sjwelna

Ok, so I had been thinking about ways to quiet down the ride of the Forester a little bit as it isn't exactly the quietest car on the road. I had already laid down a bunch of sound deadener into/on the doors and sealed them up to help initially, but I was looking for a bit more. After getting an idea from Rick "RAAMaudio" here on the board and remembering a few old car-audio tricks, I decided to set about muffling down the dash/front of the car area. I didn't want to add a lot of weight to the car, so my options were pretty limited. I was also not looking to spend hardly any money, as I have already spent a lot on tweaking the car.

Here's how you do it. It is extremely simple and all it really takes is a little time.

Step 1: Get in your car and drive to the nearest Kmart/Target/Walmart/Arts and crafts store

Step 2: Purchase at least 2 of the CHEAPEST pillows you can find. What you want is the ones with the Polyester fiberfill inside of them. I picked up two really crappy generic pillows from a local Kmart for exactly 5.74 with tax total. Each was about 2.59 or thereabouts.

Step 3: Aquire a phillips screwdriver and a flathead screwdriver. A shorty phillips helps in one part, but is not required.

Step 4: Take a knife and slice open the pillows to reveal the nice cheap polyester fiberfill. You can also just get bags of this stuff at arts and crafts stores, but Kmart was closer for me, and the pillows were very cheap anyways.

Step 5: Remove the glovebox, the gray trim panel under the steering column, the trim bezel around the gauge cluster, and then actually the gauge cluster itself. You do not need to unhook the cluster, simply move it to the left side of the steering wheel and let it rest there while you work. The gauge trim bezel is easiest to get out with the wheel all the way down and sliding it to your right as you sit in the driver's seat. 2 screws for the trim, 3 for the cluster, and 2 screws on the bottom of the driver's trim panel under the steering column. The panel will pull off straight towards you as you sit in the driver's seat, so be careful not to break any plastic clips.

Step 6: This is the fun step and most time consuming. Stuff EVERY NOOK AND CRANNY with the fiberfill. I really do mean everywhere. There is enough space under the dash to house two small midgets, so be liberal with the fiberfill. I used both pillows to fill the underside of the entire dash just for reference. A screwdriver comes in handy for this to push it into the hard-to-reach spaces, but BE VERY CAREFUL WHAT YOU TOUCH. Be careful not to stab/skewer/slice/cut/break any wires under your dash. If you have 2 neurons between your ears you should be perfectly fine doing this, just use common sense.

Step 7: Repeat process on passenger side of car. ****NOTE OF CAUTION**** Be extremely careful if you are using the screwdriver to push the fiberfill into places on this side, there is an airbag sensor/unit thing on this side, and I don't want to hear about someone getting their head taken off by accidentally stabbing a wire on the unit and having the airbag deploy!

Step 8: Replace all dash trim and go for a ride.

A few helpful notes/comments:

- Also try stuffing the fiberfill into the a-pillar and kickpanel areas. There are big holes right behind the door-sill trim once you remove it. (right behind the big curved plastic part near the dead-pedal, and also on the opposite passenger side)

- Be patient and grab a flashlight to see better under the dash, you would be surprised just how much open area is in there, and don't be afraid to stuff it full of fiberfill.

- WHEN PACKING FIBERFILL AROUND THE BLOWER/FAN MOTOR HOUSING: be very careful not to block/impede the gridded foam-panel area just above where the cabin airfilter inserts. This area opens and is how the car recirculates air from inside when you turn it on at the HVAC controls. You don't want polyfill getting sucked into the squirrel cage fan, that would be a nightmare to clean out.

- I also packed fiberfill along the outter edges of the floor just under the plastic-protective cap thing that covers the wires running here and the washer-fluid line to the back of the car. Remember, every little bit adds up, and there is a decent bit of open space here you can fill. I also stuffed some inside the b-pillar around where the seat-belt motor/assembly is, but was VERY CAREFUL not to put so much in that it would get sucked into the moving seatbelt. Once again, use common sense and test it a couple times to see if any gets caught when the belt is in motion. Just keep it away from the moving parts.

