Making My Mj Quiet

[Minuit]

In a few months, most of my driving with the MJ will consist of 2 hour trips a few times a month. Currently, it's got a whole lot of road/wind/whatever noise that gets annoying very quickly and I'd like to quiet it somehow. Basically I want the cab to be pretty quiet when driving. Yes, I'm quite aware that it is a Jeep and will never be as pleasant on the road as a normal vehicle, but I can try my damnedest to make it so. Trouble is, I know next to nothing about this topic, and I'm willing to bet that there are several people on here who do.

 

Here's what I'm wondering about:

 

- 23 years hasn't been terribly kind to any of the weatherstripping. Most of it needs to be replaced. I've heard that 97+ XJ weatherstripping pieces are much better all around than anything of the MJ era. How much of a difference does it make?

 

- When I pulled my interior apart, I got rid of the jute padding (it was in awful shape anyway). Eventually I plan on replacing the rubberized floor liner with either mass-backed carpet or Dynamat as well as bedlining the floor. What would be the most effective at keeping road noise down?

 

- What's the best way to address sound deadening in the door panels? I'm going to be replacing most of the weatherstripping in the door so hopefully water leaks into the doors won't be a huge problem. How wrong am I?

 

Any comments, suggestions and concerns will be greatly appreciated. :thumbsup:

[Comanche County]

The 97 door stripping will go right on and its a bit "plumper" than the older stuff, the 97'+ window weather stripping is not quite as easy, its better but you'll have to cut it at the wing window pillars.  It won't really help with the wind/road noise.  I think dynamat on the roof and back of the cab and extra carpet matting is the best you can hope for.

[Comanche County]

And newer tires designed for road noise, most road noise/highway noise comes from the point where the tire meets the pavement and compresses the air.  Then that sound resonates in the cab. 

[Guest]

Like CC said, Dynamat would help. Although if it were me I would go grab some Reflectix; you can pick it up at most places that sell any sort of home insulation. Does the same thing as Dynamat (more or less) for a fraction of the cost. 

 

As previously mentioned, you want to strip the entire interior of the truck and lay down a swathe of this stuff on the floors, cabin roof, b-pillars, doors, etc. It's also a good choice if you've done floor-pan repairs and want to do more than just put some POR-15 down under the carpet. Speaking of carpet, a setup with "mass backing" would help as well. 

 

Also, on the note of the 97+ weather stripping for the doors, I'm not impressed with the results of that. I personally changed the older style to some good ones I pulled of a 99 XJ from one of my trips and rode around like that for a while. I didn't particularly notice any difference, as far as sealing went, and I had to slam my doors shut every time to actually get the door to catch on the strike pin. I got tired of that pretty quick and changed back to the older style. IMO, if you wanted to get new weather stripping for the doors, I would get some new ones of the old stuff. Much better fitment without all the hassle.

[Comanche County]

Exactly as Red said,,,,, I think 1/2 of it is tires, the other 1/2 is cab sound proofing.

[Minuit]

Thanks for the quick replies. Great advice, never heard of the Reflectix stuff until now.

 

My tires are fairly quiet: they're ~200 mile old Coopers that (if the morons at the shop had balanced them correctly - still trying to find the time to get that corrected) run pretty quiet. My main concern is wind noise, but I do plan on stripping the interior in the future and in the process soundproofing the cab. :thumbsup:

[Minuit]

Related but unrelated question that most of CC will find stupid: What affects the sound a door makes when it closes? My doors close with a resounding banging sound. Is there anything I can do to make the doors close quieter?

[Alexia]

Related but unrelated question that most of CC will find stupid: What affects the sound a door makes when it closes? My doors close with a resounding banging sound. Is there anything I can do to make the doors close quieter?

Sound deadening! I used the Dynamat 10455 kit in my cab and ended up with about half the sheets left over which will get used in my LJ.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00020CB2S/

 

 

I recommend buying new MOPAR 55176148AC 1997+ weatherstripping. I actually just got my set in on Thursday. I ordered on 2014-04-22 and they were produced 2014-05-03, after I ordered. My donor seals from the 1997 XJ ended up being worn to match how the 1997 doors closed on the 1997 body so there are weird gaps that I could not correct with minor adjustments.

 

Make some new fender well foam baffles out of some quality closed cell craft foam. This cut down a huge chunk of tire noise.

 

 

[Eagle]

- 23 years hasn't been terribly kind to any of the weatherstripping. Most of it needs to be replaced. I've heard that 97+ XJ weatherstripping pieces are much better all around than anything of the MJ era. How much of a difference does it make?

Enough difference to make it worth doing.

