I was wondering if you can answer a handful of questions (a couple hands actually) about your installation:
I'll do my best.
1. Did you break/replace any tabs, hooks, or clips? My wife is quite squimish about me breaking her new ride.
No. Everything pops off quite easily.
2. Do you have diagrams / pictures on how to remove body panels and seats? 4. How long did it take for you to remove everything before adding sound insulation material?
I don't have diagrams but it is so easy I could probably just go do it again and take detailed pics. It only took about 1/2 hour to remove everything from the hatch to the back of the front seats. Both rows only have 4 14mm bolts holding them down. The third row has three of push pins that hold the back of the carpet up to them. The rear panels come out by removing the rear ties downs with a 10mm socket. there are two Phillips screws on the upper back panel and below the third row window are two covers that remove to reveal a 10MM bolt. Actually only the rearmost cover has to be removed on each side. The forward one doesn't have anything underneath it. Go look at your car and you'll see what I'm talking about.
There are some push pins type thingies...you know...the push pin that has the middle part that comes up so that the whole thing can be removed? ...Anyway...you'll see two when you remove the third row and the rear most trim has a couple.
3. I read somewhere that one has to disable to the battery to remove the seats so the airbag wouldn't deploy. Is that so for the 2nd and 3rd row seats?
No need for the battery disconnect for the 2nd and 3rd row. I will disconnect it to remove the front seats since the airbags are in the seats themselves. 2nd and 3rd row have the curtains in the pillars not the seats
5. What tools are needed to remove stuff? Metric socket wrench? Crowbar? Did you use a torque wrench? Did you have to apply thread lock when putting things back together?
Phillips screwdriver, butter knife for the beauty covers & push pins (always worked best for me), 10mm socket, 14mm socket. No crowbar, no torque wrench. I did use my air ratchet to speed things up and tightened everything down with it too. No thread locker either. The seats just aren't put under the type of vibration that would cause the bolts to come loose.
6. How much materials did you end up putting in? How thick is the insulation? Did everything fit back in?
I used almost one roll of B-quiet Ultimate material. One roll = 50 sq. ft. I have probably 15 sq. ft. left. You can the the specs off their website. In some places it is doubled...like the spare tire well. Meaning: there are two layers. Everything fit back just fine. No issues.
In hindsight, I'd see if someone had material that was not 12" wide. I got all these rolls to sound proof my Excursion some more. I have a lot of the back of it soundproofed because of the aftermarket exhaust on it. 12" wide is great for my truck's large, flat floor and huge mutha doors. But on a small car like this is is a bear to work with sometimes.
I wasn't even thinking about doing the 5 until the night before I was going to do the truck I took my wife out to dinner and drove the 5. I thought...
"this thing is louder than the Excursion! I should do this one first."
7. How did you layout the material?
As best I could. It's not an exact science really. I didn't have a planned pattern. I just made things work as best I could using the longest/largest pieces I could manage.
Cover all surfaces except for access holes? Did you cover the cavity from the metal skeleton to exterior surface panels? Did you apply material to the inside of exterior surface panels? Pictures would be great!
Yes, yes, yes..as best as I could reach. Even a smallish piece on the exterior panel can help prevent vibrations and unwanted resonance.
You basically start by tapping an area and if it vibrates continue to add dampening material until it "thuds".
8. What is that black hatch with an arrow on it under the second row seats? Escape hatch? Porta-pottie?
I have no idea. I ran out of time to pull off the cover and see. When I tear it apart again I'll pull it off and take a pic.
9. Did you just fold up the carpet instead of removing it from the vehicle?
Yeah, actually the carpet kinda
automatically folds in front of the second row. You can see the bottom of it (white) in some of the pics. I basically picked it up and leaned against the front row.
10. How much more quiet is the car now? Over the rough road surface, does the car still drone?
I wish I had my church's decibel meter. I always seem to do mods and never get the baseline in which to compare from. The main part (right now) that is quieter is obviously the third row. A LOT less road noise and it just feels more isolated from the world when you're in the back. On thing though...the rear speakers sound awesome now!
The front is still loud (to me). I can really hear the engine...which isn't a bad thing...but I would like to quiet that down some more. And of course, the tire noise mentioned before. I think doing the floor pan will help a lot with that. The firewall looks like a real PITA. Having the exhaust header right there doesn;t help as far as keeping the noise out of the cabin. But it looks to be very hard to get to. We'll see...it's on my "list" for Wednesday...maybe...hopefully...
I WILL take better pics. Especially when I pull the door panels. I think it would be good to have a pictorial on
that alone.
