Dynamat vs Fatmat vs B-Quiet

[Prince Tikki]

hi fellow audio fans,

I'm sure many of you have been here, price vs quality to stop your car from rattling and being one of those highschool kids.

what do you recommend?

Dynamat
Fatmat
B-Quiet

I hear fatmat is only 1/2 the size of Dynamat and only 1/3 as effective.

thanks!

[TYMSMNY]

I actually lined an entire car with bquiet as it was cheaper on the wallet. It did a GREAT job at only a faction of the cost. It was easy to install too. Haven't done a car with Dynamat so can't compare it to Bquiet.

+1 for BQUIET.

[nobb]

I lined my car with Resisto from Rona. Cheap and works just fine on the doors or underneath the carpet. For the trunk lid, you'll want something that isnt asphalt based.

To kill road noise, jute carpet underlay material works wonders.

[Inzane]

How about "Brown Bread", another Dynamat competitor?

[97'Scort]

Brown Bread is what we use at the shop. Less bangs for your buck, if you get my drift Great stuff!

Dynamat is good, but it's not worth the kind of money they think it is. Hush Mat is another good one.

[Prince Tikki]

awesome! any good places to buy these? ebay?

[97'Scort]

Support your local shops for this stuff. That way you can get some good support after the sale.

[The Cosworth]

^^ haha what if they suck.


So this isn't really clear cut. I need some stuff to do my trunk too and nobody has said go out and by this

[autosm]

These guys are in Lethbridge so shipping is very fast


http://www.b-quiet.com/



The ultimate is super sticky and works great. Highly recomended by me

[Unknown303]

Any place that means business about there mat will list the specs of it. Check that and you'll know which is better or why the increase in price.

90% of the time the thinner material will serve the purpose perfectly fine.

Me I'm still dreaming of doing a system with everything from Elemental Designs so i might as well push that they have various sound deadening materials.

http://www.edesignaudio.com/index.php?cPath=1_24

Should give a few options to people.

Edited to say that I have previously used Dynamat Extreme for a trunk and was very impressed with the quality and its ability to reduced noise outside the car. Before Dynamat it sounded like all the bolts were shaking loose in my trunk and after Dynamat it was very very quiet outside and the bass inside had drastically increased.

[Inzane]

Is one type known to be significantly lighter than the others and still offer comparable sound-deadening quality?

[97'Scort]

^ None of these will increase the weight of your car enough to affect track times. Weight should be the last concern.

Try to avoid asphalt stuff if you can, but even some of that is pretty good.

As for saying "buy this", it's all good stuff, because it's all basically the same: sticking backing with foil top. Pick the one in your budget and go nuts, because for 99% of the people out there you won't notice a difference between the brands.

Installation is the tricky part. NONE OF THESE ARE EASY TO INSTALL PROPERLY. You *will* need:

- wood roller (like the one on the dynamat site)
- good knife
- pin, needle, or spike of some sort to pop air bubbles
- heat gun
- good, padded, LEATHER gloves

No matter what any package tells you, you have to heat all of these as you apply or you will never get the air out. The gloves are ESSENTIAL as you will rip your hands to shreds on the foil, plus you will bang your knuckles on all the sharp parts of your car.

Heat up the mat before and as you apply, working it with the roller. Start from the middle and work out, to try and force the air out. Use the pin to pop air bubbles as you find them, and work it with the roller again. It works well to do this on a really warm day outside as the stuff is very workable then.

[Phuqu]

I've got 100ft or so of BQuiet Extreme leftover if anyone wants to buy some.

I can split it up or if you want a complete roll.

20% less than the lowest price they have on the site.

[Inzane]

Originally posted by 97'Scort
^ None of these will increase the weight of your car enough to affect track times. Weight should be the last concern.

What kind of racing do you do, if any? I wasn't talking about 1/4 mile drag (or bench) racing. If I was, I might agree with you in this instance.


