Use Dynamat or not

BobQ

OK, Here is the question, should I use Dynamat (or similar) or not? I don't want to weigh down my Nismo needlessly, I am just not sure if it is worth it.

Thanks for any input!

Bob

kenchan

if you're going to change speakers it's a good idea to do it...the new speakers will weight more anyway.

if you're going to do just the HU like me, no need. i too dont want to add more weight on the car.

BobQ

I am going to do door speakers and a sub, I wonder if a strip about 12" wide along the doors would be effective? maybe something like that in the rear?

kenchan

I usually do the plastic door panel around the speaker opening when I change speakers to minimize vibration. That alone helps quite a bit.

bigaudiofanat

Like I said earlier, and also stated here already. If you are going to put speakers in put dynamat in the doors if you are going to put a sub in put some in the trunk area as well. Personally I have drove in many cars and the Z is very quite compared to a lot of them. I do not think it is needed except for when the speakers are installed. Any other reason is sort of a was IMO.

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huff442

If you are going to upgrade the stereo you need to forget about the added weight. You will be adding weight with high performance speakers, amplifiers, head units, cabling, sound damping, etc. To me, it's a worthwhile trade-off. The 1/10th of a second off my 1/4 mile times is insignificant to me. However, the increase in pleasure I get from driving my Z with an incredible sound system is significant.

SlikNik

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frost

Well, I generally hate to throw opinions around about this type of stuff, because you generally only get several people who don't agree arguing about their personal taste, but it sounds like you're specifically looking for people's biased opinions, so here you are:

I wouldn't buy a sports car and look for ways to add weight to it. I mean, if I had wanted a nice quiet ride, with plenty of room for a sub in the back, there are much better choices.

When the 370 came out, I was putting it against competitors such as the Camaro, Challenger, Stang and etc. Nissan did something with the 370 that was a tad unique; they didn't give it a ton more HP than the previous model, but they kept the weight roughly the same. The camaro for example; sure it went up around a 100 HP since the last generation, but it also increased weight by over 400 lbs.

Why would I tell you about the camaro when you're asking about dynamat? Nissan engineers went through a great deal of trouble to give you a car with not a deuce-load of HP, but a car that has a great mix of HP and weight that makes it a contender against "bruisers" like the camaro, where the idea is "we will just keep throwing weight on, and try to make up for it in HP."

But, it's all personal preference, if you don't track your car, and if lbs don't matter to you, no one is going to give you crap for it. Huff said above that the loss of 1/10 in quarter mile is no big deal to him, but for others, they invest thousands into gaining that 1/10.

bigaudiofanat

Well said frost! Me personaly I would still want a good sound system but as I said above the Z is already much quieter to other cars I have drove. So I would install speakers amp and sub with very little or no mat.

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BobQ

Great!! I have some great ideas! I like the "using less mat" option, so how would you place it? would you cover the whole door or just the bottom, or some thing like that? or maybe some thing else?

Thanks Bob

bigaudiofanat

You can put it on the inside of the door. Make sure to clean the surface and do not cover up the bottom of the inside of the door that is were water drains. Just peal it off and stick it on than us a roller or spoon to push it on the surface.

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2fast4thelaw

To be honest I couldn't stand the road noise from the Z until I deadened it. The roads in Colorado are very noisy so I dealt with a constant roar. I did it primarily for driving comfort than audio performance. I have a performance exhaust system and it droned really bad with the windows up. Afterwards, the exhaust drone was gone and it is quieter than the stock exhaust now inside the car. It really gave the car much more refined driving experience by vastly reducing the road and exhaust noise to a very tolerable level. I do notice much tighter and more controlled bass than before. I also dont need to turn it up when I hit the hiway.

You can use smaller amounts of Dynamatt and applying it stratigicaly. Most people including myself use more than necessary. I used large sheets of it on the doors to both seal and deaden the door. I put in about 120 sq ft of it and about the same amount of ensolite.

I highly recommend using ensolite (1/8" dense closed cell foam) to apply all over to further aid in noise suppression. Its relativly inexpensive and its easy to apply. You just need scissors and a few cans off good spray adheisive.

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mototrmpt

I also think that everyone will have their own opinion, but 'm with 2fast. I have a base model with no mods and I found the road noise to be way too much. I know it's a sports car, but I don't intend to race it. I've added 40 sqft of second skin's damplifier in the doors, floor and rear area and then put 9 sqft of luxury liner in the rear area. The shipping weight of the package from second skin was 27 lbs. In hindsight, I wish I would have used the damplifer pro material.

The car certainly isn't luxury car quiet, but it's pretty reasonable and you can even hold a conversation with a passenger at freeway speeds. I think if you're adding sound equipment with the additional weight over the base stuff, then you're kidding yourself on keeping the weight off by not using the sound deadening materials. I suggest you go ahead and use the dynamat, add the sound equipment and just make sure you don't add the 150 to 225 lbs passenger.

chibbell

2fast and mototrmpt - Do you guys happen to have photos of your installs? I've never done this before and would love to see where you decided to lay strips down.

mototrmpt - Why do you think you should've used Damplifier Pro?

bigaudiofanat

I got done an install yesterday actually part of it. It was a honda crv, the guy called me on the way home and told me the suv handled totally different, it was a lot heavier, seared harder, and did not accelerate as fast.

Now that was in a suv I can only imagine what it will do to a sports car like the Z.


To answer your question chibbell, look at my install thread and the other one that should give you an idea of how to install the stuff. Just take your time.

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