- If you get >2 pillows, use an entire one to stuff around/under/over the spare tire. I was going to do this but ended up using all of my fiberfill to stuff the dash. This will be done this weekend along with the rest of the little areas that I missed when I ran out of fiberfill.

- You can also stuff the fiberfill back inside of where the factory subwoofer goes, and all up inside the panels/fenderwells and all that open space in the back of the car. I have mine stuffed with left-over egg-crate material from old bedding from college. Great use for that random old twin-sized eggcrate you have left in your attic going to no use.

Overall impressions so far with a 5 minute ride around the block

You can tell the car is quieter. The first thing I noticed was my alternator whine had gotten worse! This was not due to anything electrical but the fact that now the car was noticeably quieter and the whine was more easily heard.

I also noticed less turbo noise at part/light throttle that some people complain of from doing the snorkus-ectomy. All the fiberfill really helped muffle down the whole front of the car. I also have a bit less road noise from my 245-wide tires. Overall it was noticeable but nothing extremely dramatic. Every little bit helps, and the car is most definitely quieter. I can't wait to do the spare tire well and the rest of the car with more cheap pillows!

The possible downsides to doing this are fairly limited. If you go bananas with the fiberfill around relays/fuseboxes/etc you might run into a little bit of a mess when trying to replace something under the dash, but for as uncommon it is to be doing much of anything under there, I really don't think this would be a problem. If anyone is thinking "hey, what if that stuff lights on fire"....well, you would have a big sticky mess on your hands as it would all shrink-wrap pretty much everything under the dash. That being said, if you have an open fire under your dash, I highly doubt this will be the first thing on your mind.

Fiberfill also weighs next to nothing, so you will only be adding at most a couple pounds to the overall weight of the car. Most of us could easily undo that simply by running an extra couple miles on the treadmill each week or emptying the change tray/removing the 400-cd case from the front passenger seat.

In closing: Go get a couple super cheap pillows and start stuffing your dash! If nothing else, the looks from your neighbors sitting on their front porch wondering why you have ripped the whole interior out of your nice car and are upside down on the passenger seat weilding a massacred pillow will surely be worth the $5.74.

Here are some before/after pics for everyone's amusement.

-Steve

Attached Images

P3220009.JPG (65.9 KB, 469 views)

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'05 FXT 5MT

 

sjwelna

Here are some after pictures. Sorry about no before-shots of the driver's side, but it should all be very self-explainatory.

-Steve

Attached Images

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	P3220011.JPG (61.7 KB, 278 views)
	P3220013.JPG (61.8 KB, 268 views)

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'05 FXT 5MT

TFZ

hrmmm sounds interesting, but are they likely to cause overheating issues??? it can get pretty hot underneath the gauges!!!

last thing you want is a fire down there then trying to explain to the fireys that a pillow started it...

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Forester MY05 - Core Red
Aka "The Birdeater"

sjwelna

I would not be worried about overheating anything. People stuff subwoofer boxes full of this stuff all the time and the spiders/voice coils/etc of those things can see 1000+watts of power for extended periods of time. Plus, the temp you would need to reach for this to ignite/melt would be enough that it would probably start other things on fire before the polyfill first. If you melt/ignite this stuff under your dash you have other, fantastically more concerning issues going on.

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'05 FXT 5MT

Forester 2.5 XTi

Putting it under the dash... Will it prevent your audio from getting lost up in there?

Or does it quiet road noise?

Maybe both :)

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USMC - One Shot, One Kill. You can run, but you'll die tired.

stripedrex

Haha I thought I was ghetto. That's ghetto fabulous, I might have to copy you on that. I'll be under the dash doing wiring for gauges etc. Please double check you don't have any loose wiring doing gauges etc. I don't know how this material would react to live wires. Probably not a big deal. Perhaps there's fireproof material you can use? I'd feel safer doing this stuff in the hatch area and doors on top of the Rammat and Dynamat.

