Sound Deadening, Part 7

I spent some time yesterday and today working on more sound deadening. My focus was on the trunk area and the outer skins of the doors. I started with the trunk knowing that I would be able to use up a lot of the scrap pieces I had leftover from our work so far. I was aiming for about 80% coverage of the rear trunk panel.

I noticed that I forgot to remove the rear hatch lock.

Problem solved! :)

With the lock cylinder removed, I was able to gain enough access to apply sound deadening to the outer panel.

I believe I was successful in getting more than 80% coverage on the rear panel. The difference in sound was very noticeable.

I laid the passenger side door on the floor with carpet and a blanket for padding. After talking with Rick from RAAMaudio I decided I want to apply 1 1/2 sheets to the outer skin of the door. The RAAMmat BXT II pieces are 12"x24". I cut the piece lengthwise into two pieces, one is three inches and one is nine inches. 

These next two pictures are of the access holes for the bottom section of the door. This is where the nine inch piece will go.

These are the access holes on the top of the door. This is where the three inch piece will go.

I noticed the outer skin on the inside of the door was still very dirty. I tried to clean it up as best I could.

Getting the pieces into these access holes was a major pain in the rear end. It was very difficult to do myself, although I do not know that there would have been room for an extra hand or arm. The major problem was the adhesive wanted to stick to anything it touched after its backing was removed, making it super difficult to get into position.

After I got both the top and bottom strips in place and pushed down as best I could, I moved the door out into the sun. Although the adhesive was sticking to everything, the outer skin was still dirty enough that the RAAMmat was not sticking to it as well as it did inside the car. I set the door on a creeper outside in the sun, hoping it would heat up the door shell enough that I could roll and press the RAAMmat down more securely.

With the passenger side door basking outside in the sun, I began installing the RAAMmat in the interior of the driver side door.

My next door neighbor helped me swap the doors by picking up the passenger side door that had been sitting in the sun while I moved the driver side door to the creeper outside. (I should have warned my neighbor that it had been sitting in the sun, because it was extremely hot and he did not have any gloves on. Whoops.)

Here is the driver side door sitting in the sun.

My idea of setting the door in the sun did the trick. The butyl backing on the RAAMmat is sticky enough on its own, but when it gets really warm it almost melts, although it never runs or separates from the aluminum. It is stuck down really well now and I was able to move the door back against the wall.

I was just moving the driver side door back inside the garage when Sara got home. She took a couple of pictures of me rolling and pressing the RAAMmat down firmly inside the driver side door. Notice my red ninja band, as Sara called it. It was extremely hot outside today, and this red ninja band helped keep the sweat out of my eyes. So what if it is actually the fringe off an old flannel pillow case? It works well, and it looks stylish too. I could tell my neighbor was envious. ;)