Second Skin Audio had a contest to win a free door pack of their sound deadener a few weeks ago. I just happened to be one of the winners, and received my products yesterday.
I ordered 2 gallons of Spectrum just to see what it was like and help get a really good coat on my doors. I ordered their spray gun for it because I hate using a brush for large areas, and a roller seems like I would waste a lot of material.
I am only doing my doors at the moment, there is already a 2-3mm thick undercoating on the whole underside of the vehicle including tire wells, so I'm in no rush to do that. If this turns out well I'll probably just buy a 10 gallon bucket of spectrum for the rest of the truck - I'd rather paint than apply mat. Anyway, on to pics.
The equipment going in:
The sound deadening products: They were nice enough to throw in a roller and Fury knife. The knife is very ergonomic and has been working great compared to some of my old razor knives.
The door before removing the panel Panel removed, only 3 bolts then pull up to remove it.
Pulling the plastic off, this black adhesive is reusable, I'm trying to save it but god does it stretch.
Pulled off
The whole speaker is attached to a huge chunk of plastic I haven't decided what I'm going to do as far as sound deadening this goes- I'd rather build a wood mounting for an e8 or something to go here. . Cleaning the black glue stuff with spirits. Huge hole to work with
After fully cleaning the entire treatment area I popped the panel back on and taped off a border where sound deadener would become visible. I will be doing a bit more when the time comes to use the spectrum.
The door kit came with 8 sheets of mat, so I decided to use 2 per door and use the spectrum to make up for anywhere I ran short. Cutting the first piece to fit the outer metal first. I like to roll it up and start a corner of the back adhesive layer so I can fit larger pieces inside the door. Very very impressed with the adhesive, but after being in the sun a bit it even stuck to the paper lol.
So this is one full sheet. At this rate I would suggest to anyone with a full size truck to expect a door kit to cover a set of doors with one layer, not all four.
Much easier to work with than the other deadener's I've used before, which I believe I've used around 1/2 dozen other products. I was going to finish but I wanted to get to grilling some t-bones before it decided to rain.
More work tomorrow night and I will be finishing this weekend. Comments welcome.
We flucking LOVE these step by step tutorials! Thanks for taking the time with all the pics Troy. I know it's a pain but it's worth it for all who view.
Not a problem Paul. If it wasn't for the eminent rain I would have stressed using the roller to ensure good contact, but I was in a hurry the last few minutes.
Inside the door you can only do so much before you just end up shoving your finger tips into the crevices to push down the deadener. I wont be doing that much since I got the liquid to make things easier for myself.
Yes, 2 BTL 18s until they come out with the 22s. I'd love to do 4 again but I want to stay below the window line, or at least be able to have two 2 seperate boxes I can remove without breaking my back when I can't get help. (I travel and haul stuff for work a lot).
I figure my door panels really need at least 6sqft each to get one coat. That is roughly 4 sheets, and I am only doing two per door. A bucket of Spectrum covers 40 ft, or 20 with 2 layers so I figure 1 bucket should leave me with 3 finish coats on my door and with enough to do my rear quarter panels or something with the 2nd.
I only had time to finish that one panel today, I should finish the rest tomorrow or Sunday.
There is a night and day difference between that door and the other panels of my truck though, much much more solid.
Cut one sheet in half to make it easier to install. It fit really well though.
You can see I didn't get any of the curved areas with deadener, and that's fine. I'll be using the liquid for the curves and saving my hands- and honestly the bends give the metal rigidity. The large flat panels are the noisy ones.
Today I finished up the rear 2 doors. It looked like rain so that's all I got done, but I'm pleased with the results. Still took a few hours with as much cleaning/prep work went into it. On to pics:
The rear drivers side.
Pulling the panel, you have to detach the clip for the power windows and I just pull the light bulb out entirely. Scraping as much adhesive as possible before just pulling it off seems to minimize the amount left on the door.
First sheet of sound deadener on this door installed.
Second sheet on the lower portion.
Getting ready to start spraying the rear doors. 80psi on the sprayer, one full reservoir is 1/4 gallon.
Started the first coat. I used grocery bags to protect the door handle and motor for the window.
Using Spectrum on the passenger side rear.
Much better for corners than mat imo.
Back to the drivers side for the second coat.
And a second coat on the passenger side.
Putting the panels back together.
When wet it has a sandy texture, and looks grayish.
Passenger door put back together.
Around 1-2mm thickness per door.
I used 1/2 of a gallon, exactly as I hoped to. After 4 hours there were some spots still not all the way dry, so it sits overnight. There was an odor, but it was not very strong.Overall I'm pretty pleased with, the two treated doors sound so much better than before.
I can imagine it would work great for that. It does not spray very evenly like a normal paint gun, but almost with a sputtering quality. It puts out an even coat, I suppose it's just the thickness of the material.
Anyway, I'm not posting this for both doors, just one because it's the same process. I'll do the front doors this week as time permits. I REALLY want to do some 7" mids or even a set of e8s in those rear doors - it's 8.5" of clearance and I could make 4-5" of depth... I don't have 200rms per channel at 4 ohms though
Pics:
Factory speaker re-installed and all wires clamped in place.
I put the moisture barrier back on, letting the door handle hold it in place while re-adhering.
pop out the wires and push the plastic in place by hand.
The wood roller works great for pressing this on- it holds great because of how much excess there was from the factory (it stays soft).
I did this because my panels have this factory material that is like carpet padding, and it absorbs water like a sponge. When I popped the panel off after a good rain there was a bit of dampness on things, so better safe than sorry.
