How Important is Noise Deadening Insulation for Driving Comfort?

While unwanted engine or road noise invading your vehicle’s passenger compartment isn’t the worst thing that could happen, it’s arguably one of the most unpleasant. The quiet roar of tyres, exhaust systems, and even wind and traffic noise can make even the most welcoming interior feel like you’re sitting in the middle of an auditorium. At its worst, however, nuisance cabin noise can result in changes in how drivers react to audible warnings and messages, as well as causing disorientation when navigating potentially dangerous road hazards.

Ideally, to improve comfort or safety, you want to reduce your vehicle’s ambient cabin noise as much as possible. That means replacing your vehicle’s factory noise-abating material with a high-quality aftermarket sound deadener, and it’s no coincidence that Australia has one of the aftermarket’s premier sound-deadening providers.

Tunable Insulating Materials that Safely Block Out Unwanted Noise 

It’s a fact: even though today’s cars and utes, along with campers and caravans are quieter than ever, many still lack the sound dampening they need to be as quiet as possible. No one wants the assault of road and drivetrain noise to ruin their ride, and modern noise deadening insulation has all the properties you need to transform your interior into a quieter, more luxurious environment and benefits from the added resonance protection.

With modern aftermarket car sound deadening, vehicle owners and custom auto builders can take advantage of their enhanced, noise-absorbing properties without installing 100kg of heavy, fuel-consuming padding. Layerable, Australian-made car sound reduction materials are especially effective at low weight, low ambient noise transmission, and can be fine-tuned to reduce specific ranges of cabin noise and resonance, including:

• 1600 – 4000Hz powertrain, drivetrain, and suspension noise;
• 500 – 1000Hz road, wind, and traffic noise; and,
• Vibration and rattling from door skins, and body and trim panels.

Today’s aftermarket vehicle sound deadening features the same acoustic layering properties that are found in many of the industry’s quietest production cars, but at a fraction of the weight, and infinitely greater flexibility. If you’ve installed larger tyres on your ute, or a remotely controllable muffler on your daily driver, you need to be able to strategically install sound deadening material in the areas where you want to block specific sound frequency ranges; that’s exactly what these newest materials allow you to do, but without limiting the ranges which, for safety reasons, you need to be able to hear.

What You Can Expect from Premium Grade Sound Insulation

Acoustic layering is the key to proper car soundproofing, and aftermarket mats and underlays are constructed of variable thicknesses of layer-able materials consisting of:

• Pressure-sensitive, aluminium-backed butyl rubber matting;
• Closed cell, heavyweight (4.5kg/m²) mass-loaded vinyl barrier material; and,
• Open cell, lightweight (0.55kg/m²) acoustic foam padding.

These vehicle soundproofing compositions are available in single, as well as twin-layered mats, and are optimal for covering and decoupling (isolating) different regions in your vehicle, and blocking out specific ranges of noise and resonance. Location is everything though, even when it comes to sound-deadening insulation materials, and these pads and mats can be effectively installed in areas such as:

• Atop floor pans, drivetrain tunnels, and kick panels;
• Inside doors, and quarter and rocker panel cavities;
• Against firewalls, rear decks, and roof pillars;
• Between roof skins and headliners; and,
• Along ribbed side panels and body walls.

Whether you’re looking to block out annoying road noises that are being amplified with the addition of an air lift suspension kit, or you’re an automotive audiophile who wants to block out as much traffic-borne noise as possible without masking emergency sirens, you’re able to configure these layer-able automotive soundproofing mats and pads precisely the way you need them. And for vehicle owners who are more interested in turnkey auto soundproofing solutions that are compiled especially for their vehicle, Australian suppliers even offer complete packages that give them the best combination of all noise reduction attributes.

Turnkey Tunable Stage 1 and Stage 2 Insulation Packages

Let’s be honest: while most drivers want the tranquility that goes with automotive sound deadening, not everyone wants to undertake the frequency-specific tuning that’s necessary to block specific noise ranges while still allowing others. This is where comprehensive Stage 1 and Stage 2 Sound Deadener / Acoustic Liner packages are able to make a difference in noise reduction.

Stage 1 and Stage 2 packages offer complete mat and padding selections for all types and sizes of cars, utes, 4x4s, and vans, and feature a range of car soundproofing products that include:

• Floor matting and mass noise liners for car, ute, and van floors;
• Insul-layer insulation for adding sound dampening to walls, doors, and roofs; and,
• Plushlay acoustic carpet liner underlays.

Premium aftermarket soundproof insulation providers even offer havelock wool for vans and other high-sided vehicles. Havelock wool’s 100% natural qualities allow it to effectively absorb sound, while also providing optimal insulation against resonance, temperature extremes, and moisture and condensation accumulation. That makes it one of the most effective aftermarket insulators of any kind, that doesn’t pose any problems for safety or excess weight.

The Final Word

At the end of the day, while you want to be able to block out any unwanted exterior noise that disturbs the blissful tranquility of your interior, making your vehicle too resistant to ambient noise comes with its own problems. You don’t want a cabin that’s so effective at blocking ambient noise that it blocks out emergency sirens, or any other audible warnings – what you want is noise reduction that’s tunable.

With today’s modern noise-deadening insulation, you’re able to employ layer-able materials that block out the noises you don’t want, while still allowing the sounds that you need. It’s the ultimate approach to tunable sound reduction, and you’re going to be amazed by how effective these Australian-made materials are.