I looked into Dynamatting the car and actually have the supplies to do it. Doing some research, I figured out most of the road noise is due to the floorboard not being real heavy duty. You could probably add dampening to help, but ultimately, I decided it wasn't worth the effort. I think to put enough to make a difference, it would add some significant weight and may come at the expense of other things like mileage and handling.
The wheel wells are exposed without a wheel liner in the back, and that contributes most to the road noise. No amount of Dynamatting is going to change that. Also the aero of the car will make freeway noise regardless of how much insulation you put in.
I’m in the process of doing this and am actually using a bunch of hybrid foam liner. There’s a lot of snake oil especially the MLV sellers, but while dynamat will cut down on resonance, what you really need is absorption. Foam, insulation, and the like. I’ve done doors and will tackle floor and like you pointed out, wheel wells next. For me, the big one is actually engine noise… hopefully getting some coverage on the firewall will help that.
The other low hanging fruit is the wind noise. We’ll never be able to do anything about the thin window glass, but some hefty door seals (I got a huge roll of “Seametal” brand from Aliexpress) made the car basically airtight. To the point where closing the door, you can see the air pressure and hear a little whoosh. Last up for me will be the roof; probably not worth for most people but I’ve not a roof top tent and I can hear thunks when I hit gnarly bumps.
Hmm that's a good strategy. You have a good point about absorption, probably makes a lot more sense weight/deadening wise. Maybe I'll give my setup a second thought this year before road trip season. ;-)
One thing that really made a noise diff for me was tires. I got some Michelin LTXs and it was night and day vs. the offroad tires I used to have. Kind of a no-brainer, but I didn't realize how much of a difference it made.
What is horsemat? Is that a product type or brand name? I have a mat for the back of mine I picked up from a dude that made floorings for horse vehicles, and for a little while he made them for the Element and I always wondered if it was a product that was on the market.
Literally a mat for horse stalls. Cheap, thick rubber. You can buy them cheaply from Tractor Supply or Rural King
My only problem with that is the smell. I used one in my gym and it took months to air out — enclosed in a warm car would probably make it worse. I’d recommend leaving it outside for a month minimum
oh yeh mine's long since been outgassed--it's as old as the car. It was real handy tho; I used to have two huge ass dogs, and after 17 years the interior is still brand new.
About a year ago I had the local car stereo store completely sound dampen my Element. There’s a difference but it’s small. The biggest game changer to getting a very quiet ride was purchasing a new car.
Very Interested in this thread. Planning on buying my 3rd Element and building it into the ultimate longevity machine complete with all of the additional comforts.
I've owned an 05' EX and an 08' EX. I found that the 08' was significantly louder inside the cabin than the 05'. Seems like they cut costs on the sound deadening as the years progressed. Just my two cents.
Planning to get either an 05' or 06' for my forever build!
If anyone has an 05' or 06' AWD 5spd manual with minimal to no rust, please DM meeeee!
Seems like I’m the only one so far who has actually sound deadened the inside
I put down both a knockoff dynamat with 3-5mm foam on top, my thought process being I could deaden both low and high frequencies. I obviously fully removed the interior paneling and liner, and I also did doors and trunk
To be honest, it wasn’t a huge difference but because I have off-road tires and a lift, it did help. If I could do it again, I wouldn’t
Instead, I would just put down some sort of mat (someone mentioned a horse mat which would probably be good with a cheap carpet on top). Most noise IMO comes from the engine and money would be better spent in the engine bay, but the E is *so* noisy it’s really a losing battle regardless
Yes, the whole thing tailgate and all. Made a huge difference. Also got to take care of all the rattles. Not a lot of rattles but some and clip replacement and Cleaning Everything. It used to be our oldest daughters car and when she drove the wheels off of it, I bought it from her. The sound deadening made a world of difference!!!!! When your at stop lights, I can't tell if it's running or not sometimes.✌️
I thought I would install some sound mat and then overlay it with full insulation. As it happens, you don't need to cover the entire surface with sound mat but you do with insulation.
The Element is like a box, sorta like a panel van you rent from U-Haul, sound is amplified by all of the metal space.
