seeking out and destroying rattles.

[HaShfIeNd]

curious, does anyone have any suggestions on how to quite down the rattles in my car? right now i have folded pieces of paper in some spots lol.. but my trunk is still very loud outside its pretty much all you can hear.. inside the car though it all sounds real decent.. -- with my trunk closed all i hear is rattle rattle rattle :\

[frantik]

i dunno how much of a factor this is but i noticed our license plates are only held in by one pair of screws.. that right there could cause a lot of loud rattling if it vibrated hard enough

[HaShfIeNd]

yah i thought about that, i've tried to hold it and what not.. it seems like its mostly the top of the trunk, and maybe the lights that are rattling, but the license plate definately shakes also.. wonder if anyone has built any kind of support or used any kind of sound material to get a cleaner bass sound outside of the car rather then all that rattle from the trunk, i understand that the speakers facing out torwards the back of the car makes it rattle more but sounds better inside the cab that way?.


i dunno how much of a factor this is but i noticed our license plates are only held in by one pair of screws.. that right there could cause a lot of loud rattling if it vibrated hard enough

[halxi]

the way i see it....

if you want bass, deal with the rattle

Who cares if it sounds like shit outside the car, as long as its bumpin inside.

just my 2 cents

[AccordEpicenter]

deal with the rattles on the outside. I had to use spray foam and foam the hell out of the trunk and that helped. I also stuffed pieces of foam etc behind the lisence plate and behind the tailights... My third brake light kept breaking so i had to take it out

[frantik]

Who cares if it sounds like shit outside the car, as long as its bumpin inside.

isn't the point of having a big stereo to make it heard from a distance? :D i know when i hear a car drive by with a big system and a shitload of rattling i think it's getto compared to on that bumps and everything sounds good

[halxi]

It sounds ghetto, but you also have to look at it like this; the more rattle, the better/more powerfull the speakers are. A kid down the street has 2 10" Apline type s's in his car, and it sounds clean when he drives by kuz nothing rattles... but there really isnt that much bass when youre in the car. Kind of weak and dissapointing actually.

[Vanilla Sky]

i'm willing to bet that your trunk lid skin has seperated from the frame. take a look at that. also, the plastic could be cracked behind the license plate frame, causing a good deal of rattling. the taillight wiring might possibly cause some audible and hard-to-trace rattling.

one thing you need to think of is the age of your car. the older it is, the more time it's had to break little clips and such, giving it more of a chance and more places to rattle.

[88accordhb]

I...HATE....RATTLINg. it's sooo ghetto. it's the plate on my hatch that rattles the most.

[Ludi Mali]

I broke down and got some dynamat for the trunk lid, that helped a lot. Just jam soft stuff behind the license plate that takes care of that. I know atleast on my car a lot of the rattling is from underneath.

[HaShfIeNd]

nice i'll definately check into some of that... it does sound pretty ghetto though haha i turn it up all the way so i can't hear the rattle of the trunk on the inside... but on the outside you can hear it nice and far, unfortunately all you hear is the ghetto rattle of my trunk :\ heheh.. but i am curious about vanilla's suggestion, how will i tell if trunk has come apart?

[HaShfIeNd]

deal with the rattles on the outside. I had to use spray foam and foam the hell out of the trunk and that helped. I also stuffed pieces of foam etc behind the lisence plate and behind the tailights... My third brake light kept breaking so i had to take it out


the light was burning out or the actual thing was breaking? lol.. i wonder if mines burnt out actually... that area rattles like nothing else.. i can stuff dance around on there to the bass its funny..

you consider maybe trying an LED light setup for the back? that might stop it from burning out.

[Hash_man_Se_i]

Rattling is GHETTo... Get some Cascade audio deadning (sp) material. Dynamat is alright if you like tar, because thats really all it is, it just adds weight to the metal to prevent rattling, where cascade actually absorbs the sound waves to help quiet it down

[3rdCoast]

i got a cheap easy partial solution for u guys. The trunk lids in our cars are pretty flimsy cant do much about that but this is what i did. Since the cars r so old the goo they use to attach the trunk lid sheet metal to the skeleton braces shrink dry out, crack whatever. so heres what to do go to the hardware store or walmart get some sillicon indoor/outdoor widow caulking and take a small flathead screwdriver and stick it inbetween the skeleton braces and the sheet metal and squeeze a bunch of caulking in between then. BE CAREFUL WITH THE SCREW DRIVER NOT TO PUT TOO MUCH FORCE ON THE SCREW DRIVER CUZ U COULD MAKE EXTRUDING DENTS ON THE TOP OF UR TRUNK LID. The sillicon caulking drys clear and is almost like rubber cement it stays flexable but makes the trunk lid a lil more solid its very cheap(about $7-8usd) and effective u will notice a big difference in how the trunk sounds when u close it (more solid) and it feels a lil heavier. The lic. plate panel and reverse light panel that whole area is flimsy and i dont know if u will ever get that to stop but my car sounds so much better now. Also the rear deck i think is the worst part of the interior for rattles and the 3rd break light can make a pretty nasty noise when it bounces off the glass....

[HaShfIeNd]

Rattling is GHETTo... Get some Cascade audio deadning (sp) material. Dynamat is alright if you like tar, because thats really all it is, it just adds weight to the metal to prevent rattling, where cascade actually absorbs the sound waves to help quiet it down

nice i'm definately going to look into that.

[TheWatcher]

Rattling is GHETTo... Get some Cascade audio deadning (sp) material. Dynamat is alright if you like tar, because thats really all it is, it just adds weight to the metal to prevent rattling, where cascade actually absorbs the sound waves to help quiet it down
Actually, Dynamat is a sound dampening material. Dynamat/Dynamat Xtreme also holds everything tightly together to help minimze rattle. I would get Dynamat Xtreme, since it's easier to apply. They even sell a kit specifically for the license plate IIRC.

The Cascade stuff is Dynamat clone stuff (AFAIK) sold at places like Circuit City. It's cheaper (compared to Dynamat/Dynamat Xtreme per sq. ft.), but cheaper is not necessarily better. All the installs in car audio magazines use Dynamat/Dynamat Xtreme, so I would go that route.

Otherwise, outside of the choice of brand, I agree w/ Hash_man_SE_i that sound dampening material is the way to go.

Obviously, it will add weight to your car, so if you're a racer that might be a concern. But really, if you are a serious racer, wouldn't you be better served w/ a car more suitable for modification than a 3g. :)

Good luck, I'm more a sound quality guy, not a SPL guy, so I tend to avoid posting to these threads, but I thought you might want another perspective on the brand of sound dampening material(s) available.

Peace.