Deb's 1999 Chrysler Concorde
We bought this car October, 2001. It's considered "fullsize" & is very
close to "luxury". It has a nice smooth ride & is quieter than our Olds
Cutlass. This car has leather, CD, Home Link© computer, & the chrome alloy
wheels. The factory stereo sounded good, but we wanted a little bit better
sound, so we decided to upgrade the speakers. We chose Polk EX693a's for the
rear & Cerwin Vega SS-1652's for the front doors. We had to remove the rear
seat to get to the rear speakers. That's when we found out how the sound
dampening material was applied at a bare minimum, so we decided to try to
improve on the quietness also.
We checked out alot of sites & reviews & decided on doing this
project in steps, this way we felt that we wouldn't waste alot of money &
time if the sound deadening product wouldn't meet our expectations. We chose
B-Quiet's Brown Bread© after reading numerous reviews. Compared to Dynamat© it
was supposed to be more pliable without using a hairdryer or heat gun &
wasn't quite as pricey. Step one will be the cabin area.
| As you can see the factory puts minimal sound dampening material in vehicles. You can see the shock towers (grey) in the trunk, these are opened into the wheel wells. Since I'm only doing the cabin area now, I want to make sure that I don't have to remove anything twice, so I applied Brown Bread© to the sides & fronts of the shock towers & about 11" of the floor going into the trunk, hopefully it will make doing the trunk area easier when I do it. I also put Miraflex© insulation (the white stuff in the picture) in the channels in the rear deck, including where the speakers are going to go. |
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I made sure that any area that I was going to put the Brown Bread© was clean, to provide good adhesion. I also made sure that I didn't cover any wires & opened any holes that would be used by clips, etc. |
| The kick panels going into the "A" pillars in front of the front doors had adequate spray-in foam insulation, but I didn't see any in the "B" pillars between the front & rear doors, so I used Miraflex© there also. Miraflex© is the non-itch house insulation made by Owens-Corning, I have been insulating my garage, so it was readily accessible to me. |
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I covered as much as I could, paying extra attention to the rear wheel wells since it seemed noisier when riding in the back seat area. There seemed to be plenty of the regular jute sound insulation attached to the underside of the carpet, so I felt that 1 layer of Brown Bread would be sufficient. Remember that this is not a small car, it took over 35 sq. ft. of Brown Bread© to do just the cabin area. |
After replacing the carpet, seats, & trim, it was time to take a test drive. I was hoping that I didn't waste my time & money in a hopeless quest. This stuff really works! Not only was the car quieter, it also made the ride seem smoother. It definitely exceeded my expectations. I can't wait to do the rest of the car.
I'll update this site whenever I do the doors & the trunk, but it will be in separate steps so that I can see how much difference each step made.