Hi Corvette Guys and Gals:

Thanks to Mike Mercury here on the forum, I picked up one roll of Frost Kind Duct Insulation at Home Depot for my 03 Coupe. For a little more than $7 and about an hours worth of work 80% to 90% of my noise problem vanished. I am now convinced that the noise is coming from the rear wheels not the front. Most of the sound you hear comes up through the fender wells drumming heavily on our cargo bay floor. Unlike Mike who did the whole inside of his car, I only removed the rear carpet and installed the insulation over the top of the wheel wells and cargo floor. With a good 80% to 90% of the sound contained, I went no further.

Here are the steps:

1. Remove the Top panel storage holders.
2. Remove the Rear Side wing nuts.
3. Remove the Storage Compartment lids.
4. Lift the carpet up gently and the rings around the Panel holders will release.
5. Now just lift the carpet out and begin installing the insulation.

I would have to give the project a 1 on the easy scale of 1 to 10. A 12 year-old could do it. Getting it all back together takes only a few minutes. Go for the test drive and notice the difference.

I have a beautiful set of Magnaflows that I like without the X-pipe so I was picking up hum at low speeds. 80% of that is now gone. So now I am sounding good on the inside and great on the outside. I would say 90% of the road noise was eliminated.

Do it, you will be glad you did.

Dan VETFVER

 

I may have to try that!

Any pictures?

 

I did the entire car! It worked VERY well! I also put foil covered buble wrap under the carpet on the tunnel walls! The heat is significantly less! If you have a Vert or a FRC the best sound deading up-grade that you can do is get to a compartment didvder!!! Man what a difference that makes! I got mine from ZIP. It is thicker than most and does not need anything special to hold it in place.. It just pops in and pops out as necessary.

That is a very good upgrade!

BC

 

ZIP? I'm not familiar with that company. How do you reach them?

 

Zip Products. 1 800 962-9632 or web site www.zip-corvette.com

They have EXCELLENT products and VERY good custormer service!
\
Bill C

 

VETFVER; glad it worked out for you.

Here is my installation page for those interested:
http://mikemercury.home.att.net/sound.htm

Someone is now selling a similar product (with foil on both sides; one side ahdesive backed) that comes pre-cut to the correct shapes for all variations of the C5.

I've seen it advertised in the Parts 4 Sale section.

 

Gonna try that, thanks!

 

I just did the trunk area including the 3 storage bins. It took me about 3 hours. I don't know how you did it in 1 hour. My back is broken. lol Now I'm going to go for a test drive, that is if I can make it back out to the car.
Jeff

 

Come to think of it, I might have spend an hour and a half but it went a lot faster than I expected. I'm anxious to here how it went for you. I cruised Grand tonight and again appreciated not hearing as much road noise. There is plenty of room over those wheel wells for insulation. Why didn't GM just do what we did? Maybe a double layer over those wheel wells would even be better.

Let us know what it did for you.

Dan

 

How did it just cost you 7.00? I used 2.3 rolls of the frost king. It was 14.99 a roll. I bought 3 rolls for 45.00 plus tax. I covered everything in the back end including down in the 3 storage bins. With the carpet and storage bin liners out, everything is covered with the frost king. I took it for a spin late last night and was so tired I couldn't tell much of a difference in noise level. I'll wash it today and drive it around and see if I hear a difference. A double layer over the wheel wells might just be what's needed. It at least has to make a difference in some heat transference to the inside of the car. That stuff is easy to work with.
Jeff

I'm also thinking I might do that wall behind the seats. Did you feel how hot the top of that wall was under the carpet?

 

Excellent Thread.

 

GM put a lot more in the C6, I don't understand why they didnt' do it on the C5 after the first year.

The bubble foil on the tunnel makes a huge difference in the heat transfer. On mine I did both the foam and the foil, so you can't feel any heat in your legs, but if you put your hand on the carpet it is a little warm.

I did the entire interior like Mike, the only trouble I had was the plastic trim pieces on the front feet of the seats were impossible to snap back in because of the added material. I'm sure if I had taken the seats and carpet back out and cut a 2" area of foam out around the seat studs they would have worked, so something to keep in mind.

Highly suggest it! Even the C6 gets hot on the tunnel, so they haven't fixed that yet.

 

Thanks for the 'How To", the noise is getting to me.

 

I did not Frost King several weeks ago. I did only the hatch area and behine the seats. I added an extra layer over the wheel in the rear.
At first when I took it for a drive I did not notice any change, but after several days of other roads I notice a big improvement. Will do the front when I have more time.

 

interesting how an "added noise" is instantly detected; but a reduction is not as instantly detected. I noticed this same thing myself.

My main goal was to reduce the thump/pop noise everytime I ran over something... like a penny or a leaf;
Really though; take your fingernail and lightly tap the face of a drum... you get the picture.

There is a stretch of highway I drive on often, it has those concrete expansion joints every 20 feet or so. The interior noise was so annoying it would give me a headache.
After insulating, these thumps/pops were completely gone. I can still feel them, but no longer hear them; and can carry on a conversation.

Keep in mind that the FK material is one of the lighter variations of this type of product; which was great for me, since I had a stock Corvette, a cheap personality, and didn't want to add a lot of weight.

There are other products that will work even better; but will cost more, usually be thicker, and will add more weight. As long as the material is adhesive backed, you should get good results.

And for FRC and Vert owners; as mentioned by another poster... those partition screens have been reported as being very effective.

 

I installed the frost king insulation last year and have been recommending ever since. Thanks to Mike for experimenting with it first. He ought to be getting royalties.

 

Did you get the one with the carpet or without?

How does it look?

I.E. Is the carpeted one worth the extra bucks?

Thanks.

 

Experimenting with it first?????Maybe Mike"Tim " should tell you all who showed him what to do and where to do it... after several of his attemps failed. I held his hand for a month after I developed the process He seems to call his own... My project was complete months before he started asking me for help... I devoloped this process using data collected from our 50,000 dollar environmental test chamber used to conduct all testing for C5 interiors. Ive yet to see Mike mention my name in any of
the kudos he accepts, for the three months of data and experimenting I did before he even started playing around with noise reduction or the direction I put him in so he could finally have a quiet car. THanks Tim !!! this is the first time Ive really said anything in over three years. Many people know this is true including Tim.. but the only one who counts is Tim. aka Mike Mercury.

 

:shocked:

This latest news flash may stir things up just a bit.

 

TomT

The compartment divider that I purchased has a black carpet type fabric on the front with red "CORVETTE" letters embossed into it. It is about 2" thick and the back is covered with a grey felt type of fabric.

I purchased mine at last years Carsile event at the ZIP booth. None of the vendors including ZIP brought any merchandise this year! It was all done by looking at the product on like and receiving it mail order.

The part # out of the book is X-1169

Yea,, the carpet covered one is SHARP looking but if you do not care about the color, the NON-carpet one will do fine! I agree the carpet one is a bit pricie!

Oh,, by the way,,, the trunk lid liner will also reduce the noise a little bit also.

BC