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Anybody look at Neoprene Sponge Foam Rubber Sheet Roll (Ebay or Amazon): WATERPROOF & NON-ABSORBENT - Made from Neoprene Sponge Foam, this material is specifically made and designed to repel liquids and odors. Perfect for high traffic areas such as auto, garage, and kitchen areas. PROTECTIVE - The ¼" thick dense sponge foam is perfect for providing cushion or padding. Easy and economical solution for sealing or insulation projects. Great for noise insulation and sound vibration reduction. ADJUSTABLE & FLEXIBLE- The Neoprene Sponge Foam Sheet Roll is strong enough to withstand tearing but easy enough to customize and cut to size with scissors or blade. Will bend easily and conform to any shape. DYI & PROJECTS - Use around the home or workplace to provide custom padding or insulation solutions.
Comes in a variety of thicknesses and sizes. With or without adhesive on one side. I'm only a month into a "new to me" 2014 E350 sport. But I'm probably going to give it a try and I can report back if I notice a difference. Seems like a good material for the trunk, if it works.
I'm sure it is worth a try. If it is a closed-cell foam, though, it may not do much for pass-through noise like road and tire noise. It seems more like the DynaMat, which suppresses panel vibrations, resonances, drumming, etc. The rock wool or fiberglass will possibly absorb more of the hissing/bacon-frying noise often associated with tires on pavement. A lot depends upon which noises annoy you. I am more annoyed with the bacon-frying sound than any drumming I might hear, but that's me and how I hear my car. The fact that I wear two hearing aids that both have accentuated high-frequency response probably affects my perception and which sounds I want to suppress.
Thanks to all the posters who have suggested and/or tried other materials. This is the sort of participation that makes the board so useful for folks like myself. I am not likely to purchase a tune, nor am I likely to do any drastic modifications, but I will certainly look into
"handyman" sort of improvements I can make quickly and easily. I really like the W212, but no machine is prefect. These little improvements do move it closer, though.
I purchased EcoTouch QuietZone PINK FIBERGLAS Acoustic Insulation - 15-inch x 48-inch x 3.5-inch; 110.0 sq. Feet. I only used 2 15x48 inch pannels for the instalation. I got the large pack because I'm doing a basement reno next month and will end up using the rest of the stuff anyways.. I installed under the spare tire, around, and on top, left some room free of foam around the battery. I went for a drive right away and could notice a significant diferance. Drove the same road, and speed to and from the store where i purchased the foam 20 minutes earlier. It's more quiet for sure. Last week I swapped my 18 inch e550 rims for a set of 19's AMG's from SL550. So insted of tires - 245 40 18, I run a 255 35 19 front and 285 30 19 back, which is a bit more noisy. So after the foam install it became way more quiet. I am happy but i think i will purchase like 5 sq foot of something like dyna matt, and put that directly on to the bare metal areas of the spare tire area, and than pack it up with the 2 sheets of the QuietZone Pink fiberglass. I want to make sure that the vibrations, resonances that are picked up by the bare metal are eliminated eaven more. Anyways I am happy how it turned out. My kids even noticed that it's quiter in the car now, and will update with some pics once I put the dynamat into the spare tire area..
dj - That's about what mine looks like, except that I did not fill the spare wheel with insulation. Also, I can't see, but did you take your spare tire out and put another layer of insulation under the tire? That was my first step, then I added the top layer afterward.
divepopo - That material should work, too. I don't know how its sound absorbency compares to the wall insulation, so YMMV. Anything of a sound-absorbing nature stuffed into the tire well is bound to help. Heck, if I was a youngster again, I would probably just use it for a laundry hamper. . .
In similar fashion, I recently did a project I've been planning for awhile now which is to line the trunk floor of my CLS with sound deadening material. When I first got the car a few months ago, one of the first things I noticed was how much road noise is transferred to the interior. It seemed to be mostly coming from the back seat area so I purchased a 36 sq-ft box of Noico 80mil deadening mat from Amazon. It’s thick rubber mat with sticky adhesive on one side and a shiny foil finish on the other. You cut it to size with sissors, press it into place (it easily conforms to odd shapes) and then roll it with a hard roller to really press it to the surface. It took me about 2 hours to line the entire trunk floor which is super easy to access with the spare tire and plastic tray out of the way.
After driving with that, wow... a noticeable reduction in road noise. You can tell just by knocking on the panel before and after how much “deader” the panel is. It’s more than $20 but a little more befitting a Mercedes
I dont have the spare wheel but a bluetec reservoir, so it could stay forever in the car...
I did something similar in my Bluetec with the Adblue tank, using 2 folded packing blankets from a recent move. Can use them for a nap if I get tired
Have not tested it, but I'm sure it will help.
