discussion Sound deadening the car. And a few audio upgrades.

[lowfat]

One of the few issues I have w/ the Crosstrek is road noise. Some road surfaces are rather loud. After seeing that LTT vid a couple weeks back. I decided to do it.

Started w/ the doors. Did about 50% coverage w/ butyl. Both the outer and inner skin. A lot of the deadening is on the non visible side of the inner skin.



Was at this point where I thought I might as well toss in the Hertz 6x9s I had got for 'free' with a sub purchase last year. Designed and 3d printed some adapters, went pretty easy.



Then did the hatch. About 25% of so coverage on both skins, mostly due to not being able to reach the outer skin easily and to avoid where the panels would snap in.



I also thought I'd might as well do a layer of closed cell foam as a 2nd layer of deadening. This doesn't help w/ panel resonance. Should just make everything a tad quieter w/ better heat insulation. Did a complete coverage of all the doors / hatch.

What a before would look like.

And after



The hatch panels


Next I did the spare tire well. There is very little clearance between the spare tire and the cover and I didn't want the cover to bulge so I only applied the butyl where the tire wouldn't be sitting on it.



And then closed cell foam.



Next set of days off I started on the floors, which is by far the most difficult and time consuming. Took out the seats, center console and carpet.


The butyl layer. Had quite a bit of butyl left so I did like 80%+ coverage.

 

[lowfat]

And then closed cell foam. I used every single scrap of what I had left. I have another 2 rolls on order. Should arrive tomorrow. But everything that goes under the carpet is done just in case it doesn't show up in time.




More to come.....

 

[Soultribunal]

Nice,

That is a lot of effort to silence the road noise, let us know how it goes.

I have a few issues with the crosstrek myself but that is a personal thing really.
I love the car, it had so much potential, and Subaru really botched it IMO.

-ST

 

[clshades]

Good lord! That looks like alot of work.

 

[Bond007]

Wow! A massive undertaking.

I am going to be totally honest in that I wouldn’t buy a car that had road noise that drove me to do something like this, but I have tons of respect for you going for it!

I sure hope you get the results you are looking for!

 

[FreeKnight]

If your Subaru doesn't have horrible road noise and rattles are you even driving a Subaru? (Former owner here).

Noise reduction is the biggest reason I switched to luxury brands, and one of my pet peeves when a car does it poorly.

 

[lowfat]

Nice,

That is a lot of effort to silence the road noise, let us know how it goes.

I have a few issues with the crosstrek myself but that is a personal thing really.
I love the car, it had so much potential, and Subaru really botched it IMO.

-ST

What don't you like about it? Only a few things I don't like. The noise obviously. Lane Assist doesn't work worth 2 poops. Can't think of anything else major.

Wow! A massive undertaking.

I am going to be totally honest in that I wouldn’t buy a car that had road noise that drove me to do something like this, but I have tons of respect for you going for it!

I sure hope you get the results you are looking for!

I didn't find it bad before. But it was so obnoxiously loud in the last vehicle I think my sensitivity to it went up.

Some pavement types aren't bad. But when I hit a road asphalt where you can see exposed aggregate, it becomes so annoying.


Total cost should be around $300. But a solid 3-4 days of work.

 

[Soultribunal]

What don't you like about it? Only a few things I don't like. The noise obviously. Lane Assist doesn't work worth 2 poops. Can't think of anything else major.

I didn't find it bad before. But it was so obnoxiously loud in the last vehicle I think my sensitivity to it went up.

Some pavement types aren't bad. But when I hit a road asphalt where you can see exposed aggregate, it becomes so annoying.


Total cost should be around $300. But a solid 3-4 days of work.

Underpower engine in the older models, then when they bumped it 20Hp (or some number I can't remember) it was only on the Automatic.
They also nuked the model with the MT for 2023/24 which sucks because few cars have the MT Charm of a Subaru. Japan really knows how to make a gearbox.

There is more but yeah, it was not as nice of a car as it had the potential to be.
We have 2 as fleet vehicles and my Mother-in-Law has one and it is really anemic to drive compared to other options.

-ST

 

[Coach]

What don't you like about it? Only a few things I don't like. The noise obviously. Lane Assist doesn't work worth 2 poops. Can't think of anything else major.

I didn't find it bad before. But it was so obnoxiously loud in the last vehicle I think my sensitivity to it went up.

Some pavement types aren't bad. But when I hit a road asphalt where you can see exposed aggregate, it becomes so annoying.


Total cost should be around $300. But a solid 3-4 days of work.

I am excited to find out how this turns out. I have a 350Z and I would consider doing the same to it. I loathe loud cabins!!

 

[Izerous]

They also nuked the model with the MT for 2023/24 which sucks because few cars have the MT Charm of a Subaru. Japan really knows how to make a gearbox.

There is more but yeah, it was not as nice of a car as it had the potential to be.
We have 2 as fleet vehicles and my Mother-in-Law has one and it is really anemic to drive compared to other options.

-ST

Agree with the under powered part. Wasn't aware of the 2023's getting a small bump in power they desperately needed it. Still don't like the lack of reliability or repairability of the CVTs. And programming them to behave like an automatic destroys the only advantage they had over an automatic in the first place.

I am excited to find out how this turns out. I have a 350Z and I would consider doing the same to it. I loathe loud cabins!!

It makes a very noticeable difference, even just opening and closing the doors the difference is sound can be noticable. With the noise a 350Z+VQ35 makes though it won't help much unless your casually cruising around. VQ's not the most quiet at higher RPMs. There are some products meant for underneath the hood though that would help along with that.