Fatmat Install (Dynamat)

[brendan]

annabanana:

Yeah, I love that tool set. I got sick of borrowing and breaking my dad's tools all the time so I figured I'd go throw down some cash when I did my TT/shackles on my old Explorer. Picked up that set and a set of screwdrivers, since then the collection has slowly grown :p But that set works for just about everything I need, I love it!

[FourSecondPin]

does the fat mat help with vibrations and such on the inide of the car? I have a decent set up with infinity kappas and a kenwood excelon x859 and a crunch amp for the speakers, no sub ...yet, need a few more pay checks. Anways I have a lot of vibrations and sort of buzzing noises that sound like they are coming from the doors and areas like under the glove box. They change with the different types of bass thats playing but with music like incubus where theres constant bass in the background it gets annoying because i can hear them even with the volume way up. They change from like buzzing to echoey souding and all inbetween. Please tell me that the fat mat will sove my problems because if not then i probably have to find each one of these noises and kill them one at a time....AHHH that would suck.
Thanks, Foursecondpin

[brendan]

It should certainly solve your problems. Do what the Gimp says and spray the inside of your door panels also. I just bought a couple cans of the spray stuff and need to get a couple more to finish the doors. This will help the panels from moving so much b/c it weighs it down and also dampens the possible vibrations. Also, when you have the panels off you may see exactly what is rattling or giving you the bad vibes. Could be some of the wiring is not in place and you could fix this at the time you dynamat or what have you. Then it won't be rattling against metal anymore, just dynamat and rubber coating My guess, this entire procedure SHOULD, in almost all cases, solve your problems.

[VairKing]

When you guys say spray the inside of the door panels, are you refering to the back of the plastic panel, or the inside of the door (where the window goes) ? TIA...

[Gimp]

Originally posted by VairKing
When you guys say spray the inside of the door panels, are you refering to the back of the plastic panel, or the inside of the door (where the window goes) ? TIA...

The backside of the metal door skin that has your paint on the outside.
I bought sound deadener made just for this purpose in a liquid that can be rolled on or sprayed on. One of my nephews that had some wand-type sprayers sprayed the inside of the door skins for me. A quart of it did all four doors. Some people have also used aerosol cans of rubberized undercoating but I have not had any experience with that.

[Ross-N-Chicago]

OK,

Say I bought 100 sq ft of FatMat and wanted to do the cargo, all pillars, rear hatch, front kick panels as far as I can reach and all four doors (headliner seems too tough, or is it?)...

How long would it take for a better than average coordinated person?

Thanks...

[brendan]

The warmer the temp, the easier the stuff is to work with for one. Just don't peel and accidentally overlap! I learned that the hard way, wrecked half a sheet. It took me the better part of 4hrs (2separate nights) to do my 4 doors and rear hatch. I recommend taking off all the plastic and then putting on all the fatmat at once. It'd be a much smoother install then doing one part of the project, then skipping to another aspect. That way you are focused on a certain part of the project and it zips along much faster.

Just my opinion though, and I know there aren't many people that would put money behind some of my decisions

[Gimp]

Being a cripple, I could not do it all myself. My old lady did all the gutting of the interior for me one weekend (removing seats, carpets, interior panels, etc.) except for the door panels - I was able to do those myself. It took her about six hours total to remove what she did and it took me about a half hour to remove all four door panels. If you don't have one, get a door panel removal tool. KD tools makes a good heavy-duty one. As for the headliner, I went to a local shop and had them remove it for me so it would be removed properly. After installing the FatMat on the underside of the roof, I took it back to them for the headliner reinstall. I'm pretty sure that if I had attempted removing and reinstalling the headliner myself that I would have messed it up. If you are going to do all of these areas yourself and you are of better-than-average coordination, I would set aside a minimum of one full day or maybe even a full weekend in case you run into problems. You might even want to elicit the help of a friend to help speed things along.

Good luck.

[Explorer94GV]

Also not mentioned is if your explorer is very dirty it will take longer. You have to clean the surfaces before you put this stuff on otherwise within in 2-3 months it will just come right off. The better you know your way around in the interior the faster it will go. Make sure you have all the things you need before you start so you dont have to make trips. Invest in the roller that they sell for $4 at best buy it will save you so much time. It took me about 1 day to do the actual dynamat, but with all the stops and non-knowledge i had of the interior at the time it wound up taking me 1 week. Just plan out what you are going to do before you start ripping things out. Also since 100sq. ft is plenty to do the truck do the backside of your door panels it reallly seals them up very well and like mentioned earlier will keep heat in during winter and a/c during summer.

[Gonzo]

I finally got the 100 sq. ft. fatpak of fatmat. Saturday I did the headliner, and what a PITA it is. Very tedious. You guys weren't kidding when you said the headliner is VERY brittle. I had a few close calls where it started to bend and got some little cracks, but it all went back together just fine. I would highly reccommend two people do this because it is very easy to break. I'll let you know when I get the rest done. Thanks for all your help.

[Gimp]

Originally posted by Gonzo
Saturday I did the headliner, and what a PITA it is. Very tedious.

Understatement!
I knew I'd screw it up so that's why I let a shop remove and reinstall the headliner for me. Even with that, it was tedius working over my head installing the FatMat. As you said, the headliner is definitely a multi-man task.

Also, glad to hear your FatMat install is going so well. You won't believe the difference. Just today I had the 5K balance & rotation done on "Money Pit" and the mechanic who test drove it after the alignment remarked how it was quiet as a tomb inside once the doors were closed. (I know he cranked it while he was on the test drive because there was a Billy Idol CD in the player that wasn't in there when I took it in. )

[Gonzo]

On the front doors, there is a dark grey rubberized foam sheet behind the door panels. I assume it's a moisture barrier. When I put the fatmat on there, do I need to put the moisture barrier back on over the fatmat? I don't see how it would do much good after the fatmat is on, because it will be sealed up even better than it came from the factory.

[brendan]

I just threw those things right in the garbage, fatmat works just as good I'm guessing... I hope anyway!

[VairKing]

I left the front ones on, they apeared to have a little bit of a sound deadoning quality, so I just restuck them back on top of the fatmat...a lil more insulation never hurts!

[Cartman]

When installing the Dynomatt how much heat is needed (I have either a hair dryer or a propane torch) and other then the roller and a knife what else is needed.

Thanks

[VairKing]

When I installed the fatmat, I didnt use any heat, just peeled and sticked...then used the knife and roller to trim/press it...good luck!

[Splint333]

Originally Posted by jssong

does anyone know if putting on two layers will help? or do nothing?

One layer of fatmat = 3db gain, two layers = 3x the effectiveness of one layer. At least that's what the paper in my box said.