Tips for Sound Deadening removal

[dj paul]

Hey guys, you all with your problems doing the PITA of removing the sound deadening material thats under the carpets look no further! I had the liberty of doing this while it was really cold so it worked really well. All you have to do is take a fire extinguisher with C02 (COLD!) and spray the hell outta the material. Then just beat the crap out of it with a hammer. It just flies off. I didnt even have to use the extinguisher because it was cold outside and it took me seriously 10 minutes to get everything off the tranny tunnel. (I already cut out the floors) If you were waiting to do this because you knew it was going to be crappy go ahead and get out there! this really works well. Now im just looking for the best way to remove undercoating. Ive read a few threads on it and oven cleaner works best (from what i hear) Mr. Muscle only. I wonder if my freezing approach can be taken here. I really doubt it,(but wouldnt it be cool?) Hope you all can use this info because i keep reading how people think its a PITA and its pretty easy with this approach. Thanks

Paul

[Guest ON3GO]

i used dry ice..

so cold does work.

 

mike

[AK-Z]

cold or heat. just as ON3GO said, but you can use heat also. Just warm it up enough to use a paint scaper on, then just use some brake cleaner to get the rest. I've had mixed results with both, one method might work more better than the other on your car. I've tried it on 2 280z and had to use dry ice on one and heat on the other.

[Boy from Oz]

I have seen several threads on this topic over time. My question is: "why remove it in the first place?" Is it just because owners want to go back to the bare metal or does it precipitate rust problems given time? Are there certain conditions that dictate you should remove it or conditions that say leave it alone. Thanks.

[Sparks280zt]

or does it precipitate rust problems given time?

 

You said it yourself, the tar that has been laid down by the factory does allow rust to form under it. Over the past 20+ odd years water finds its way underneath it and starts rust.

[dj paul]

actually this was the cleanest spot on my car! except a few where the tar had cracked. we remove it so some of us can put in lighter, better sound deadening/heat reflective material. personally im only going to put it on the firewall and in front of the transmission tunnel because rhino liner is going on the underside of my floors.

 

 

cold or heat. just as ON3GO said, but you can use heat also. Just warm it up enough to use a paint scaper on, then just use some brake cleaner to get the rest. I've had mixed results with both, one method might work more better than the other on your car. I've tried it on 2 280z and had to use dry ice on one and heat on the other.

you may be right, heat worked like crap on my car. it make it so much harder to remove from mine. i suggest trying the freezing first and if thats not working like i say it did, than use heat. the spots that i had tried heating up first were more of a pain to remove than the spots i didnt try heating up after it got cold outside. it seemed like it allowed them to bond better to the metal.

[Lighft01]

Mine came off in chunks on a cold day, on the warm day it would just roll up into a ball it was much more difficult to get off that way.

[AK-Z]

I have seen several threads on this topic over time. My question is: "why remove it in the first place?" Is it just because owners want to go back to the bare metal or does it precipitate rust problems given time? Are there certain conditions that dictate you should remove it or conditions that say leave it alone. Thanks.

 

For me, there were 3 reasons why I removed it.

 

1. Rust. Anything that can hold moisture that close to metal reguardless of paint/primer is not a good thing. Even though the sound deadener itself repells water, it can encapsulate it and hold it closes to the metal and given time can actually make its way through paint.

 

2. Weight saving. You can save a good 15 lbs. by removing it. This was not my main reason but since it had to go then might as well remove it.

 

3. Metal work and primer/paint prep. I always feel warry when welding around the stuff. Those fumes can't be good for you.

[Boy from Oz]

It sounds reasonable that the horizontal floor area would be exposed to internal moisture over time, brought in on shoes on wet days, etc, but what about the transmission hump and the firewall?

[AK-Z]

It sounds reasonable that the horizontal floor area would be exposed to internal moisture over time, brought in on shoes on wet days, etc, but what about the transmission hump and the firewall?

The firewall (at least on mine) hasn't shown any rust issues from the inside. I just removed that because it was old and I was going to replace it but I'm debating whether or not to.

 

The trans tunnel I don't see a real reason to remove except the bottom 3 inches and at the top. A whick effect from the carpet can cause water to rise up the trans tunnel more than expected. The top is because people spill things and because water can come inside from the shifter boot, though small and unnoticable eventually cause rust.

[dj paul]

i just removed my rear deck stuff and cut out my spare tire well last night. under the rear deck sound deadening i found some wierd metal formations right behind the compartments along with some rust. not bad, but needs to be ground down or possibly cut out. (im paranoid about rust, look at my site and ull see why) the metal formations are hard to describe, you know how a rock looks if water has been flowing over it for a very long time? it has like little valleys in it and almost looks warped. its still very strong but i was just wondering if this was normal.