 

- When I pulled my interior apart, I got rid of the jute padding (it was in awful shape anyway). Eventually I plan on replacing the rubberized floor liner with either mass-backed carpet or Dynamat as well as bedlining the floor. What would be the most effective at keeping road noise down?

Dynamat, with jute over it. Mass is what dampens noise.

 

- What's the best way to address sound deadening in the door panels?

Dynamat.

[91Pioneer]

Alexia, as an aside, I like your video and videos. I'm definitely interested in more DIY vehicle painting videos. Well, more Comanche videos in general too, keep 'em coming, I'm subscribed on YT.

[Lee21490]

Like CC said, Dynamat would help. Although if it were me I would go grab some Reflectix; you can pick it up at most places that sell any sort of home insulation. Does the same thing as Dynamat (more or less) for a fraction of the cost. 

 

As previously mentioned, you want to strip the entire interior of the truck and lay down a swathe of this stuff on the floors, cabin roof, b-pillars, doors, etc. It's also a good choice if you've done floor-pan repairs and want to do more than just put some POR-15 down under the carpet. Speaking of carpet, a setup with "mass backing" would help as well. 

 

Also, on the note of the 97+ weather stripping for the doors, I'm not impressed with the results of that. I personally changed the older style to some good ones I pulled of a 99 XJ from one of my trips and rode around like that for a while. I didn't particularly notice any difference, as far as sealing went, and I had to slam my doors shut every time to actually get the door to catch on the strike pin. I got tired of that pretty quick and changed back to the older style. IMO, if you wanted to get new weather stripping for the doors, I would get some new ones of the old stuff. Much better fitment without all the hassle.

That's just bubble wrap with foil on both sides, Right?

 

You can get some "Frost king" Duct insulation, Its self adhesive on one side  then closed cell foam & semi-thick aluminum foil on top.

 

I coated my ENTIRE truck in 2-3 rolls iirc.

 

Its a hell of a lot cheaper then dynomat & REALLY cuts the road noise. Now my trucks actually pleasant on the highway.

[91Pioneer]

If you don't think Frost King insulation works, just go to YouTube and search the topic. You'll quickly realize Dynamat is overpriced and no longer needed. Just hit up Home Depot or whoever carries it and save big bucks.

[Minuit]

An Alexia video! I'm honored (and subscribed) :cheers:

 

Looks like I'll be picking up some sound deadening stuff (still not sure what to get yet) and applying it as per the video's instructions next time I tear my interior apart. 

 

Would applying extra padding on the floor be useful with mass-backed carpet? I'm probably going to bedline my floors to prevent any future possibility of rust - does it have any sound deadening properties by itself? Thanks again.

[87Warrior]

The only 'paint' on sound deadening I am aware of is called Lizard Skin. It essentially creates small air pockets in the paint to absorb sounds. I don't see how it would make any difference in a Jeep. High quality rubberized undercoating, applied to the under side of the cab, should help reduce some road noise. Once again, I doubt it would help out the old MJ too much.

 

While building my '92 I have started to work on sound elimination inside the cab. I purchased a product called "FatMat" which is identical to the other foil and tar based insulators on the market. It was reasonably priced and doesn't have any petroleum smell. I have applied it to the roof, back of the cab, in the B-pillar and doors on the outermost layer of sheet metal and on some of the door and B-pillar metal inside the cab. Since the truck still doesn't run, I cannot comment on the FatMat's effectiveness on the road. However, with a nearly empty cab shell, the doors shut extremely quiet. I would compare it to the sound my WK's doors make when shutting.

 

In addition to the FatMat, I have 1/2" jute padding to go under the carpet as well as a synthetic foil backed fiber insulation. This synthetic foil backed insulation was recommended by my body shop guy not only to help reduce noise in the cab, but the foil will help keep water off the fresh floors if some happens to leak through the carpet and it is supposed to block heat. I am not keen on applying any of the FatMat or any other foil/tar based insulation to the floor boards. If water ever got under that stuff, you would never know it :cry:  

[Alexia]

An Alexia video! I'm honored (and subscribed) :cheers:

 

Looks like I'll be picking up some sound deadening stuff (still not sure what to get yet) and applying it as per the video's instructions next time I tear my interior apart. 

 

Would applying extra padding on the floor be useful with mass-backed carpet? I'm probably going to bedline my floors to prevent any future possibility of rust - does it have any sound deadening properties by itself? Thanks again.

I only chose the Dynamat kit since I bought it on sale and the price per square foot worked out to be less than any other brand with shipping included. There are plenty of good quality products out there.

 

The only place I would like to add some more of the sound deadener is on the firewall behind the HVAC unit. I just do not want to pull the dash again.

 

My replacement carpet is claimed as mass backed, but only over the transmission tunnel. I plan to fill in under the seats and foot wells.

 

Bed lining has a minimal sound deadening effect.