as soon as the car is parked in the hot sun?

 

[eohl79]

I thought those bitumen tapes are meant for the roof top which gets extremely hot... maybe different brands/quality you get different results. BTW, want to remove the bitumen, just use zippo lighter fluid or a good tar remover like Osren tar remover that can be later washed off easily. I think it is much safer than turpentine which smells and leaves an oily mess which is harder to wash off.

Maybe I will go source for several bitumen tapes and stick it on my roof top to see which one is better... still looking for a cheapo alternative.

 

[12savefuel]

I thought those bitumen tapes are meant for the roof top which gets extremely hot... maybe different brands/quality you get different results. BTW, want to remove the bitumen, just use zippo lighter fluid or a good tar remover like Osren tar remover that can be later washed off easily. I think it is much safer than turpentine which smells and leaves an oily mess which is harder to wash off.

Maybe I will go source for several bitumen tapes and stick it on my roof top to see which one is better... still looking for a cheapo alternative.

I also thought the same that it should stand the heat being a roof top fix. Bro good idea, you try to remove using Osren tar remover or test on a small strip and see what happenes. Will try some zippo lighter fluid on a strip and see if it will do anything.

Yah Turpentine too powerful may/will ruin paint. Better use tar remover.

 

[didie]

For when it started to happen, im not sure about it. Because I only removed the back panel once to install the strips and, remove it once more when im about to repaint it after 4 yrs, then let go the car. Nonetheless, the functions of reducing the noise and vibration are noticeable as satria's wheel arches literally in the interior of the car, if you know what i mean.

 

[12savefuel]

Yah I know, the "wheel arches are in the car". Thanks. Will keep an eye out in my bitumen tape.

 

[haziq_evo]

Hey, like you mentioned in the early part of your post regarding the 'tin kosong' sound when you shut the door of a Perodua Viva, I myself an owner of a Viva and heres something which I did during my semester break with my dad to sort it out. The result of my little holiday experiment was satisfying and I just thought it might be useful to some of you. The link is below:

Rubber n Metal: Soundproofing The Perodua Viva

 

[EvilNick]

Just my own experience, which is similar to what others here have mentioned.
I also DIY-ed these bitumen tapes on my car (in fact, I got it from the lowyat guy linked in the first page) and yes it works well. Tapping on the panel sounds more dull and well insulated, noise also reduced.

But then, within a few months, the next time I opened up the panel, I also saw that the bitumen layer had melted and become a gooey mess. The metal body parts of our cars get REALLY hot in the sun, so its not surprising.

Anyway, if I were to redo it, I will definitely get something branded like Wurth which could probably be more heat resistant. Or just don't bother, it wasn't THAT HUGE a difference. :P

 

[12savefuel]

Just my own experience, which is similar to what others here have mentioned.
I also DIY-ed these bitumen tapes on my car (in fact, I got it from the lowyat guy linked in the first page) and yes it works well. Tapping on the panel sounds more dull and well insulated, noise also reduced.

But then, within a few months, the next time I opened up the panel, I also saw that the bitumen layer had melted and become a gooey mess. The metal body parts of our cars get REALLY hot in the sun, so its not surprising.

Anyway, if I were to redo it, I will definitely get something branded like Wurth which could probably be more heat resistant. Or just don't bother, it wasn't THAT HUGE a difference. :P

If you're planning to redo your car in the future, I think it would be better if you take the approach of using a sandwich method, where you would layer bitumen mats, then foam, then melt blown insulation mats. But this would have to be done strategically and not throughout the whole car. This would then give better results.

 

[GRexer]

Well.. That is why the more expensive brands are using Butyl instead of pure Bitumen. Butyl is more rubberised and able to withstand heat better than bitumen. Especially so when these roof-leaking-repair bitumen strip these days just ain't up to par standards as the old days(I'm working in the hardware supply chain).

If you could afford it, always use butyl instead. No worries of falling off or melting. Mine had been stuck onto the roof since back in 2007 and it was still very much intact when I sold the car last year and the roof lining was removed to inspect.

 

[12savefuel]

Ah more wisdom. Thanks. So are there any cheaper DIY stuff which have more butyl we can get from hardware shop rather than pay crazy price for automotive use?