There's nothing quite as annoying as a constant rattling in your camper, or the roar of road noise battling with your stereo while you're driving around. Luckily, there's an easy solution: Dynamat!
This peel-and-stick sound deadener is held in high regard across the automotive industry, and it lines the interiors of a lot of our own VWs here at Just Kampers. If you're unsure what Dynamat is, or how it works, we've put together a quick guide for you to show how easy it is to use, and how effective Dynamat is.
What is Dynamat? And how does Dynamat work?
Dynamat states on their website that it 'stops noise causing resonance and vibration, by using visco-elastic qualities that promote vibro-acoustic energy conversion. In short, that means noise becomes silent energy.' What does that actually mean, though?
Simply put, Dynamat sound deadening works on the same principle as muffling on most musical instruments. Why do you pluck a string on a guitar? To make noise.
How does the string make noise? By vibrating. To stop a string from vibrating and producing sound, you bring your hand in contact with the strings to prevent vibration.
In your vehicle, it's the metalwork which will cause most of the noise by vibrating away as you drive around. Fitting Dynamat to your vehicle prevents its metalwork from vibrating and rattling around and transfers the kinetic energy from those vibrations into small amounts of thermal (heat) energy instead.
Dynamat's Dynaliner sheets are stuck to the metal surfaces in your vehicle using their sticky backing, and you can stick the Dynaliner on in the same way you'd apply stickers; peel the paper from the back and start sticking. It’s as simple as that!
Here’s a video we put together while we were working on one of our campervan conversions, showing how to apply Dynamat to your van.
Read on for a more detailed guide on how to install Dynamat in your vehicle.
Installing Dynamat to Your Van Interior
The prep work
First thing you'll need to do is clean the surfaces you're planning to stick the Dynamat to. It’s important that any surface you plan to apply your Dynaliner to is completely free from grease and dust.
For the best adherence, we recommend you wipe your surface down with a clean cloth and alcohol or brake cleaner. If you plan to use water soluble cleaner, you must allow the surface to dry completely. If the metal is still damp, the liner will not stick effectively.
Measure twice, cut once
With that done, it's time to measure your surface, prior to application. It’s not necessary for you to apply the Dynaliner to absolutely every surface possible. The most important areas are those large spaces within bodywork structures. Measure these planes and then cut your Dynaliner sheets to the right size.
Once you’ve cut it to size, you can peel the back plastic and cover the free surface. Mark B - our resident mechanic here at JK HQ - does a fantastic job of demonstrating this in our video!
Apply some preasure
While you're fitting the Dynamat, apply pressure from the centre and outwards. Once you start to remove the backing plastic, it’s good practise to only peel half away, like a plaster!
Line up the edges and then apply pressure to the centre. Then move your hand outward toward the outer edge, free from plastic. Once this has been successfully joined, begin to peel away the remining plastic. As you peel, apply pressure to the area until you’ve removed all the plastic and the entire liner is stuck to the metal!
Keep on rollin'
A fantastic accessory, produced by Dynamat, is their pressure roller. This is a great product that allows you to apply consistent pressure over the entire sheet, providing a supremely effective fixing. Not to mention, this tool also keeps your hands away from the hazardous sharp edges!
I’m converting my van, what should I use?
We've got a great range of Dynamat sound-deadening products available right now at Just Kampers, as well as a selection of their specialist tools to make prepping and fitting the Dynamat itself.
There's also a great range of kits that we've created, to give you the exact amount of Dynamat you'll need for your VW Beetle, T2 Bay, T25, T4, T5, or T6.
Check out the kits below, or click here to take a look at JK's full range of Dynamat products.
Make Do & Mend, with Just Kampers
If your classic VW or brand-new campervan conversion isn't as quiet as you'd like, then fitting even a relatively small amount of Dynamat is a quick and easy way to tamp that road noise right down.
We've made it as easy as we can to make sure you get exactly the right kit for your vehicle, and have videos and instructions on how to fit your Dynamat when it arrives, so you can get stuck into some sound-proofing yourself.
This is just one of our Make Do & Mend suggestions, and one of the ways we're supporting you to get out into your workshop, garage or driveway and tackle projects on your VWs.
What other videos demonstrate the significance of using Dynamat Sound Deadening?
Check out one of our older videos with Chris from Dynamat and our very own Pete Dempsey. This video showcases the difference in decibel level between a camper fitted with Dynamat sound-deadening and a camper without.
Is it necessary? You decide!