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do or do not. there is no try.

I Want Candy!

I think the concern was more damage to electronic components from excessive heat that can not dissipate.

Subwoofers are designed for that kind of heat, dash components are not.

A valid concern.

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stripedrex

What components under there get hot? All the tubing for the HVAC system is in there and when you crank the heat I would imagine it gets pretty hot in there to begin with. I had the whole dash taken apart last week, short of the stereo the gauge cluster and around the glove I'm pretty sure is shy of heat creating electrical components. I'm wondering though if there's better material to use. Cotton inner pillow style padding sound deadening seems like a good idea. New product line Rick? =) Filling in open spaces seems like a good place to get extra deadening. Those areas are not conducive for mat style material.

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sjwelna

As far as I'm aware, there aren't any components under/inside the dash that generate large amounts of heat. As far as heat-dissipation goes, I am far from concerned even in the least. I kept the material away from important things like the recirculation duct for the fan-blower and away from covering up any big relays or anything like that. Literally I just stuffed it all in open areas that had very VERY minimal electronic equipment, but overall I would say I didn't even put it around even 3 electrical components. All that is really under the dash is just ventilation ducting, some relays, the squirrel cage fan/blower and a crap-ton of wiring. If you actually look inside of your dash you will realize that there is a TON of open space to be filled that will aid in making the car more quiet. Remember, the people who designed the dash and other components probably spent almost no time in terms of figuring out airflows and cooling of critical electrical components, but rather made it so that it "looked good" and was also functional. It just so happens that the underside/inside of the dash is WIDE OPEN and very hollow. Filling this area with something (fiberfill in this example) is going to help reduce noise in the cabin.

I would also like to add that I didn't pack the fiberfill in extremely tightly. I didn't even pack the stuff into the dash 1/2 as tightly as it came in the pillow and actually fluffed it a bit. In my opinion this should not cause any dramatic change in any electronics ability to cool/dissipate heat whatsoever. It's not like I filled the dash with a few gallons of high-expanding foam! (Don't give me ideas......) Seriously, if you had seen how cramped the dash under my old car was, it was far more unfriendly in regards to heat dissipation from literally every single space under the dash being PACKED with electronics and whatnots then this even remotely comes close to. (old car was a '99 Eclipse GSX)

I don't know the exact thermodynamic properties of polyester, or its rate of heat transfer, but frankly I am not worried about any of the electronics. I don't even think anything besides my headunit for my stereo has any kind of exhaust/ventilation/heatsink on it so I don't think anything under the dash is generating enough heat to be concerned. If you wrapped a 1200w class-D amplifier running at full tilt for hundreds of hours at a time, you might run into a heat dissipation issue, but any of the tiny electronics under the dash shouldn't be an issue.

-Steve

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'05 FXT 5MT

uh8myvtec

Not wanting to jack the thread, but another great use for Dynamat type products is to quiet down your dishwasher.

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AChan10

nice! What's also cool is that it looks like Christmas under your dash! :-)

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HBSpeed Tuned 18G 2004 Sierra Gold FXT

Subifreak

I agree! I'd be worried about fire issues & heat damage.....If it bothers me that badly.....I just turn up the stereo a little more.

Nice write up though sj! Once point however......in your Step 6 section you mentioned about the dash... "There is enough space under the dash to house two small midgets".......ummmmm As opposed to two giant or excessively tall midgets? lol Sorry I couldn't resist.

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Bren

Proud owners of a 03 XS & 2005 Lexus ES330

sjwelna

I suppose you are right. It would be enough to house two moderately small midgets along with their cocker-spaniels, two children, and with room to spare when a guest comes.

-Steve

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'05 FXT 5MT

Subifreak

Now are the two children "moderately" small too... or are they ultra short 'munchkin' type midgits? Cause if they are the former.......I think you've put a little to much fiberfill in there.

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Bren

Proud owners of a 03 XS & 2005 Lexus ES330

I Want Candy!

or .....

play a loud CD in the stacker ... oops, Bren already said that

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