I work at Menards in the floorcoverings department. It came time to do a slight rebuild the other day and I decided to repurpose some of our products for use in my car. I had great results. Hopefully others can chime in with insight as to if this is a good idea or not, and maybe someone can save some money this way!
First up we have this memory foam carpet pad; it goes for $.79/sqft, comes 6ft wide, and is 3/8" thick. It has a 10lb density rating which means 10lb per square yard or .9lb/sqft. I put it behind trim where it would fit, on my door panels, under the stock carpet and padding, and in any voids I could get it in. The difference is huge!
I get that nice deep 'thud' whenever I close the doors now and they just feel solid. Some rattles that I had as a result of flex from the midbass and my subwoofers have gone away for the most part and road noise is down a considerable amount. I don't know why I didn't do this earlier!
I already deadened my doors with Second Skin products so that's handled just fine and I would never use one of our products for deadening. However, how does this foam compare to other SS products?
First we have their closed cell foam, OverKill Pro, which is also 3/8" thick, .39lb/ft^2, and $3.66/ft^2. I'd say my pad wins there but what about actually blocking noise? SS's Luxury Liner is 1.25lb/ft^2, 1/8" thick, and $3.88/ft^2 - I have some of this stuff and it's awesome. Let's do one more comparison with their Luxury Liner Pro; 1.2lb/ft^2, 1/4-1/2" thick, and $5.55/ft^2.
I realize that the SS stuff is designed for the mobile environment and engineered to block specific frequencies and what not, but they say mass is key and $.79/ft^2 for .9lbs/ft^2 sounds pretty good compared to $5.55 for 1.2lb/ft^2. They boast that the LLP is waterproof and limp, which means easier installation. Our pad is called "Spillmaster" and is designed to be in wet areas too so they are both fine in doors. The Spillmaster also has anti-odor treatments, antimicrobial treatments, and is squishy enough to fit behind my door panes and some trim.
I am in no way picking on Second Skin AT ALL. I respect their company and have used their products exclusively. I've dealt with Jon, their rep, and he's awesome I just chose them for this comparison.
I just re-read this an it seems like I'm kind of plugging in Menards and our products so people will buy them. If anyone else caught this vibe rest assured that I am not implying this at all lol. From what I have heard, felt, and experienced this appears to be a great alternative though! I was going to omit the brand names but I realize if others want to research this more or buy some they'll need to know the name.
First up we have this memory foam carpet pad; it goes for $.79/sqft, comes 6ft wide, and is 3/8" thick. It has a 10lb density rating which means 10lb per square yard or .9lb/sqft. I put it behind trim where it would fit, on my door panels, under the stock carpet and padding, and in any voids I could get it in. The difference is huge!
I get that nice deep 'thud' whenever I close the doors now and they just feel solid. Some rattles that I had as a result of flex from the midbass and my subwoofers have gone away for the most part and road noise is down a considerable amount. I don't know why I didn't do this earlier!
I already deadened my doors with Second Skin products so that's handled just fine and I would never use one of our products for deadening. However, how does this foam compare to other SS products?
First we have their closed cell foam, OverKill Pro, which is also 3/8" thick, .39lb/ft^2, and $3.66/ft^2. I'd say my pad wins there but what about actually blocking noise? SS's Luxury Liner is 1.25lb/ft^2, 1/8" thick, and $3.88/ft^2 - I have some of this stuff and it's awesome. Let's do one more comparison with their Luxury Liner Pro; 1.2lb/ft^2, 1/4-1/2" thick, and $5.55/ft^2.
I realize that the SS stuff is designed for the mobile environment and engineered to block specific frequencies and what not, but they say mass is key and $.79/ft^2 for .9lbs/ft^2 sounds pretty good compared to $5.55 for 1.2lb/ft^2. They boast that the LLP is waterproof and limp, which means easier installation. Our pad is called "Spillmaster" and is designed to be in wet areas too so they are both fine in doors. The Spillmaster also has anti-odor treatments, antimicrobial treatments, and is squishy enough to fit behind my door panes and some trim.
I am in no way picking on Second Skin AT ALL. I respect their company and have used their products exclusively. I've dealt with Jon, their rep, and he's awesome I just chose them for this comparison.
I just re-read this an it seems like I'm kind of plugging in Menards and our products so people will buy them. If anyone else caught this vibe rest assured that I am not implying this at all lol. From what I have heard, felt, and experienced this appears to be a great alternative though! I was going to omit the brand names but I realize if others want to research this more or buy some they'll need to know the name.