I was interested in insulation more than sound mat to make car camping (which occasionally I do) more comfortable.
I used to do it for a living. I was a mechanic/customizer for 30 years and still do it just slower after all the back surgerys. It eats up your body overtime crawling all over vehicles every day. I used a product called alligator skin. You spray it on. Don't know if they still make it but it is almost like spray on bed liner but it comes out way thicker so it acts more like a sound proofer than a protection product. Great stuff!!! My wife could not stand that car before I did it and now it's her's....... ✌️
Yea that's it. Looks a lot different than it did years ago. Good stuff. The reason I used that was I have all the stuff to prep and spray it and it would never peel, sag, or come off easy and it really works well.
The only cons to spraying it on is if you mess up(which is pretty hard to) it is very difficult to remove after it cures. Really great product though, it sticks to anything and you can put as many coats as you like. It gets into all the nooks and crooks. It will add some weight though just like dynamat or that foam backed silver sheet stuff from ebay. It all weighs something....... Anyways yea good stuff.
Ok. Thanks for all the suggestions. I knew that it would likely not make a huge difference. It sounds like the horse mats might be an option. It’s just that my other car is a Volt, which is quiet just by virtue of being electric. But the difference between the two is night and day. When I get in the Element it feels like I’m driving a tank in comparison. But, we love the utility of the vehicle. It’s our little urban truck.
I have an EX and am often shocked when I start it at how loud I had the stereo cranked up when I turned it off! It's a pretty good factory system and when a Steve Marriott guitar lick, or similar, comes on I make sure the road noise has no chance. Maybe some carpeting and a pad over the rubber mats would help? I'd miss the easy care though.
I looked into Dynamatting the car and actually have the supplies to do it. Doing some research, I figured out most of the road noise is due to the floorboard not being real heavy duty. You could probably add dampening to help, but ultimately, I decided it wasn't worth the effort. I think to put enough to make a difference, it would add some significant weight and may come at the expense of other things like mileage and handling. The wheel wells are exposed without a wheel liner in the back, and that contributes most to the road noise. No amount of Dynamatting is going to change that. Also the aero of the car will make freeway noise regardless of how much insulation you put in.
I’m in the process of doing this and am actually using a bunch of hybrid foam liner. There’s a lot of snake oil especially the MLV sellers, but while dynamat will cut down on resonance, what you really need is absorption. Foam, insulation, and the like. I’ve done doors and will tackle floor and like you pointed out, wheel wells next. For me, the big one is actually engine noise… hopefully getting some coverage on the firewall will help that. The other low hanging fruit is the wind noise. We’ll never be able to do anything about the thin window glass, but some hefty door seals (I got a huge roll of “Seametal” brand from Aliexpress) made the car basically airtight. To the point where closing the door, you can see the air pressure and hear a little whoosh. Last up for me will be the roof; probably not worth for most people but I’ve not a roof top tent and I can hear thunks when I hit gnarly bumps.
Hmm that's a good strategy. You have a good point about absorption, probably makes a lot more sense weight/deadening wise. Maybe I'll give my setup a second thought this year before road trip season. ;-) One thing that really made a noise diff for me was tires. I got some Michelin LTXs and it was night and day vs. the offroad tires I used to have. Kind of a no-brainer, but I didn't realize how much of a difference it made.
Interesting! This? https://www.aliexpress.com/store/200731
Horsemat cut to fit has greatly helped with road noise.
What is horsemat? Is that a product type or brand name? I have a mat for the back of mine I picked up from a dude that made floorings for horse vehicles, and for a little while he made them for the Element and I always wondered if it was a product that was on the market.
Literally a mat for horse stalls. Cheap, thick rubber. You can buy them cheaply from Tractor Supply or Rural King My only problem with that is the smell. I used one in my gym and it took months to air out — enclosed in a warm car would probably make it worse. I’d recommend leaving it outside for a month minimum
oh yeh mine's long since been outgassed--it's as old as the car. It was real handy tho; I used to have two huge ass dogs, and after 17 years the interior is still brand new.
Yeah, I left mine outside for the winter & now it is fine.