But when I'm at an autocross or roadcourse, as much weight comes off the car as possible: spare tire, sub box, cargo cover, tools, etc.... sometimes even the T-tops.

I've heard of estimates where dynamating the rear (or whole car, I can't remember which offhand) of a 300ZX can add as much as "~30 lbs". That is not insignificant IMO, and is why I asked if there was any weight advantage between the sound-deadening brands.

[97'Scort]

Well, yeah, 30lbs would be a good number to start with. The thinnest stuff I've worked with is Dynamat Extreme, works pretty well.

The only reason you'd deaden a whole car is for SQ purposes or heating issues, which are only a concern in street rods running big engines.

So, here's what I'd do in your case: put deadener in the trunk, all of it, and see how you like it. Might be enough right there.

If you want a little more, cut some squares and put them around your speakers, but don't do the whole door.

Hearing rattles? Get yourself some gaffer tape (any music store should have some, check out Axe Music or Long & McQuade) and start taping down wires behind your panels. Replace panel clips. That'll go further in reducing rattles than all the deadener you'd put on.

[97'Scort]

I'll throw this in there too: to PROPERLY deaden a car, you need more than just your base layer of dynamat-esque product. Use carpet underlay on the floors and in the doors (like mentioned) or a similar product with a sticky backing (dynamat makes a couple). Just throwing hush mat on everything doesn't work as well as you think and it will stick to your carpet and make a mess eventually.

[Inzane]

Thanks for your advice.

Originally posted by 97'Scort
The only reason you'd deaden a whole car is for SQ purposes or heating issues, which are only a concern in street rods running big engines.

So, here's what I'd do in your case: put deadener in the trunk, all of it, and see how you like it. Might be enough right there.

Not a bad plan. Ironically the first reason I'd do sound deadening (in the rear) at all has nothing to do with SQ but more to do with 'exterior noise' from performance-related mods. First it was exhaust, and now it's drivetrain noise too (solid bushing related, as well as a different ring & pinion set which are louder).

Making a car a joint street and race application can be full of compromise sometimes. If it was a pure race car I wouldn't care about the noise and would go further on permanently stripping things from the car. But because it's not I need to retain creature comforts and try to preserve the enjoyment of the vehicle too.

[Sworkhard]

Originally posted by Inzane
Thanks for your advice.



Not a bad plan. Ironically the first reason I'd do sound deadening (in the rear) at all has nothing to do with SQ but more to do with 'exterior noise' from performance-related mods. First it was exhaust, and now it's drivetrain noise too (solid bushing related, as well as a different ring & pinion set which are louder).

Making a car a joint street and race application can be full of compromise sometimes. If it was a pure race car I wouldn't care about the noise and would go further on permanently stripping things from the car. But because it's not I need to retain creature comforts and try to preserve the enjoyment of the vehicle too.

If your after reducing exterior noise or road noise (from what ever source), try some 'jute' carpet underlay with a mass loaded vynyl (linolium works fine) on top of this on your floor and in the trunk and, if your in a coupe, rear quarter panels. you can also do this in your doors to furthur reduce exterior noise. You'll need to make sure there are no holes in the mlv/linolium and that all the joints are sealed with a foil tape. Put 3 layers of dynamat/b-quiet/etc around your fenders, 1-2 on the trunk lid, and on any other long flat and/or flimsy pieces of metal before you begin putting down the jute and mlv if you care about sound quality. If you do this you will notice a large difference in road/exhaust noise.

[Renagades]

i personally like dynamat. i did my trunk with it and it stopped all the noise back there but then you just find other noises elsewhere and cannt afford anything else. if I were to get more it would be a different brand just because f the cost. Dynamat works well but i dont think much better than the cheaper competition.

[Manhattan]

I'm looking to dynamat up my trunk this weekend. First time, so any tips??

Also, my subwoofer is positioned directly below one of my rear speakers. Will this damage the speaker at all or not an issue?