All good points and some that I’ve also considered, but there’s only so much I can do by myself. I can say the wheel wells are a big problem. They’re basically echo chambers.
You are making me hungry for some fruit salad…
Of course I know what tires I have. I posted about them the other day. They are iMove Gen 2 AS. Loud AF! They’re Z rated tho
At least you didn’t say tossed
I just wish our schedules were based on some reality. We are typically trying to meet a "desired" completion date that is almost always a pipe dream
That is true of every company's project planning. Nobody wants to hear that it will take 2 years, so they agree to a 6 month schedule which is impossible and any short circuits and compromises they try to take to get there faster ultimately slows it down. You might end up shipping the product on time, but it won't be good until the full 2 years of the original estimate. On this point, we have to hand it to GM (and most car companies except Tesla). They've got their product planning down to a science and pretty much churn out cars as planned, but they have this annual model year cadence that helps a bit. With 2022 models showing up in Aug/Sept, they've built in some buffer if they are late. They can still release sometime in 2022 and not really be "late".
It not as much the wheel well. The Buick has a decent dampening on the wheel well. The main source of noise from this location is tire. Dampening the wheel well more will only give marginal results and mostly at lower speeds. Tire noise is transferred from vibrations in the bearing and hub that travel up the suspension. Think of a tuning fork. We place rubber bushings and vibration dampening design into the assembly. Oil dampeners work well but are going to be on much higher priced vehicles. The main fix after a car has been manufactured Is tire type and sound deadening in the A pillar. The a pillar. You just have to research the pillar thoroughly. Some are designed with leak chambers for a sunroof. But filling the void closest to the floor pan whelps to prevent the sound wave from entering the pillar chamber and creating the echo that you hear. Newer crash standards make this harder to refine due to the increasing use of hardened steel in the pillar assembly. It saves your life but comes at a cost in convenience and comfort. One benefit from some manufacturers tech advances is fusing resin and steel in the mfg process. Lowering weight, increasing strength and the resin dampens the pillar chamber. This means less cost in other dampening materials and more freedom to avoid bloating the vehicle weight into a higher category.
When I removed the rear fender liners I noticed a large open cavity on the back side, towards the rear of the vehicle. I also noticed how noisy the heat shields are. I fear they will become a problem once I get my sound system installed.
If you have it removed, can you post a pick. I’m booked this weekend with finishing projects at work. I won’t have time to look at fir a few days. But I can give feedback with a quick look at the housing. I’ve already examined the front wheelhouse and pulled some part maps to see what it has. But not the rear. You are correct that the panels may become an issue. You can break down the noise into a few categories. Below is what typically impacts them. Road or tire. General outside acoustics and cabin pressure. Road and tire is the hardest and most expensive to treat. It’s what I was hitting on earlier. General sound dampening material will not impact this. And it’s very isolated. You can tell this when your driving and the sound increases exponentially with speed and road type. It is solely caused by vibrations and resistance in the tire and wheel assembly but can be induced into the body cabin via metal parts and cavities. The general acoustics are exterior noises bleeding into the cabin. It’s almost solely related to material thickness and property. I.e. your windows and outer panels. This is typically heard at any speed and doesn’t change in pitch. Exceptions are body gaps causing wind. Our car is pretty well lined. At least the Essence model is. The main area I can hear this noise is around the change lever and the rear floor transmission housing. I think isolating material will really clean that up. Being a hatch, I may be hearing the rear wheel well as I haven’t looked it over. A higher grade of window tint could also help. Our regal uses acoustic windows but they are not as high of a rating as my wife’s enclave. The remaining pressure is caused by cabin air. We design the body to release air to prevent pressure from raising. Think closing force on a car door. The door takes more force to close when all windows and doors are closed. Just crack a window and the door closes with ease. The car is typically designed to battle the cabin pressure from stock But temperatures in your region will make California more prone to this type of noise than say Ohio. In short, the higher the pressure the more rattles, boomy sounds (our door panels) and tendency to have a hollow can sound to the speaker acoustics. This is why sound deadening makes your stereo sound much better. It not only reduces vibrations but absorbs some of the bad waves caused by the vibrating panels. If you add more watts to your stereo, you will definitely increase cabin pressure and produce vibrations. So be prepared to dyno mat. As a last item to note. I stated that the cars have vents to remove cabin pressure. Before covering holes in the body, check to find out where all body vents are located. Your rear wheel house is a major area. If you prevent this from moving air, your doors will become harder to close, trunk closing issues and your stereo acoustics will become boomy.
I don’t have a still pic of that area. I have plenty of video, though. I’ll have all my videos, pics, and step-by-step instructions uploaded by the end of the weekend. I’ve just been slammed at work.
The coating will be fine. My gut feeling on the wheel arch is that coating the inside of the chamber may give the most benefit from the sounds I have heard. The MLV is excellent for that purpose. I’m not sure about the CLD. You want a sound absorbing since it’s a chamber. not reducing vibration like a high grade don mat in the door panels. I’m throwing up a link on the air pressure vents. They are almost always in the rear wheel arch under the bumper. Some are added to the b Pilar. I would avoid covering the wheel arch if the vent is in the chamber. If it’s behind the chamber then your good.
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