Deadening road noise in a van

[DMan]

I'm looking at ways to quieten down the road noise in a van. One thought, after lining the floor, is to spray expanding foam into the cavity of the two rear doors and the two side doors. Anyone done anything like that? Then using some of the self adhesive deadening matt to go over wheel arches and walls etc.?

 

[hifiandmtb]

Drive it on grass.

 

[DMan]

Drive it on grass.

Does being high reduce the care factor? Or is it being constantly distracted by having the munchies..

 

[Mr Crudley]

Drive it on grass.

Ear plugs.....

 

[Flow-Rider]

Buy a real van, problem solved.....

 

[Dales Cannon]

Drive really fast, you are then too scared to notice the noise.

 

[link1896]

car audio installers use butyl based sound deadening mat. something like this, it works really well. where you can't get to, enjoy the expanding foam experience: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Aluminu...204672?hash=item1cdbd44040:g:bTAAAOSwK5VdrRaT

 

[born-again-biker]

A mate at work has an iLoad.
He filled all the cavities in the cargo area with batt-type acoustic fibreglass matt stuff.
Then he screwed fairly thick MDF panels over the top of it and onto the floor and added marine carpet.

I've been in the van across Melbourne... It's very quiet.

 

[creaky]

Shagpile dude !

 

[DMan]

car audio installers use butyl based sound deadening mat. something like this, it works really well. where you can't get to, enjoy the expanding foam experience: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Aluminu...204672?hash=item1cdbd44040:g:bTAAAOSwK5VdrRaT

That's the stuff I was thinking of. Going off the foam idea after doing some reading.....

A mate at work has an iLoad.
He filled all the cavities in the cargo area with batt-type acoustic fibreglass matt stuff.
Then he screwed fairly thick MDF panels over the top of it and onto the floor and added marine carpet.

I've been in the van across Melbourne... It's very quiet.

That sounds better than foam.

 

[Flow-Rider]

Hey @DMan has your van got one of those dividing walls from the front seats to the back ? If not it might be worth making something out of wood.

 

[DMan]

Hey @DMan has your van got one of those dividing walls from the front seats to the back ? If not it might be worth making something out of wood.

It does! A good metal one. My plan is to cover with the deadening matt..

 

[Flow-Rider]

It does! A good metal one. My plan is to cover with the deadening matt..

Makes me wonder if it might have excessively noisy tyres or maybe something else, I wouldn't expect a newish van with a dividing wall to be that noisy in the cabin but I've never been in a Reno van.

 

[fatboyonabike]

That's the stuff I was thinking of. Going off the foam idea after doing some reading.....



That sounds better than foam.

you don't want pink batts in you car, unless you really love scratching..itchy stuff that isn't really that great for you either!
but as an alternative you can get polyester batts, same stuff they use in cheap pillows, much more user friendly

 

[DMan]

Makes me wonder if it might have excessively noisy tyres or maybe something else, I wouldn't expect a newish van with a dividing wall to be that noisy in the cabin but I've never been in a Reno van.

I am looking at tyres too actually. I do think there is a fair bit of "road noise" as they are just cheap commercial tyres. My plan is to replace them with a more road friendly tyre. The van was a delivery/work van for a shelving company. Had the shit beaten out of it in the back. The front is good. I think it's just general wear and tear from the side and back doors being opened and shut so much. I' also going to replace the door seals and see if I can move the hinges in a bit to tighten up the door against the seal.

 

[DMan]

you don't want pink batts in you car, unless you really love scratching..itchy stuff that isn't really that great for you either!
but as an alternative you can get polyester batts, same stuff they use in cheap pillows, much more user friendly

For sure. definitely not Pink batts. But batts would be better for packing in behind the MDF panels in the back I was thinking, than foam.

 

[fatboyonabike]

its has become apparent that your music is either not loud enough, crap, or a combination of the two!

 

[creaky]

Just treating the divider between the cargo and passenger areas would be the best bang for buck. Spend your cash on that rather than treating the whole cargo area.

You're looking for something that will add density to the dividing wall e.g. the mass lining that @link1896 posted a link to.

The other thing that will help is more soft / absorbent surfaces in the cargo area (i.e. shagpile, orange works best) which will reduce the reverberant noise in the cargo area i.e. the sound energy is absorbed rather than reflecting around.

 

[DMan]

Just treating the divider between the cargo and passenger areas would be the best bang for buck. Spend your cash on that rather than treating the whole cargo area.

You're looking for something that will add density to the dividing wall e.g. the mass lining that @link1896 posted a link to.

The other thing that will help is more soft / absorbent surfaces in the cargo area (i.e. shagpile, orange works best) which will reduce the reverberant noise in the cargo area i.e. the sound energy is absorbed rather than reflecting around.

I'll start with the divider then. What about a nice sheepskin rug instead of shagpile? Orange WOULD match Mrs DMan's Scott though....
But I have always fancied one of these too... Just so many choices!!

 

[Flow-Rider]

I am looking at tyres too actually. I do think there is a fair bit of "road noise" as they are just cheap commercial tyres. My plan is to replace them with a more road friendly tyre. The van was a delivery/work van for a shelving company. Had the shit beaten out of it in the back. The front is good. I think it's just general wear and tear from the side and back doors being opened and shut so much. I' also going to replace the door seals and see if I can move the hinges in a bit to tighten up the door against the seal.

If you rub the tyre circumference with the palm of your hand and feel corrugations, sharp tread lips or a large whoop there's a good chance that a lot of the noise will be the tyres. Another thing that's annoying in a van is bad wheel bearings, as they seem to resonate a droning hum at over 80km/h and especially in the rear. Exhaust mounts broken is another one.