Dampening Road Noise

[Bob Brooks]

I'm iin my second month of ownership of an '02 996 coupe. It came with pretty new Bridgestone Potenza RE050A's on the rear, and not so new Conti Sport Contact2's on the front. Web forum chatter leads me to believe the road noise would decrease somewhat if I replaced the Conte's w/ Potenza like on the rear.

BUT, I will need more than that. Many of the interesting backroads in Texas have been overlaid with a blacktop layer that uses real large aggregate. This produces a LOT of road noise, much more than the highways and interstates here. Has anyone done an all-over installation of Dynamat on the floor, tunnel, etc.? What were the results?

The engine noise is just fine; like great music!

[Topless]

Many high end car audio shops can do this for you. They dampen the wheel wells, and use a combination of sound barriers and sound absorbers to reduce road noise in the cabin. The result is pretty dramatic.

[1schoir]

I'm iin my second month of ownership of an '02 996 coupe. It came with pretty new Bridgestone Potenza RE050A's on the rear, and not so new Conti Sport Contact2's on the front. Web forum chatter leads me to believe the road noise would decrease somewhat if I replaced the Conte's w/ Potenza like on the rear.

BUT, I will need more than that. Many of the interesting backroads in Texas have been overlaid with a blacktop layer that uses real large aggregate. This produces a LOT of road noise, much more than the highways and interstates here. Has anyone done an all-over installation of Dynamat on the floor, tunnel, etc.? What were the results?

The engine noise is just fine; like great music!

Bob:

I have installed Dynamat Extreme on the inside surface of the outer door skins. I has made a dramatic difference in the way the door sounds when it is closed ( a nice, solid "thud") and has made the cabin a little quieter. I expect to do the rear firewall, etc... and that should make a dramatic difference in cutting down on road noise.

Regards, Maurice.

[win911]

I have used fatmat that I purchased on ebay... type in fatmat. It makes a world of difference. Solid thug sound when you close the door and much more quiter while driving.... the best part is a lot cheaper than dynamats.

[GranburyChuck]

Hey Bob, what part of Texas you in? Fort Worth here. I did Dynamat Extreme in the rear of the car and made a slight improvement. I need to do the floor and doors to make much difference though. I am also working on suspension as part of my issue is "slamming" noise through the cabin when I go over impact bumps. I may not have covered every square inch of the rear of the car but there wasn't much left that I didnt cover. So you might want to try the floors or doors first. I thought since my suspension was no good and the rear fenderwells are inside the cabin that it would help but didn't seem like much.

I am also wondering about my tires. I have tended toward "Chevron" tread type tires where the tread goes across in a diagonal pattern versus the continental conti sport 2 that are all parallel tread.

[Bob Brooks]

Hey Bob, what part of Texas you in? Fort Worth here. I did Dynamat Extreme in the rear of the car and made a slight improvement. I need to do the floor and doors to make much difference though. I am also working on suspension as part of my issue is "slamming" noise through the cabin when I go over impact bumps. I may not have covered every square inch of the rear of the car but there wasn't much left that I didnt cover. So you might want to try the floors or doors first. I thought since my suspension was no good and the rear fenderwells are inside the cabin that it would help but didn't seem like much.

I am also wondering about my tires. I have tended toward "Chevron" tread type tires where the tread goes across in a diagonal pattern versus the continental conti sport 2 that are all parallel tread.

I'm in Houston. Might go on the PCA jaunt to Camp For All next Saturday. In the world of architectural acoustics, those engineers tell us that even small gaps will allow far more sound to enter than one might expect. Things like unfilled cracks around electrical boxes. I would think the same principle would apply to sound dampening a Porsche. I have just received the Dynamat Extreme which I will use on the door panels when I install my speaker upgrade.

[JeTexas]

I'm in Houston as well.

Let me know if the Dynamat really makes a difference. I've been hesitant to bother with anything since I know so much road noise leaks through the convertible top anyway -- but it is annoying when I can't hear people on the phone at freeway speed even with the top up.

[GranburyChuck]

I just replaced my suspension with Porsche ROW M030. Now the noise is worse. Wish I had just chosen the stock suspension or maybe ponied up the extra coin for the PSS9s. Still don't know if those would help but am pretty upset that I spent that amount of money and time and still not happy. However, steering control is excellent now. Thinking of doubling up on the Dynamat in the back just to see. I bought some more Extreme but was going to do the floors. Now I don't know which to do.

[1schoir]

I just replaced my suspension with Porsche ROW M030. Now the noise is worse. Wish I had just chosen the stock suspension or maybe ponied up the extra coin for the PSS9s. Still don't know if those would help but am pretty upset that I spent that amount of money and time and still not happy. However, steering control is excellent now. Thinking of doubling up on the Dynamat in the back just to see. I bought some more Extreme but was going to do the floors. Now I don't know which to do.

Chuck:

The only downside to the Dynamat is the slight extra weight. If the weight doesn't bother you, the Dynamat is a winner in every other way.

Regards, Maurice.

[996noob]

I just replaced my suspension with Porsche ROW M030. Now the noise is worse. Wish I had just chosen the stock suspension or maybe ponied up the extra coin for the PSS9s. Still don't know if those would help but am pretty upset that I spent that amount of money and time and still not happy. However, steering control is excellent now. Thinking of doubling up on the Dynamat in the back just to see. I bought some more Extreme but was going to do the floors. Now I don't know which to do.

I don't think the PSS9 would be any quiter than ROW M030, in fact, I would think that it would be noisier, don't you think?

[White987S]

It came with pretty new Bridgestone Potenza RE050A's on the rear, and not so new Conti Sport Contact2's on the front.

It is NEVER recommended to have mixed brand tires on a performance sports car. In your case, you may be enhancing road noise due to the harmonic imbalance with the mixed tires.