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I may do this on your suggestion. I know you took the readings but could you tell just from listening as well? Also on the hole with that fitting, you said you just made a cut in the mat so the fitting could go into place?
Ahh I didn’t want to say too much on my opinion lol. But I’d say a 20% improvement. If you do buy some of the mat, get one with aluminum. I did a test without an aluminum one and it was like a 10% increase. I didn’t include it in the vid cause I didn’t want the vid to be too convoluted lol.
I'm gonna look into that! I had seen some kind of post about the same thing a few months back, your video is now more proof I should do it. The ML is good already and for you to notice a difference, seems like a good inexpensive mod! @@EddieGS350
Interesting vid man. Thanks for it, digging your channel. Fellow GS350 driver here. So, if I understand this correctly, what you've done here is cover up the small holes on the trunk deck to prevent a small amount of air movement in an attempt to increase your subwoofer bass response. Here's my thoughts on this; Firstly, covering any small air holes to stop that air moving is achievable by using something as simple as duct tape. Large holes, not so much as they need a rigid infill to prevent a secondary speaker effect from the infill material. For those reading this who don't know: The material you used - whether butyl or asphalt - has mass to it that attenuates vibration frequencies by absorbing them (when properly and fully adhered with a roller to a clean surface) and generating and absorbing a nearly negligible amount of heat as a result. That material is best used to cover open spans of sheet metal that have high-frequency timpani to them when you knock on them. I use it on single sheet light gage metal like fenders, outer and some inner sheet metal of the doors (where it won't interfere with re-installing the interior door panels), rear quarter panel, trunk lid & floor etc. I've noticed a tremendous improvement in the way a door opens and closes after putting it inside the door, on the interior side of the outer door skin with the greatest amount of unsupported sheet metal. Most vehicles have a diagonal cross brace for side-impact protection, and there's dabs of adhesive that keep the door skin from rippling or vibrating against it. I once had an older car where some of those dabs of factory adhesive had dried up and separated from the door skin, so I squeezed some silicone sealant in there to stop the vibrating. When adding butyl sheets to my door skins, I clean the primed metal surface with Windex and paper towels, let it dry and then roll on a generous amount of the material (aka Dynamat and other brands). Gotta watch out not to cut your hands on the inner door frame's sheet metal. After doing this, there's a nice "thunk" sound when you knock on it from the outside, instead of the original "tink" sound. Also, the doors close with a more premium sound after this treatment. It's very satisfying. I like to think it also improves the listening experience of my stereo, but I have no scientific evidence of this. It's interesting to see how little you were using of the dampening product. Getting back to the subwoofer thing, and regarding air movement on either side of the speaker, I can say this: I recently had all those panels out of my GS350 trunk, to add some similar dense butyl sheet product (I have to look up the brand and get back about it) and cotton material in an attempt to quiet the exhaust boom at highway speeds. I realized in the process that there is plenty of open-air movement between the cabin and trunk, specifically on either end of the rear upper seat cushions near the strut tower. I stuffed some batting in there to help block some sound movement, but I know those air passages are important to balancing the air pressure of the interior of the cabin from the A/C system's fresh air setting, as well as slamming doors (especially when more than one is closed at the same time) to alleviate cabin pressure from the air vent port in the trunk side panel behind the bumper cover. Meanwhile, between the underside of the trunk lid, spare tire well, strut towers, lower side cavities and below the speaker deck, I rolled on pieces from 5 full sheets of deadening matt (around 10x14 each). I spent a good amount of time knocking on things, listening for that certain "tinny" sound to attack. My initial pursuit was to reduce muffler drone for my rear seat passengers at highway speeds, but here's something I did not know would happen: my OEM Pioneer subwoofer (no Mark Levinson here sadly!) started THUMPING! I was shocked, and I covered almost none of the holes you did. Sorry for so much typing - one final thought; I've seen videos where guys wrap every square inch of the interior of their vehicle's body, which is overkill to say the least. They spend hundreds of $$$, add too much extra weight and then they have problems fitting OE trim panels and carpeting back in place after adding all that mass. That's just crazy.
Ahhh thanks for the detailed response!! Appreciate your comments always man. Interesting that you did this mod as well before all of us inadvertently. Do you have an aftermarket exhaust or you were just trying to quiet down the stock one? As always thanks for commenting 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
@@EddieGS350 Hey man you bet! I'm an architectural designer, so I'm into details! Other than a hardwired dashcam and this sound deadening activity, every single thing about my car is stock. I've monkeyed around with every car I've ever owned over these past 3.5 decades, and even my parent's cars when I was in middle school, high school and college, but not this one! Not yet anyway. I'd LOVE custom wheels, but I know my wife would kill me so.... 😜
As someone who competes in sound quality and has been dabbling in car audio since 1990, I can tell you unequivocally, that the most important part of your build is your initial prep. Properly deadening your key areas can turn a mediocre speaker/sub into something darn decent. You've given us a spot on analysis. This is the one thing you have to get right the first time. (You don't really get a second run at it due to the material we're working with).
@@EddieGS350 i just did the front 2 doors and plan to do the rear doors later. For the front doors, 2 pieces of sound deadener similar to Amazon Basics on each outer door skin right behind mid bass speakers and a 1 inch thick sound absorbing sponge right behind the speaker. Also use sponge surround for the 6x9 mid bass. For inner door metal skin i use 5mm 3-in-1 3M sound dampeners - door cards MAY not fit well so have to take note on the clip areas and other protruding sections. For the inner door cards i use 3M white cotton/sponge on the countless holes. Also take note after you do this, you will hear a lot more rattling from the door cards due to enhanced midbass - window switchgear is the culprit. I took them apart from their mounts and use cloth tape to minimise the rattling.
Hi! The trim cover you pulled down at 4:34 - Do you (or anybody else) have the time to help a fellow GS owner and see if you can find any part number, maybe on the white sticker? I have searched the know part sites without luck. My GS is missing that trim and it would be very nice to have that in place.
I couldn’t find the exact part no. However I do see one being sold on eBay. Search this exactly on eBay. “2013-2020 LEXUS GS350 LUGGAGE COMPARTMENT COVER OEM”
@@EddieGS350 Super thanks! I'm very grateful for your help! I did soundproofing last year and was a bit suspicious some trim cover maybe was missing up there, but on the other hand it's a quite invisible area. Thanks to Your video I now know Lexus didn't skimp in the luggage compartment.
I have an Audio Control LC2i Pro hooked to an Alpine X-A90M powering an Alpine X-W10D4 in a 1 cubic feet sealed box to solve the GS350 ML's 'lack of bass' issue :P. Been happy with it since.
