Sound of Closing doors

The doors are different in shape, dimensions, location...
Knock the body of double-bass and cello - sounds different isn't it?

 

I've had two and it was the same on mine.
It depends how hard you close them. This is the price you pay for low weight, ie thin material

 

Since sound deadening material adds weight (which lowers MPGs), the Prius lacks the quiet, solid sounds of a Lexus or even a Camry.

 

It also depends if you have window lowered. Then they really sound tinny. When the windows are up the cabin air compresses and cushions the sound. The flat panels don't help. I think that's why the stamped in the ascent line down the side of the Gen III's to eliminate some of the panel "oil canning".

 

I always wanted to ask this..When I tap on the doors of my 2012 Prius it sounds sooo thin...The first time I found out I was worried that the car was in an accident and the dealer used cheap door replacement and never told me..

 

As I said before, "The Prius is a cheaply made car." It's, it's drivetrain that makes it so pricey.

 

So I know I don't post much on here but since I just finished sound deadening the passenger compartment, I actually know exactly what your talking about. The thinnerflat metal of the doors resonate much more due to the lack of weight on the panel, as car compulsive said. And although they did add the accent line it really only helps the area directly around the bend since bent metal cannot resonate, but I would be willing to bet that accent line is more for looks then anything given the size of the panel beneath it. Anyway, the solution to the problem is to put sound deadened like dynamat, ballistic, or second skin on the inside of the outer skin of the door. I doesn't have to be too excessive, since their is a diminishing return in treating this problem. Doing the center of the panel is really the only part that needs to be done since that's where the movement, and consequently the noise, is coming from. IMO this is the best mod to be done to the car, it's relatively cheap, easy if your mechanically inclined and has significant benefits. Yes, it will make the door sound solid when you close it, but I cannot describe in words how much it improves the sound system. Toyota did no justice to the car by putting a JBL system and no sound deadening...

 

When you removed the door panels, did you notice any reinforcement bars or structual steel supports? The concern is how close the seats are to the doors and safety in case of a side collision. My previous car could be best described as a vault. The doors had a metal bar reinforcement system that would lock to the body in a side collision. Doors on the Prius feel very light and flex under slight pressure when washing or waxing the car.

 

Or...just close the door more gently and save some money, time and body weight...and garbage when the car is ultimately scrapped.

If you look at the shape of the doors, the rear door is taller and has less bends, so it would only stand to reason, the there would be more sound resonance from giving it a solid closing shove.

 

Yes there is one support that's angled across maybe 4 inch from the bottom of the back of the door going up to the front. I'd say it's probably 1-1.25 inch pipe

 

Rear doors have a tinny sound when closing, more than front. Especially noticeable when the rear door handle retracts back to (hits) the body. Notice how the front door panel flexes when you close it? I think the hybrid drivetrain is much heavier than a conventional one. There's a price to pay for very high MPGs.

 

Do some youtube searches on sound deadening for cars. I've seen some very involved videos, one where a guy had the entire interior removed, seats, carpets, door panels, everything. There are outfits that specialize in this. Related to car audio installation.

Some are saying the easiest way to lessen road noise IF that's you're concern is to switch to quieter tires, preferably LRR tires to maintain your MPGs. Prius is reasonably quiet on smooth pavement, but tire noise pretty high on rough freeway.

 

I found it easy. There are two screws holding all the doors in, one behind the plastic trim piece behind the latch and another under the foam piece at the bottom of the door handle. Once those are out there are just plastic clips holding the panel on. Find one of the clips at the bottom of the door and losen them around the edge working your way to he top. Once those are out the panel is literally hanging on by a lip at the top, lift the top of the panel vertically and you will see all the connections for the power windows and such that need to be disconnected...it seems like alot of work but it's really quick. I can get mine off in under a minute.

As for where you can buy the materials, Best Buy carries Dynamat Pep Boys carries Ballistic, Second Skin is available online. One important warning, alot of forum sites online have people that say you can use a product called Peel n Seal available at Lowes or Home Depot. Yes, it's dirt cheap by comparison but there is a chance of it off-gassing and smelling like asphalt in the summer when it gets hot out. I would avoid using them even if there's a 99% chance it won't end up smelling only because there is NO WAY to get that smell out

 

Thanks for the reply. With a 5 star safety rating, they had to add some type of support. I just turn up the radio volume to dampen road noise. The JBL sound system does a good job of replacing the lack of sound insulation.

 

Oh yea, I tried that approach for a while but I have a tendency of driving my parents to the Philadelphia airport (about an hour and a half drive each way) and I find that we have to scream to speak to each other and who ever is in the back seat normally gives up saying "what? Huh?" after 5 min at highway speed. Since I did my doors I actually lowered my bass setting down a click and when I'm just driving around with someone the volume on the radio sits around 5-10 and we can BS over the music. The volume is there as the car sits new but the depth in the range of sound isn't, your literally losing half the bass right out the door panel and the mids and highs get drowned out by the reverberation and distortion that happens when sound bounces between the inner and outer skin of the doors. Idk, I'm a geek when it comes to sound and take a certain amount of enjoyment in taking things apart like the interior of a year old car, but I was even surprised by the difference.

 

Thanks for this info. I'm probably going to do this myself as I'd love it to be quieter in the car (and I hate that tinny sound of the doors) Did you just put small pieces of dynamat on the inside of the door panel or did you also cover the area here the weather plastic stuff is as well? how much dynamat did you need to complete the mod?

 

I did the outer skin, so the plastic will need to come off and it more then likely won't be reusable. The holes I covered with close cell foam and mass loaded vinyl, but if your not planning on going that crazy I've seen people cut plexiglass to fill those holes or even put garbage bags in there where the plastic was. You could use the dynamat to cover the holes but IMO that just seems expensive. I wanna say 2 wedge packs were enough for me I used ballistic since I found it was on sale for $20. It doesn't need to be covering every inch, you just have to do the area in the center. Idk if I'll have time but if I do I'll take the door panels off and take some pics. I probably should have don't a DIY for you guys but I didn't think about it