Anyone used spray foam to help with sound insulation?

[Harbin1]

I'm in the process removing my carpet for steam cleaning and while I'm at it, putting down some sound deadening material. I've already ordered some B-quiet ultimate and some closed cell foam mat to cover the floorboards and doors. After pulling the carpet I've found some other areas for noise.

I've read where a few people from other forums have used spray foam to fill in dead space to help reduce resonance. I would think that filling in the A and B pillars would really help out. They're pretty much just resonating chambers. Remeber the new Ford F-150 commercials about how they put a heat activated foam in the cab's nooks and crannies to reduce cabin noise? I'm thinking along the same lines.

After treking to Lowe's and Home Depot, I found two types: Great Stuff, and a latex based foam from Dap (can't remember the name). Great Stuff has warning labels all over it about keeping away from heat because it's highly flammable and about the noxious fumes it creates. Doesn't sound very safe to me. Now the latex stuff on the other hand has no warning labels and can be cleaned up with soap and water. It also doesn't expand as much so it hopefully wouldn't creep out of too many holes and get all over the place.

My biggest concern is filling in an area that needs to have air flow through it. Has anyone tried this with the Camaro/Firebird with any success? I'd love to see some pictures or hear some feedback. Thanks.

[auto666]

Re: Anyone used spray foam to help with sound insulation?

ive used the great stuff before it is great. havent used it like you are thinking the fumes arnt very bad at all and its only flamible for like 10 minutes

[99pewterv6]

Re: Anyone used spray foam to help with sound insulation?

great stuff is good, once it dryes up just trim it if it comes out of any holes.

[vr4gasm]

Re: Anyone used spray foam to help with sound insulation?

there are 2 kinds of "great stuff" (red and blue can) red can is regular it expands so much it has been knows to break the jambs on doors and windows so they started to make the bllue car low expansion which would be fine for what you are wanting to use it for.. but its a beast to clean up i suggest the dap (black can) it is byfar the best! (i work with all 3 products every day)

[matt3989]

Re: Anyone used spray foam to help with sound insulation?

If you do go though with this keep us posted, I am interrested to know if it will make any difference

[Harbin1]

Re: Anyone used spray foam to help with sound insulation?

So far, I've used 2 cans of Dap brand and one can of Great Stuff. The Dap expands very, very little and is pretty soft to the touch. I only used the Great Stuff in areas where body panel expansion wasn't a big risk. I used G.S. in the hole behind the rear sail panel speakers, the space in the rear armrests (behind the styrofoam pads), and a little in the rear panels under the factory bass speaker. I was careful not to use too much so it wouldn't spill over into the vent.

I've also used Frost King duct insulation all over the place. So far, I've used 4.5 rolls to cover the interior. I haven't covered the doors yet but I expect to uses about two more rolls. This stuff is cheap and you can find it at Lowe's and Home Depot for about $15/roll. There is 15 sq ft per roll and the foam is 1/8 inch thick with an aluminum backing. Somebody with a Corvette used it with good results. This should make for a great sound barrier. I'll try to get some pics of the Frost King so you'll know what you're looking for if anyone else wants to try it.

I hope to be done today so I can go out for a test drive.

[Harbin1]

Re: Anyone used spray foam to help with sound insulation?

Can anyone say, total satisfaction?

Everyone should sound deaden their cars! On the first drive out, I had to turn my stereo down a few clicks from my normal levels. There was much less road noise to compete with so I didn't need as much volume to enjoy the music. I was also able to turn down my low frequency gains. I noticed a little bit of a boost in the bass department. I experienced an overall gain in volume as well as clarity.

I coated the entire surface of the interior with only one layer. I overlapped nearly all of the edges just to ensure adequate coverage. I put two layers inside the doors and one layer on the outside (towards the passengers that is). Since they're just a fiberglass box, I figured they would need extra dampening.

I had previously sprayed the trunk area with undercoating/sound deadener so I didn't apply any of the foam back there. I did notice that several areas of the spray on sound deadener were still pretty tacky. It's been on there for nearly two years!! I couldn't believe it. If I had it to do all over again, I'd have put the foam in the rear instead.

As far as the spray foam, I feel that a good portion of the road noise was cancelled from spraying it into the sail panels. I filled them up in several layers. I also sprayed inside the cross braces under the seats. Just about anywhere I saw a gap, space, or compartment, I filled it up! The Great Stuff definitely had quite a bit more odor but it wasn't that bad. I did the install over the course of three days so everything had plenty of time to air out. The DAP brand stayed very pliable even after over 24 hours of cure time but I don't know if that brand ever gets hard like GS. Anyone else tried the DAP? I feel that either brand would be adequate for sound absorption. I'd probably lean towards the DAP since it has an easier cleanup.

I tried to take some pics of the install with my camera phone but none of them turned out to well. Most were pretty fuzzy. I attached a few just in case anyone wanted to see. I'm also tacking on a pic of the foam. I had to go to three different Lowe's since this product is not very popular this time of year. The first two rolls had a paper liner that you could remove once the foam was in position. The other rolls didn't have the liner which made installation a little trickier. It wanted to stick to the door panels.

If anyone has any questions, shoot me an email. I'll gladly try to help.

[TheGr8Schlotzky]

Re: Anyone used spray foam to help with sound insulation?

Well. I wish this was out about a month ago. I just recently finished tearing my entire interior out and undercoating everything i could get to and using edead in the trunk, resonating panels, and doors. Had i known about the Frost King foam insulator, I surely would have done that while i was in there. I'd say i'm quite dissappointed in the road noise reduction from the undercoating and 25 or so sq ft of deadener. Maybe when winter comes around I'll tear the car down again and do some of this. I think I may fill up the sail panels with DAP like you suggested because i'm still fighting road noise. Probably do the sail panels soon here cuz the road noise is killing me.
Thanks for the info!