[1970TA]

What's the best floor insulation?

[HWYSTR455]

Insulation? Like heat barrier? Or sound deadener? Regardless, there really is no 'best', as long as they work to the level you are aiming for. I wouldn't personally use any home product, and would use somethign specifically for cars.

I used Dynamat on 2 projects, sound deadener and heat barrier. But asking which one is 'best' is going to open a can of worms.

.

[Poncho 400]

I've used lowes peel and seal aluminum as a heat barrier and lowes reflectic insulation as a sound deadener on my corvette and bird . works great and a lot cheaper

[David Jones]

Originally Posted by Poncho 400

I've used lowes peel and seal aluminum as a heat barrier and lowes reflectic insulation as a sound deadener on my corvette and bird . works great and a lot cheaper

Ditto.
I did mine about 4-5 years ago. Quieter. Cooler. No weird smell. Stays put.

[gbowlin68]

Originally Posted by David Jones

Ditto.
I did mine about 4-5 years ago. Quieter. Cooler. No weird smell. Stays put.

So you used aluminum roll roofing over a good asphalt based primer?

[cfd2bc]

I have used Dynamat for most of my projects in the past. I thought I'd give the the home store stuff a try. I used the Frost King aluminum duct insulation and it worked great. No wierd smells and easy to use. I used my dyamat roller to roll it on. The dynamat is a little heavier and probably insulates a little better, but I did the whole car for like 37.00! Perfect for what I was looking for.

[chinquapalian]

i used dynamat and carpet but 458 pypes racepros this thing is louder than i thought it would be

[silverbullet07]

This looks promising. heat shield NASA technology

[rohrt]

I'm looking for some kind of insulation too. I'm not wanting to use the dyno-mat type stuff since I may end up re-doing the floors at some point. I also want to use it under the dash and in the kick panel area. More for heat then anything else.

That Bonded Logic stuff does look interesting. The reviews look promising but can't find much info on it.

HEAT/SOUND INSULATION
•Protect your vehicle using the same technology developed by NASA to protect its spacecraft!
•Lightweight aluminum foil facing reflects 97% of unwanted radiant heat
•Absorbs noise and protects against air currents and moisture
Durable, long lasting and easy to handle! Insulate your vehicle's floor, doors, side panels, engine compartment and headliner to block uncomfortable radiant heat. 3/8" thick natural fiber padding is fire retardant (carries Class A fire rating and conforms to FMVSS 302) and won't mold or mildew. Comfortable under your feet-won't bunch up or bottom out. Easily trim with scissors to any size or shape.

[P Glade]

Originally Posted by rohrt

I'm looking for some kind of insulation too. I'm not wanting to use the dyno-mat type stuff since I may end up re-doing the floors at some point. I also want to use it under the dash and in the kick panel area. More for heat then anything else.

That Bonded Logic stuff does look interesting. The reviews look promising but can't find much info on it.

HEAT/SOUND INSULATION
•Protect your vehicle using the same technology developed by NASA to protect its spacecraft!
•Lightweight aluminum foil facing reflects 97% of unwanted radiant heat
•Absorbs noise and protects against air currents and moisture
Durable, long lasting and easy to handle! Insulate your vehicle's floor, doors, side panels, engine compartment and headliner to block uncomfortable radiant heat. 3/8" thick natural fiber padding is fire retardant (carries Class A fire rating and conforms to FMVSS 302) and won't mold or mildew. Comfortable under your feet-won't bunch up or bottom out. Easily trim with scissors to any size or shape.

Check locally at a good auto upholstery/upholstery supply place. I can buy this stuff locally...it's just grey jute material with a ripstop-thread-embedded foil face. The NASA bit is a sales pitch....this stuff is ordinary jute (remember...that's JC Whitney...the same folks that used to have those "supercharger" things that went inside a distributor--with the obscure "teaser" pictures that really showed nothing and the ball bearing-in-oil discs you put behind your wheels to "keep your wheels balanced at all times!"). Save yourself some shipping charges.

[rohrt]

Originally Posted by P Glade

Check locally at a good auto upholstery/upholstery supply place. I can buy this stuff locally...it's just grey jute material with a ripstop-thread-embedded foil face. The NASA bit is a sales pitch....this stuff is ordinary jute (remember...that's JC Whitney...the same folks that used to have those "supercharger" things that went inside a distributor--with the obscure "teaser" pictures that really showed nothing and the ball bearing-in-oil discs you put behind your wheels to "keep your wheels balanced at all times!"). Save yourself some shipping charges.

JCW is just a reseller for this stuff. Have you seen bonded logic web page? I still haven't figured out what this stuff is made of.

I will check the local auto places. Thanks for the tip.

[paint guy]

For heat insulation, you need something reflective. For sound insulation and vibration, you need a heavier material to absorb vibration and road noise/harshness. You can readily notice the weight of the original materal used back in the day, and also of materials like Dynamat. They are typically very heavy plastisol type materials, and the reason for the weight is to absorb vibration. So for the best of both worlds, you need something to reflect heat (and maintain heat and/or cold when you use your heater or AC) and something to absorb vibration. On my GTO vert, I used the original style sound deadener, plus a foil type reflective product. I also painted the floor with a special coating that contained hollow glass micro-spheres as further insulation. I also used Dynamat in the doors and quarters. The car is very quiet for a vert.

[rohrt]

OK it looks like the bonded logic is described as natural fibers with foil backing. So you are correct.
Like I said before I don't want a dynomate butyl sound deadening product.

