Most classic car owners want to hear the noise of their exhaust and the “feel” of the road that an old car gives you. But that doesn’t mean you have to settle for wearing ear plugs on long trips. There are a few key areas and ways you can reduce the “road noise” in your vehicle. We listed our favorite products and where they can be used to keep your ride quiet on the inside.
1. Undercoating- Not only does undercoating help seal up the underside of your vehicle it helps provide a small sound barrier between the road and your car. If you’ve stripped a car down for restoration or repair make sure you’re reapplying undercoating to the undercarriage to help seal and quiet your ride.
2. Mat Style Sound Deadener- The idea with mat-style sound deadener is that it sticks inside surfaces of your vehicle and gives a sound barrier to the inside of the car. Some use an asphalt or tar type material inside and others are more like insulation or foam. Each one has its place. We like to use the high-profile style X-Mat with a Butyl rubber membrane for our all-purpose sound deadener on floors, trunks, under dash, etc. This style product is the best bang for the buck and will guarantee a quieter, cooler vehicle inside.
3. Spray-On Sound Deadener- A spray on sound deadener applies heavily to the inside of the car and can get into tight areas like inside quarter panels or doors where it can be hard to lay the mat-style deadener. The ultimate solution is to apply Spray on Sound and Heat Barrier on the floors and follow it up with X-Mat on top. This will make even the loudest cars seem quiet inside!
4. Install or Replace all rubber panel seals- The rubber seals on your car are meant to keep the elements and noise out of the cabin. If you have ripped, flattened, or missing rubber seals on your doors, trunk, windows, etc you will be letting unwanted noise and fumes inside the car. You’d be surprised how much of a difference replacing the perimeter door seals and vapor barriers behind the door cards will make.
5. Seal up panel Seams- Panel Seams like on the floors, quarter panels, firewall, etc all have seams that could have exposed seams. Going over all seams with a seam sealer or a sealing tape will help keep unwanted noise, heat, and fumes out of the car. This is especially important on a car where rust repair has been done and OEM seam sealer has been removed.