[AlmondTurbo]

I've been sound-proofing (actually sound-reducing) my own cars since 1971. That was a toyota Corolla, and it really needed it. My 1990 Isuzu pickup needed it even worse. The PT (Touring, turbo-lite) is pretty well sound-proofed. I decided to see how much improvement might be made. First, it is very labor intensive, time consuming, and I spent about $340 in materials. I started by researching materials available, and settled on a product called Quiet Car. It is a 'paint-on' material, cleans up with water, is not flammable. I used my CD shop manual as a guide, and gutted, (removed all upholstry, and trim) the inside of the PT, but left the dash, and headliner in place. I painted 5 or 6 coats, following directions I got on-line. I removed the door panels and used a different material, called Q-Pads, cut in strips inside the doors. It was easier to handle than the paint-on material, for doors. When everything was back together, I went for a test drive. I had previously made sound measurements with a sound meter. The gain, on the meter, was only 2db. On the road the body drumming was almost gone. Anytime you do sound-proofing, as you quiet one sound type, you then hear the next loudest sound. I have fairly noisy Yokohama AVID HS4s, and I hear tire noise as the loudest sound now. As always, I took pictures of the whole project. Final result: The PT Cruiser is well sound-proofed, so the effort did not produce a dramatic result. I'm glad I did the project, but I wouldn't do it again.