How do I make my ride Cool, Quiet and Comfortable?
Sources of Heat and Noise in all Vehicles: How do I make my ride Cool, Quiet and Comfortable?
Stock manufactured vehicles ever since Henry Ford’s Model A have not been built for driver and passenger comfort. Today’s vehicles are inherently uncomfortable. Most OEM’s have Noise, Vibration and Harshness “NVH” departments tasked with vehicle design and construction to achieve certain noise and heat levels... on paper. OEM’s design a build plan, including NVH levels and task suppliers to provide a solution to meet these stated NVH objectives. This is often years before the first vehicle rolls off the production line. During the development process by the time the financial department gets their hands on the build plan the NVH spec deviations are issued to lower the production cost of the vehicle. This is the fundamental reason after-market sound deadening and thermal insulation materials exist! There are 380 million passenger vehicles on the road today and very few have been treated effectively for noise and heat. You can see for yourself - Roll back the floor carpet in a small area on your vehicle – small pieces of jute might be under the carpet and there is hard material that is likely cracked, stuck on small areas of the floor pan (maybe).
In vans, RV’s and semi-trucks it is worse. There might be a urethane foam under the floor carpet or vinyl – that is it. The floor is painted sheet metal or fiberglass. Little or no insulation is present. No OEM produced vehicle is as Cool, Quiet and Comfortable as an aftermarket treated vehicle.
Sources of noise and heat, at excessive levels in vehicles are present in all vehicles! Noise transfers from vibration of sheet metal or fiberglass, engine, exhaust, wind velocity, road/tire interaction, flex of the chassis and audio systems all generate noise in the interior of the vehicle.
Heat comes from most of these same sources of noise! Engine, exhaust, transmission, radiant heat, friction from wind velocity all generate high levels of heat that transfers into the vehicle interior. The automobile, truck, van or semi-truck at dealerships everywhere are a metal “can”. Certain vehicle bodies are constructed from fiberglass and the heat and noise issues are the same.
These metal cans are traveling at high rates of speed on un-even road surfaces. The metal surrounding the vehicle interior vibrates excessively creating noise and heat builds up and radiates. Most people don’t realize when driving their vehicle, they are exposed to levels of noise that are damaging to the human ear. One illustration of this fact is when you are driving on a freeway paved with asphalt and the road surface changes over to concrete or grooved surface. The noise level inside your vehicle changes dramatically. In fact, European countries have invoked regulation to minimize consumers exposure to noise levels at or above 85 decibels “dB”. In most instances your vehicle exceeds 85 decibels when traveling at highway rates of speed. 85 decibels of noise is the level you find between a paper shredder (80-82dB) and a wood chipper (88-90). According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, “Long or repeated exposure to sounds at or above 85 dBA can cause hearing loss.” This high level of noise occurs every day you drive your vehicle. The following chart illustrates different sources of noise and their decibel level.
The solution to noise and heat in your vehicle, van or truck is simple. Structural noise – vibration and heat is treated with one product, HushMat Ultra. The exception to this rule is extreme cold or extreme heat climates – we recommend Silencer Megabond in addition to Ultra for the most effective sound absorption and thermal insulation performance. Anyone that attempts to sell you three, four or five materials is trying to sell you products and not the proper treatment for your vehicle. Proper treatment of HushMat sound deadening, thermal insulation and sound absorption materials in your vehicle can lower the decibel level by over 5 dB. We have customers that have experienced over 10 dB reduction. The following scale provides an easy reference to better understand decibel reduction.
Structural noise (aka vibration) is treated by constrained layer butyl-based sound deadening materials. Treating vibration in the interior of a vehicle is complex. Vehicles are exposed to a wide range of environmental conditions across the planet – a vehicle that travels in a desert climate vs a vehicle that travels in the coldest climates require the constrained layer sound deadening to perform equally. Chemistry must be robust to handle all these environmental variables. The ability of the material to withstand, hot/cold, humid/dry, variable substrates & surface conditions and maintain performance requires unique chemistry. The density of the butyl rubber and the ability for the material to adhere to the vehicle surface is vital to the long-term performance and value of the sound deadening material. Many think just because the product has an aluminum foil laminate – they must be similar. After 36 years manufacturing and testing hundreds of products this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Put your product to the following test: Remove a sheet or two of your material and place it in the freezer overnight. In the morning take it out and immediately remove the release paper, attempt to install it. Is the cold mat stiff and inflexible? Is it difficult to mold and contour to the vehicle surface? If it is, you now see how it will perform when installed in your next vehicle. Do the same thing by placing your product in the oven and bake it for a couple hours at 260-280 degrees F. What is your experience then after installing it? Is the material liquifying, stringing, super soft and flowing? Too many brands have sourced their products off-shore or converted them to commodity formulations to bring a product to market. Do these same tests with HushMat Ultra – you will immediately see the performance benefits of HushMat. No other brand is tested or rated to perform to all automotive specifications. HushMat is the only brand that has been designed, developed, manufactured, tested and proven in service in the automotive industry for 36 years. HushMat sound deadening and thermal insulation benefit has been put to the test in all climates across the world and has passed every test. Apply HushMat Ultra sound deadening & thermal insulation material directly to the firewall, floor pan (including transmission tunnel), doors, roof and trunk (or cargo area) and semi-truck cab and sleeper.
https://youtube.com/shorts/FY4d_qrCbYY?si=oC96Ldl66IHUY68L
Airborne noise is just that – transmitted through the air. Engine noise enters through the firewall and transmission tunnel, exhaust noise enters from under the vehicle and through the trunk (exhaust drone), wind noise enters through all areas of the vehicle but especially through the roof, doors and firewall, road noise aka tire whine enters through the wheel wells. Note – the same areas that transmit airborne noise and the exact same areas that transmit structural noise.
Apply HushMat Silencer Megabond ½” sound absorbing (& thermal insulating) foam on top of HushMat Ultra on the firewall, floor pan, transmission tunnel and trunk floor. Silencer Megabond is a blended synthetic rubber formula that contains a variable cell structure to provide outstanding sound absorption in all environmental conditions.
Apply HushMat Silencer Megabond ¼” sound absorbing (& thermal insulating) foam on the back of your headliner and on the back of your removable door panels. The Silencer Foam is multi-faceted to lower radiant heat that penetrates through the headliner. There is 260-270 degrees F radiant heat that pounds your roof and radiates into the vehicle interior. The combination of Ultra applied to the roof skin and the Silencer Megabond applied to the headliner is the proper sound deadening and thermal insulation solution for every vehicle on and off-road today. Applying Silencer Megabond to the back of the removable door panels reduces wind noise, cold air or hot air rushing into the vehicle interior as you drive your vehicle. Here is an demonstration of the benefits of HushMat Ultra and Silencer Megabond treating the structural noise and airborne noise in a household blender.
https://youtu.be/ii435oWmLUA?si=6eH8kNfqmU54HXfJ
By following these simple instructions, you now have the HushMat solution for treatment of every sedan, pick up, SUV, van, RV or semi-truck ever built. Give us a call (913) 599-2600 M-F 8AM-5PM CST or email us at cs@hushmat.com. We are ready to assist.