FYI - I did a Portland to Seattle and back trip over the weekend and got 42.6 MPG traveling at 75 MPH most of the time, 65 MPH average.
I had just added a few ounces of cetane boost to the fuel tank and I'm pretty sure it helped the mileage on the diesel.
Is there any potential problem in covering the auxilliary battery with insulation material? I've lined the area under my spare tire with carpeting. It surrounds the auxilliary battery mount, but does not touch the battery itself, But I want to glue a layer of carpeting to the underside of the tilt-up trunk floor. This will then sit over the spare tire/toolkit and the remaining free space.
Basically, I'm trying to understand why this space does not have a liner from the factory, or any spray on sound deadener?. Could be just MB saving money, but is there a technical reason? Does the auxilliary battery need space for air circulation or cooling? Or are any of the various wires to the battery subject to sparking under load?
It's both an economical approach and a weight saving approach from the manufacturer. They have deemed the sound that is emitted from that area is a low priority. Money goes into the felt-like lining in the wheel wells and felt body undertrays, etc. to control sound.
It's both an economical approach and a weight saving approach from the manufacturer. They have deemed the sound that is emitted from that area is a low priority. Money goes into the felt-like lining in the wheel wells and felt body undertrays, etc. to control sound.
B-U-T... Is it OK to have carpeting over the auxilliary battery?
Just wanna add that I will be making a bracket possibly made out of aluminium or something flexible and light. It will separate the battery from the insulation foam. And the outside of the bracket will be covered by the noico stuff. That will give the battery couple of inches of breathing room.
B-U-T... Is it OK to have carpeting over the auxilliary battery?
I wouldn't place anything like that directly on top of or adjacent to the battery. Batteries survive just fine in enclosed spaces designed for them, like a marine battery case for your boat. I would keep the carpet away.
Shove some old blankets in there, as long as we are going full Macgyver.
Originally Posted by kbob999
I did something similar in my Bluetec with the Adblue tank, using 2 folded packing blankets from a recent move. Can use them for a nap if I get tired
Have not tested it, but I'm sure it will help.
I've got one of those moving blankets taking up space in my garage. Time to put it to some use... MaCGyver style!
Wow, I just stumbled onto this thread ...thanks to the OP!!!
Likewise, I love our 2014, but on any drive longer than an hour I agree about the unwarranted road noise for what is a high-mark luxo-liner. This is a luxury sedan Jim, not a sportscar!
I'm going to try to MacGuyver it with old bath towels I keep in the garage ...even cheaper than $20 ...lol!
So, it was more than $20, but I finally got it mostly done. Bought the following from Foam Factory: Cross Linked Polyethylene - 3lb Charcoal, 1/2" thick, 72" x 48". I decided on it because it's a closed cell foam. Made a posterboard template and cut it to fit under the spare, similar to what VirtualRain did (see photo 1) Then tweaked the template to cut a piece to lay over the top of the spare. (photo 2) Going to cut some strips to arrange around the spare and secure them with small foam tape tabs I use in my business. I feel like it's definitely helped the road noise. Thank you to everyone's input and ideas.
Just did this on our 2011 E350. 10 sq ft of the Noico 80 mil, plus two 4x6 moving blankets. Total cost under $30. Good bang for your buck upgrade. I'll probably do my S350 as well once the weather warms up.
The noise from rear side definitely sounds more muffled after the application. I placed a think blanket after installing the spare tire back. Planning to buy some cheap moving blankets and stuff then into the gaps to further reduce noise. Definitely a cheap and easy DIY. Low hanging fruit...
While I do have carpeting under the spare tire, I've decided to install some padding above the tire, too.
First step was a trip to Harbor Freight to buy one of their "HaulMaster" furniture moving blankets. Get the 40" x 72" size, a whopping $6.00. This size is more than big enough to fold over once (40" x 36") fitting the the 40" width into the entire space above the tire, below the OEM drop flooring. Double layer sound insulation, done.
In my case, I decided to accomplish two purposes. First, I folded the blanket not quite in two, leaving about 18" left over. I placed the 40" folded edge into the forward space above the tire, -- long length facing down -- and draped the long (leftover) length up and over the trunk sill. I then dropped the trunk floor on top. After this I added my Weathertech trunk liner.
The idea is not only to absorb sound above the tire, but also to leave a tail that can be folded over the sill to protect the bumper cover when placing heavy items in the trunk. The first pic shows this configuration, while the second pic shows the tail stowed over the Weathertech mat.
Prior to this, I had an old towel tucked under the Weathertech and resting above for the same bumper protection purpose, but it kept moving around. With this solution, the blanket is so far under the drop floor, it's not moving anywhere. Two missions accomplished! Miller Time!
06-23-2018, 10:53 AM
