There's no holes to the outside but it's important not to block the drain channels going from front to back. If any of your drains get clogged and water leaks in, the floor will not be able to distribute water evenly and you def don't want a pool of water collecting around your immobilizer.

 

Good point on the drain channels. Hopefully this will be obvious to me and the installer as to how and what not to block. If it were tubes I could make sure we work around it. Will take a look before we do anything.

Here is the camera they are installing. It will be flush mounted, between the license plate lights near the license plate. Once installed it should be pretty much out of site.

 

Quick update. I realigned the driver glass. It was catching on my quarter window and didn't pass the paper test in terms of sealing. Happy to report this is resolved.

So far we've added Dynamat to the outer door shell on the inside and on the inside of the shell. Probably overkill. We then added one layer of Sound Barrier before the door card went on.

There is no question that it has helped. The stereo was difficult to hear at highway speeds but no more. Vibration is down a lot as well. Unfortunately there was not enough room to add the sound absorbing barrier. So we added dampener and sound barrier.

Next on to the rear hatch and carpet. Hoping we can get all three in back here (Dampener, Absorber and Barrier). Honestly the material doesn't weigh THAT much. I envision this getting rid of the bad vibration and noise and leaving me with the just a exhaust note intrusion under heavy throttle which is what I wanted.

 

"When I jump in my 911 after driving my MDX, the 911 feels and sounds like a tractor "

That's strange, I always thought this is what a "sportscar" is supposed to sound and feel like...

 

For your next round of sound deadening, I would focus on the rear side panels. (Near the speakers and front seat belt reels)

I've had pretty much the entire interior of my C4S from the rear seats back removed to chase down a rattle. The area behind the back seats is pretty well insulated, however the areas around the rear speakers have basically none. It looked to me like a prime area for noise from the rear tires to enter the car.

Just my 2 cents, based on what I saw. I've also done sound deadening in several of my own cars, just not in this one. If I'm being completely honest, I've never been all that impressed with the results. There has always been improvement, just never been as much as I expected.

 

@ Dporto - The following is entirely my opinion on this. There is good noise and bad noise. There is good feel (steering communication) and unnecessary vibrations (panels shaking). This is all a matter of taste. I personally don't see any value in excessive wind noise and tire noise. Additionally I can't even talk on the phone at highway speeds and my expensive 3-way front speaker set up is virtually lost at 40MPH and up. I want a nice balance of good sounds (e.g. Engine exhaust and induction) and the elimination of noises that do nothing for me.

@ Ranmn - Have to agree with you. I don't anticipate much improvement to occur in the rear carpet areas. I'm going to start with the quarter panels (where the rear speakers sit). I'll pull those off and do that entire area. Do you know how to remove that Rose trim from the seat belt? I pulled in every direction and feel like it is going to break! Do you pull it up vertically or toward you (horizontally)? I may just stop there and skip on the rear carpet and under the seats.

The two areas where you can make a difference are the doors and rear wheel wells. The doors make sense for a couple reasons. One is you sit next to them so they are very much near your ears. The other is they are not part of the unibody structure and subject to more vibrations. That is why the dampener and barrier really help.

When I'm done I'd love to ride in both mine and an OEM grade insulated one back to back to hear the difference.

 

"@ Dporto - The following is entirely my opinion on this. There is good noise and bad noise. There is good feel (steering communication) and unnecessary vibrations (panels shaking). This is all a matter of taste. I personally don't see any value in excessive wind noise and tire noise. Additionally I can't even talk on the phone at highway speeds and my expensive 3-way front speaker set up is virtually lost at 40MPH and up. I want a nice balance of good sounds (e.g. Engine exhaust and induction) and the elimination of noises that do nothing for me."


It sounds like you've got more going on there than "normal" 996 noise...For example I've got Fabspeed Maxflo mufflers on mine and I don't experience what you speak of especially wind/tire noise (there is some wind noise at 80mph or so...)...Perhaps you should check your tires and weatherstripping. Perception and personal taste are obviously a huge factor in this case, and when you say "music", perhaps you're thinking of Classical or similar with a larger dynamic range than rock or pop. I would have to concede that the cabin of a 996 (with Maxflo's) is probably not the best place to listen the second movement of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto, but this being said I listen to music with a fairly wide dynamic range all the time. In any case, I wasn't trying to be "snarky" just realistic - it is a "sportscar"...!

 

I'm probably not the best person to ask that question, since I did it wrong. Instead of removing the adjuster in one piece, I took it apart. Big mistake, as it was a nightmare to get it put back together correctly.

I'm not positive on this, but I believe it has to pried off horizontally (towards you as you are looking at it) Whatever you do....don't take it apart.

 

A lot of this is, I think a matter of personal taste/perceptions.

I just returned to a 996 after driving serial 'Dadmobiles' for 8 years; drove serial Porsches for 14 years beforehand.
I now understand what people meant when they noted the noise in a Porsche. Yes, as pointed out, there's 'good' noise and 'bad' noise; if we wanted noiseless travel, I guess there's always a Prius (they're quiet, yes? Never tried one).
Still, after quite awhile in a well made later model vehicle, it's a readjustment. Rather annoying to have to fiddle with cracking the windows, and turning the radio up to hear music halfway properly without feeling like your ears are plugged up; a bit disappointing that my clunky looking LR2 has, nevertheless, a superior sound system.
That said: Boo hoo; poor us, our Porsches are a tad noisy.

Especially when hurtling past the guy in the Lexus in the slow lane.

 

it it normal to hear rushing wind noise after 60 MPH from the driver side window area? It sounds like the door is misaligned. I had the window problem fixed so I know it seals. I also get water in the door sills but not into the car when i high pressure wash it..it never 'leaks' when driving in the rain. Sorry only have had the car 8 months but man driving at high speeds you know the legal limit cough cough and the sound of air rushing only on the drivers side..weird..no car fax documented accidents I checked ...

 

No - not normal. I don't get any flow noise from my windows - although as the dial goes up, you can tell you are going faster. I do get water in the door sill as you do but nothing inside either.

 

Agreed. Once I had my window realigned so it passes the paper test, the wind leak noise is gone. All the way up to irresponsibly high speeds. You might want to double check your window seal. Just put a piece of printer paper on top of the window and close the door. Pull on the paper. Mine is so firm that you can barely pull it out. Compare the driver and passenger doors using this paper test. That is how I discovered just how bad my seal alignment was previously.

 

I had the quarter panel area done (3 step treatment) today and will be picking it up in the evening. Will report back. Unfortunately I didn't record proper test info. I can just tell you the doors alone made a huge difference. I probably exaggerated the noise factor a bit in terms of tire noise .

In total I did the following:

1. Doors - Dynamat and Sound barrier
2. Quarters - Dynamat, Noise Block and Sound Barrier
3. Tightened up the driver window to seal properly

I'd love to ride in one without any supplemental insulation to see the difference.

Since I have material leftover, I might remove the front dash speakers and put in some material.

I like having it quiet with the windows up (enough so to take a phone call on bluetooth) and still having the option of cracking the windows to hear the exhaust note. Even if this means I give up .1s from 0-60.

 

I'm glad it made a difference for you. I guess different strokes for different folks applies here.

Just don't go starting threads about what's the most quietest/comfortable 17" tire out there and what's the softest suspension out there.

 

Funny you say that. I was considering moving from 285/30R18 to 285/35R18 to add some sidewall (for impact harshness) and to help fill the tire to body gap

I think the sound barrier was the key to this more so than the Dynamat.

Now on to finding a salvage Lexus LS430 to remove seals from to transfer on to my car. (jk)