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dynamat or cheaper stuff

20K views 49 replies 22 participants last post by  ericnova72 
#1 ·
On ebay you can buy a product that claims its better than dynamat but alot cheaper.Everyone wants to save money but is it actually better?It looks the same but is it the same.Has anyone used the knock -off dynamat before?Is it worth the money you save?I have to do a whole 78 wagon and will need quite a bit so id like to save.Outside of dynamat and the stuff like dynamat what else is available?
 
#2 ·
Always amazes me how rodders come up with an innovation then vendors come up with a way to make BIG BUCKS out of the innovation. Alloy wheels were popular, could get a set anywhere for a couple hundred then Boyd, et al, come out with billet ones that cost a couple $thousand ea. Cal Auto Wheel spinners were popular for $20/ set so Boyd, et al come out with billet spinners that cost $1000 ea. Tar and tar paper layers are great for sound deadening so vendors come out with DynaMat that costs $$$/sqft. Junk yard seat belts are popular so vendors come out with designer belts for $$$$$. Imitation leather upholstery is popular so vendors come out with real leather for $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. Hot rods used to be what kids built on the cheap to have fun with now cost more than the typical home mortgage.
 
#3 ·
Dynamat

I was wondering WOTH "Dynamat" was..Well now I know..

Get some of the self sticky roll roofing stuff from home depot and put that inside the doors and panels to cut down on noise and drumming..

Some of this fancy "hot rod" stuff is nothing more than ordinary common materials with "high dollar" names..

OMT
 
#8 ·
Nope, didn't see the Snap-On post but I know which car you are talking about. That is 1/24th scale and was a premium offered by Snap-On to customers 3 or 4 years ago. They sold it with a small carry-on tool kit. That cars is made by a company called Spec-Cast which makes several car models (model A, '50 Chevy panel wagon, etc.) for companies to slap their logos on and sell for $25. The Willys has been issued in Harley Davidson, Hot August Nights, State Farm Insurance and a bunch of other promo colors. Spec Cast has a program where you pay a $25 fee and get first dibs on buying the promos when they come out. I have sent in my $25 twice and never heard a word from Spec Cast. They love to take the money but customer service is not in their vocabulary. I have that car in my collection along with probably 200 other die-cast Willys.
 
#10 ·
Just going to throw in my two cents. If you want the bet buy Hushmat. Dynamat will crack when it gets warm, but Hushmat won't. The stuff has a layer of foil on one side for a little heat barrier and the other side is like tar. This stuff will cutout road noise, and keep your metal from rattling if you have a big stereo.
Another brand that is the same consistency is called brown bread.
Any sound deading material is expensive.
 
#11 ·
You could also try Raammat and Second Skin Audio. SSA also has some spray in products, but I don't have any experience with them yet. Stay away from Home Depot tar junk. Call me crazy, but when you're in the hot sun and that stuff falls off the roof and starts getting warm, your car will smell like asphalt and you'll wish you had never put it in. Get some Raammat, it's every bit as good as Dynamat but without the outrageous price.
 
#12 ·
The price of everything goes up once a big name gets put to it. I also agree with "Beenaway2long". We used to use Naugahyde to cover everything. Then came the international shortage of Naugas. Then PETA got involved and eatablished the Save the Naugas Foundation, "SNF". Now you can't even find a decent, inexpensive nauga hide. So now were stuck using imitation leather, which is almost as expensive as real cow leather. The price of imitation leather is being driven up due to the imitation guns, bullets and high cost imitation traps that had to be developed to hunt the imitation animals. When will this madness end!!! Time for my pills!
 
#13 ·
There's a product that the home stores sell - I believe its called iceguard.

One side is bare mastik-like substance, the back is some sort of plastic. Has a peel-away piece of waxed brown paper to protect the mastik.

Its relatively inexpensive.

If you prep the surface properly (no dirt, grease or oil) it sticks quite well when cold and is almost impossible to remove when warm. It can be cut with scissors or tin snips, fitted while the paper backing is still on, then it is pressed onto the surface. A hair dryer or heat gun will aid getting it to form to curved surfaces.

Its also waterproof.

I used it on my Allante before I put the interior back in. It took a lot of the tin sound out of the doors, and I used it along the entire floor under the carpet both for sound deadening and to reduce the chance of an occassional bit of water on the carpet from penetrating into the factory sound deadener (which tends to mold and stink when wet).

Been on the car for over a year and through a winter and summer and has yet to come off - not sure I could get it off if/when I wanted to.

I can't say if its better/worse than dynamat, but its a lot easier to apply permanently than tar paper - especially on vertical surfaces. You also don't have to put it up in large pieces - you can piece together a panel in sections and it works just fine. On the floor, I overlapped it to insure water-resistance, but on the doors I just covered as much as I could with individual pieces.

I'm happy with the deadening and waterproofing qualities, but I don't have a massive stereo, and with a ragtop, there's only so much soundproofing you can do before the existing noise through the top overwhelms any further reduction in the rest of the car.
 
