Insulating doors

[Map63Vette]

So now that my A/C is installed and I'm continuing my journey to make my car more daily commute friendly, I'm trying to figure out where most of the road noise and stuff is coming from to see what I can abate. I've already got the foil backed denim style insulation under my carpet and was debating redoing my headliner to put some above it as well. I have the batting material that came with the kit currently, though I think a mouse has stolen some of it and I was thinking the foil might help with heat and the denim style stuff might help with sound more than the fiber batting stuff.

The windows and doors are my main targets at the moment. I've been working on window alignment and weatherstripping and have made some progress that has cut down on noise transmission, but I got to thinking the doors don't really have anything to keep the noise and heat away other than the panel itself. I do have some plastic sheeting as a moisture barrier, but beyond that the doors are pretty bare. I don't want to put any kind of soft insulation in there as it is not weather tight (nor do I think it's supposed to be). I know I could put some mass damping strips in there for resonance control at least, but I'd still be interested in trying to control transmission into the cabin. Has anyone put insulation behind the door panels? I know it's pretty thin, so not sure how much you could fit, but I was thinking the foil backed denim stuff might be able to compress behind it.

 

[Professor Fate]

Go to Home Depot/Lowes or whatever you have locally and get a roll of reflective bubble insulation.

I use it in place of the plastic sheeting under the door panels.
Not perfect, but it does help quite a bit.

 

[65TerrorCuda]

Go to Home Depot/Lowes or whatever you have locally and get a roll of reflective bubble insulation.
View attachment 1716410174
I use it in place of the plastic sheeting under the door panels.
Not perfect, but it does help quite a bit.

I used this same stuff when I did my headliner. Unbelievable heat reduction

 

[jbc426]

I used 2 bulk packs of Dynamat Extreme to dampen the panel resonnation on the complete interior of my '70 E-Body. Especially on the inside of the doors skins and behind the door panels, (doubled it) over the rear wheel housings, floor under the headliner and from the bottom of the front windshield to the bottom of the rear window including the package tray and behind the rear seat.

After that I used the aluminum foil-backed duct sealing tape to seal double-foil-sided insulating jute mat, which I cut into about 45 different shapes to get it to completely cover the interior and sealed it to the edges. It looked like one complete fitted mat covering the entire interior of the car when I was done. It's hidden by the carpet, door panels and headliner, so you cant tell it's even in there. I also used all new seals on everything.

When the door is closed, it sounds like you are inside a vault, as it blocks out most of the sound from outside the car. It's quieter than a Bentley or Rolls Royce inside the car. It's actually weird how well it works, and I've even shown people at car shows and they are stunned. The tape seals all the edges and seams there is minimal fumes and heat that can get through either.

https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Aluminized-Heat-and-Noise-Insulation-Shield-Double-Sided,32193.html

 

[Map63Vette]

Go to Home Depot/Lowes or whatever you have locally and get a roll of reflective bubble insulation.
View attachment 1716410174
I use it in place of the plastic sheeting under the door panels.
Not perfect, but it does help quite a bit.

Hmm, never thought about having it pull double duty, but that makes a lot of sense. I might even have a bunch of that sitting around as my wife is a bit of a Goldbelly fan and has ordered her fair share of fresh and frozen food over the years that I hung onto the bags for projects. I lined the inside of my saddlebags on my motorcycle with some to try to help keep exhaust heat away from stuff for when I do milk or other grocery runs. I'll have to see what I still have sitting around.

 

[Map63Vette]

I used 2 bulk packs of Dynamat Extreme to dampen the panel resonnation on the complete interior of my '70 E-Body. Especially on the inside of the doors skins and behind the door panels, (doubled it) over the rear wheel housings, floor under the headliner and from the bottom of the front windshield to the bottom of the rear window including the package tray and behind the rear seat.

After that I used the aluminum foil-backed duct sealing tape to seal double-foil-sided insulating jute mat, which I cut into about 45 different shapes to get it to completely cover the interior and sealed it to the edges. It looked like one complete fitted mat covering the entire interior of the car when I was done. It's hidden by the carpet, door panels and headliner, so you cant tell it's even in there. I also used all new seals on everything.

When the door is closed, it sounds like you are inside a vault, as it blocks out most of the sound from outside the car. It's quieter than a Bentley or Rolls Royce inside the car. It's actually weird how well it works, and I've even shown people at car shows and they are stunned. The tape seals all the edges and seams there is minimal fumes and heat that can get through either.

https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Aluminized-Heat-and-Noise-Insulation-Shield-Double-Sided,32193.html

That's more or less what I've got under my carpet now (though just single sided), but obviously much less well done than yours. I've got pretty good coverage basically wherever the carpet touches at least, but will have to see about extending it around some more. Would love to get it up under the dash, but I'm not sure how much I want to take the car apart to get there. Going for "easier" wins at the moment and trying to find places that have nothing at all. I'm guessing I could probably stand to seal the trunk off from the back seats a little better. I have the factory fiber board with the jute on the back, and the seat itself would likely keep a moderate amount of noise out since it's padded and all that. Need to see about tinting the rear window at some point as well as I know that adds a good bit of heat to the car in the sun. I tinted the sides years ago and it's very noticeable when you roll the window down how much warmer the sun feels on your arm than with the window up.