Thanks guys, I'll be slowly doing the front this week. I'm so pleased with this door I might just order another few gallons of spectrum and do the front half of my truck floor tire wells soon- before running the rest of the wire for sure.
Looking real good man so you think that the spectrum is well worth it? If so I'm gonna get myself some I have everything matted in my car but the doors and I'd rather go with mostly spectrum with few sheets of damp pro.
I really like working with the spectrum. It is much much easier than rolling mat inside the door panels. Cheaper than damplifier pro, though it takes several layers to be as effective. Two good coats worked well for me, which means 20ft for around 60 bucks vs 13ft for 60 bucks.
Its so easy to do the spray I will probably just do that from now on.
To coat my front doors entirely I would need at least 8 sheets per front door, and 4-6 per rear door. That means 3 door packs or $180. You could spend 120 and get just as good a coverage with the spectrum.
On to pictures:
Final thoughts: This stuff is awesome. Pros: -Much quieter inside the vehicle- less traffic noise -Better bass response from the 6.5" driver. I was listening to Placebo and actually heard bass from my front doors, which was almost non-existent before. I had my x-over set around 65-70hz just because it sounded like crap before, just to find out it was the vibrations sounding bad, not the driver. Now I have to adjust my amp and see what I can get out of them. Solid thud when closing the door, it sounds 'sturdier' if that makes sense, higher quality. -The damplifier has such good adhesive you can not leave it in the sun because it will separate- sticking to the wax paper. I put mine in the freezer for 10 minutes before installing just to get it off the backing without issue. After you put it in place there's no chance of it coming off though.
Cons: There was about an inch of solid stuff in the bottom of my gallon jugs- roughly 1/2 a quart. So one quart of unusable mass between the two jugs. This was not left sitting, this was unable to be stirred as soon as I opened the container, like it was already hardened. I tried everything to get it usable and it was just waste. The gallons weren't left uncovered and were stored in my house at 72degrees. Still worth it.
Overall a great product, good service, and I will never use anything but spectrum unless damplifier becomes cheaper. It's soooooo easy to spray in door panels compared to trying to roll mat out to adhere. I can see where it's a little difficult to get even coverage on strange shaped surfaces, but it's easier to install in hard to reach places, and faster (imo) than fighting with mat. I just don't like rolling mat on.
wow. that looks like it turned out amazing! i wonder if you could do that for almost the entire car. im gonna have to look into this down the road for sure.
Thanks Rovin. The mat is better 1 layer vs 1 layer, but the liquid is so much easier to apply I know I'm putting it places I'd never be able to fit my hands for mat. Plus it's almost impossible to roll mat down right in tight corners, where the liquid just sprays in place. I'd rather do 2-3 layers of spectrum, but a combination of both worked really well in my opinion.
Matt, I plan on doing the rest of my car (besides the roof) with the liquid. It's just too convenient not to. And cheaper.
Quentin, I don't fully understand your question. I used both because I had them. I will probably only use spectrum in the future because of cost and ease of application.
lol sorry i was meaning wouldn't using both the mat and liquid have a better out come than just the liquid?
i see what your saying about making it easier with the liquid, but like floor and roof would easy to do with the mat then follow it up with the liquid, i would think with a better out come?
i never have done this at all so this is just my thoughts, "hope to do it with my next truck though"
Great work man! Taking the first drive after you're done surprises the hell out of ya doesn't it? I love how quiet my car is after being fully deadened. But now you've got me wanting to try some of that Spectrum.
Gotcha now Quentin, I feel a combination of the two works great. I can see using mat on the floor and roof.
If you can remove all the panels and just spray gallon after gallon it's faster than mat though. I could treat about 40sqft of liquid in around 10-15 minutes with next to no physical labor. With as hot as it is here (over 95 today with 90% humidity) I would rather spray the 120+sqft it would take to do my floor in less than an hour than roll out mat for god knows how long. I try to put everything back within 2 hours of treating so it's still easy to scratch off. If you overspray in a bolt hole it's not a big deal. If you put mat over a bolt hole it may keep you from getting a screw started, or something back in place right. I've had to remove a panel and cut a small hole for a single screw before, it really irritated me.
Wickedbass, I once put around 2-250sqft of deadener + lots of foam in a mustang and I LOVED riding in it afterward. It was so quiet inside, even with exhaust etc. I want to buy another vehicle, but if I stick with this one it will be getting the full treatment in the not too distant future.
I used between 1.25 and 1.5 gallons total. About 12ft per door in back, and 20 per door up front. Just shy of it anyway.
They consider one coat 1mm, I'm around 1.75mm average. I can imagine it would be better at 3mm (their max recommended), but I wanted to do my front fenders and tire wells with the remainder of the Spectrum.
After the layer of Damplifier Pro and the amount of Spectrum I used I doubt there would be much improvement by adding another layer.
The job I quit over a month ago finally mailed me my last paycheck (I do have another job, but a week or two without pay hurt), so either more spectrum to come or I will be starting my build in the next week or two - I need wire!
I used to have a sister living in Florida- when I went to visit it rained on us every single day. They're calling 20-30% chance of rain for the next 10 days, and it's been that way for a few weeks.
I haven't decided what I'm going to do as far as sound deadening this goes- I'd rather build a wood mounting for an e8 or something to go here. 
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Taking the first drive after you're done surprises the hell out of ya doesn't it? I love how quiet my car is after being fully deadened. But now you've got me wanting to try some of that Spectrum.