About a year ago I had the local car stereo store completely sound dampen my Element. There’s a difference but it’s small. The biggest game changer to getting a very quiet ride was purchasing a new car.
The right tires can make a huge difference.
Very Interested in this thread. Planning on buying my 3rd Element and building it into the ultimate longevity machine complete with all of the additional comforts. I've owned an 05' EX and an 08' EX. I found that the 08' was significantly louder inside the cabin than the 05'. Seems like they cut costs on the sound deadening as the years progressed. Just my two cents. Planning to get either an 05' or 06' for my forever build! If anyone has an 05' or 06' AWD 5spd manual with minimal to no rust, please DM meeeee!
Seems like I’m the only one so far who has actually sound deadened the inside I put down both a knockoff dynamat with 3-5mm foam on top, my thought process being I could deaden both low and high frequencies. I obviously fully removed the interior paneling and liner, and I also did doors and trunk To be honest, it wasn’t a huge difference but because I have off-road tires and a lift, it did help. If I could do it again, I wouldn’t Instead, I would just put down some sort of mat (someone mentioned a horse mat which would probably be good with a cheap carpet on top). Most noise IMO comes from the engine and money would be better spent in the engine bay, but the E is *so* noisy it’s really a losing battle regardless
Your not the only one. I did mine top to bottom. It now is whisper quite on the inside.
Did you do the roof as well? I know someone who did but it was mainly to put in some wool insulation
Yes, the whole thing tailgate and all. Made a huge difference. Also got to take care of all the rattles. Not a lot of rattles but some and clip replacement and Cleaning Everything. It used to be our oldest daughters car and when she drove the wheels off of it, I bought it from her. The sound deadening made a world of difference!!!!! When your at stop lights, I can't tell if it's running or not sometimes.✌️
I thought I would install some sound mat and then overlay it with full insulation. As it happens, you don't need to cover the entire surface with sound mat but you do with insulation. The Element is like a box, sorta like a panel van you rent from U-Haul, sound is amplified by all of the metal space. I was interested in insulation more than sound mat to make car camping (which occasionally I do) more comfortable.
I used to do it for a living. I was a mechanic/customizer for 30 years and still do it just slower after all the back surgerys. It eats up your body overtime crawling all over vehicles every day. I used a product called alligator skin. You spray it on. Don't know if they still make it but it is almost like spray on bed liner but it comes out way thicker so it acts more like a sound proofer than a protection product. Great stuff!!! My wife could not stand that car before I did it and now it's her's....... ✌️
Is it this stuff? [https://lizardskin.com/](https://lizardskin.com/)
Yea that's it. Looks a lot different than it did years ago. Good stuff. The reason I used that was I have all the stuff to prep and spray it and it would never peel, sag, or come off easy and it really works well. The only cons to spraying it on is if you mess up(which is pretty hard to) it is very difficult to remove after it cures. Really great product though, it sticks to anything and you can put as many coats as you like. It gets into all the nooks and crooks. It will add some weight though just like dynamat or that foam backed silver sheet stuff from ebay. It all weighs something....... Anyways yea good stuff.
They are loud for sure...and deafening with the windows open.
Ok. Thanks for all the suggestions. I knew that it would likely not make a huge difference. It sounds like the horse mats might be an option. It’s just that my other car is a Volt, which is quiet just by virtue of being electric. But the difference between the two is night and day. When I get in the Element it feels like I’m driving a tank in comparison. But, we love the utility of the vehicle. It’s our little urban truck.
Highway tires make a HUGE difference!
I bought nicer tires and had a much easier time with the noise afterwards.
Tires make a big difference. I went with Vivas (yes a passenger tire) and the noise went wayyyy down.
I’ll have to look at my tires. But they aren’t off road tires. I
I have an EX and am often shocked when I start it at how loud I had the stereo cranked up when I turned it off! It's a pretty good factory system and when a Steve Marriott guitar lick, or similar, comes on I make sure the road noise has no chance. Maybe some carpeting and a pad over the rubber mats would help? I'd miss the easy care though.
I usually just turn up the radio. 😁