I have checking out all the differnt brands and it seems to really come down to using either closed-cell polyethylene foam core type product or a Jute product. Between these two are a big range of thicknesses, single foil faced, dual foil faced, peal and stick ready.

The closed-cell polyethylene foam is what most HVAC guys seem to use where as the auto industry seems to use the Jute product. I would hazzard a guess that the auto industry uses jute not because its the best but becuase it does a good enough job at the lowest cost.

It very difficult to find unbiased information or any comparison testing but I'm still looking.

[rohrt]

I'm still running with the ball on this one.

From a Mercedes forum
Here are some materials for which I could find specific information:
Thermozite: specific R= 1.3 (standard R= 3.7) {http://www.perfectfit.com/15269/154086/Carpet--Padding/Thermozite.html} Price: ~$1/sq.ft.
KOOLMAT: standard R=1.65 {http://www.koolmat.com/what.shtml} Price: $14/sq.ft.
EZ Cool Insulation: specific R= 1.6 {http://lobucrod.com/} Price: ~$0.68/sq.ft. - I am not so sure about the claimed R-values and the material collapses easily.
VB-3 with lead septum: specific R= 1 (standard R = 4) {http://cascadeaudio.com/car_noise_control/car_barriers.htm} Price: ~$17/sq.ft.
VB-4 barrier: specific R= 1 (standard R = 4) {http://cascadeaudio.com/car_noise_control/car_barriers.htm} Price: ~$8/sq.ft.
These values are in general agreement with the tabulated information for polymers provided in the Wikipedia article

A few more
http://www.insulshield.net
http://www.thermotec.com/
http://store.secondskinaudio.com/heat-wave-pro/
http://www.lizardskin.com/
http://www.designengineering.com/cat...er-carpet-lite
http://www.hushmat.com/NEW_Restoration_Megabond.php

Some of the Cascadeaudio looks like the sh!t, but not at $17 a sq.ft.. I really like how some of its made.

[HWYSTR455]

That's good info, but wonder how it crosses. Like, you can't expect a sound deadner to provide much R value, and you can't expect a product that has a high R value to provide sound deadening.

There is also a weight to performance trade off that needs to be considered.

If you are serious about attacking this topic on a car, think about it, you would have to cover every inch of the chassis, not just inside, but outside too. At least in most areas. And you have to use different products because of limitations of space and/or ability to apply. Some areas are going to require a spray application, some areas are large and flat enough to use sheets, and some areas you may actually have to add braces.

Saving bux is a good thing, but if you look at total cost, and what your goals are, you can find an affordable solution that will provide adequet sound and heat control. For the clone, I think I spent like $300 total, and I went a little overboard on it. I cold have did more, but it 'works' very well the way I did it, and I feel 300 was worth it. So you might be able to do it for 200, or MAYBE even 100, but run the risk of the product not sicking, smelling, melting, running, providing performance, etc. Do you really want to take that chance? The effort to back out may not be worth it in the event of a failure.

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[rohrt]

I understand what your saying. There is no one product that does it all. Although the Cascade audio products seem to make that claim. The original OP asked about thermal insulation. Thats my primary goal too. I'm also trying to see if there is a better product then Jute.

I have nothing but carpet on the floor of my car and the heat is pretty bad if the top is up. I'm sure I will be like everyone else that buys any brand of insulation and just raves about it. I'm not looking for a MLV sound deadner as I mentioned before. I guess I could buy a few sheets and do the 25% recomended coverage without to much expense.

I did want to educate my self on what is out there and see if what might be best for my application, and honestly I'm still not sure. If money was not an object I think I would cover everything with Lizzard skin, and then still use some kind of insulating blanket.

When I started working on my Tempest I was really impress at all the places they used fiberglass insulation. Under and on the dash, in the kick panel vents, on the rear 1/4's.

Right now I leaning tward, a 1/2" foil backed insulation peal and stick product for under the dash, a 1/2 foil backed banket for under the carpet and a some kind of spray on product for in the doors, 1/4s and in the kick panel vents. I feel poor just thinking about it.

[HWYSTR455]

A friend did an 'alternative' stick-on product for sound deadening on his '66 Fairlane. Put it everywhere, bragged about how less expensive it was. This was during somewhat of a 'home' resto job, and did the roof before installing the head liner. He made sure he prepp'ed the surface to promote stick because had heard of folks having issues where the paint/coating would even peel. No go. First time that car, which is black, sat in the sun, that stick on stuff dropped off, and laid on the head liner, and it looked aweful. No choice but to remove the head liner and redo it all. He then went to Dynamat.

The heat barrier stuff is cheap, there's no real reason to search for alternatives. I used the Dynaliner 1/4" stuff and a large sheet was $40. I bought 2 sheets and put it over the Dynamat, and I struggled to use it all, think I even have some left over. It works. After I thought I could have probably gotten away with the 1/8" stuff.

The spray on stuff like Lizzard Skin is nice for irregular surface, where there's too many nooks and crannies to roll stuff down. Also where panels meet, you can build it up a little to fill gaps and prevent rattles. Only issue I have with that is you have to be careful not to cover/plug drain holes. And like I said, you probably have to use a combo of products to get the 'best' results. But with the 300 bucks I spent, I'm totally happy with the results, and feel there's no need to over-engineer this stuff. You're splitting hairs, and the sleep lost isn't worth it.

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