#14 ·
You would think that leather would be DIRT CHEAP ! Look at how many cows give their life for McDonals alone !!! Add Burger King, and the multitude of fast food companies, resturaunts, and of course the grocery store. That stuff should be next to nothing !!

Time to genetically engineer cows to have pre-dyed hides...
 
#15 ·
Beenaway2long said:
You would think that leather would be DIRT CHEAP ! Look at how many cows give their life for McDonals alone !!! Add Burger King, and the multitude of fast food companies, resturaunts, and of course the grocery store. That stuff should be next to nothing !!

Time to genetically engineer cows to have pre-dyed hides...
Good one Been. That has bugged me for years. Looking at what goes into making Naugahyde vs. taking a relatively free byproduct of making hamburger and doing a couple of simple chemical treatments, it makes no sense to me why leather is such a premium product.
 
#16 ·
Regarding the hides...

I don't know for certain, but I'd guess that the cows raised for hamburger don't have their skin attended to sufficiently to produce large, blemish-free hydes suitable for automotive use.

Leather for upholstery is generally softer, of better quality, and in larger pieces than the stuff used for belts, shoes, etc. Those cows probably have to be protected so they don't ruin their skin before they get harvested.

The leather-cows probably end up in hamburger, but the hamburger-cows probably don't end up in your hotrod...
 
#18 ·
RE: Sound Deadner

We just drove our 39 Chevy coupe from southern Illinois to the Goodguys event at Hershey, PA., got the long distance award, 1,700 miles round trip. My car is sound deadened with a product from Home Depot for repairing gutters called "Quick Seal". It comes in a roll 4"X30'. You can get wider rolls but 4" is much easier to work with. We found the best way to cut it is with a sharp razor knife. It applies very easily and works every bit as well as the high priced hot rod specific stuff. I used about 6 rolls at $15.00/roll.
If you want bragging rights use the expensive stuff. If you want your car quiet on a budget use the Quick Seal.
Hope this helps...Bob
 
#19 ·
73oldsman said:
The price of everything goes up once a big name gets put to it. I also agree with "Beenaway2long". We used to use Naugahyde to cover everything. Then came the international shortage of Naugas. Then PETA got involved and eatablished the Save the Naugas Foundation, "SNF". Now you can't even find a decent, inexpensive nauga hide. So now were stuck using imitation leather, which is almost as expensive as real cow leather. The price of imitation leather is being driven up due to the imitation guns, bullets and high cost imitation traps that had to be developed to hunt the imitation animals. When will this madness end!!! Time for my pills!
Ah but you forget that harvesting nauga hides is a safe process, no harm to the little guy.

Here's all about them http://www.naugahyde.com/history.html
 
#20 ·
Thermal Insulation

I am more interrested in Thermal insulation. I am going to install new carpet in a 64 Avanti--fiberglass body. The carpet helps but without AC it still makes heat in summer. The idea of ice guard sounds good. Hushmat and Dynamat are sold mostly for sound deadening. How much thermal help is there?
 
#21 ·
You realize this thread is over 4 years old, right? All of them are sold as and are referred to as sound dampeners or deadeners. About the only thing they claim regarding heat is each one's failure temperature, not how much heat they will dissipate. The bottom line is that depending on how long of a drive you are going on, at some point the heat will warm up the sound deadeners and the inside of the car will warm up accordingly. The car will stay cooler, longer with the reflective outer layer than if there were no sound deadener, but that's all.

BTW, Quik Seal is an asphalt based roofing product, and is not comparable to the butyl based sound deadeners. It fails at much lower temperatures. It is cheaper, but that's all. If you live in a hot climate, I would steer away from Quik Seal.
 
#23 ·
Haaseman27 said:
Here is the stuff I used in my Mustang. Seamed to work really well. It is really heavy and thick compared to the dynamat stuff I have seen.. Good or bad? Not sure... But price wise it was the best deal I could find.. I was actually really happy with it. Its very heavy though and thick.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SFT-INSUL1/
That's the only thing I use on floorboards. Great stuff. Might get a little heavy on roofs and soak up water inside doors but on floors it is better than anything else on the market IMHO. Strong, great underlayment smoothing out lumpy floors, provides a nice soft base for carpet, insulates very well, and damps sound, also very well.
 
#24 ·
willys36@aol.com said:
That's the only thing I use on floorboards. Great stuff. Might get a little heavy on roofs and soak up water inside doors but on floors it is better than anything else on the market IMHO. Strong, great underlayment smoothing out lumpy floors, provides a nice soft base for carpet, insulates very well, and damps sound, also very well.
Well put. I think it would be great on a floor and probably the firewall, but that's about it.
 
#25 ·
When I used it I used it everywhere... Floor, doors, and headliner. Although it is heavy it stayed in place very easily. As for the doors I used a moisture barrior to seal the door and applied the sound barrier to the door card. I can see it being a problem holding moisture as the material is consistant to a pair of blue jeans ground up! But for my own car it never gets driven in rain and barely washed as I keep it covered.
 
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