Sound Deadening Mat?

[VJG1977]

I may be doing a lazy man's conversion on my 2012 Chevy Express 2500.  Have a question on sound proofing the back.  If I am glueing foam insulation to the ceining and walls, is there any noticeable noise reduction gained by first appling a product like FatMat Self-Adhesive RattleTrap Sound Deadener.  
If I do this it will be a scaled down version of my Cargo trailer camper and I'll start a build thread.

 

[MrNoodly]

All I have on my van walls and roof is foam board, luan and paint. And some stickers. Between that and the contents of the van, it's quiet as a tomb.

 

[B and C]

^^^ That has been my experience in the past. The biggest noise places are the floor and wheel wells when going down the road. After that, it is the roof when it rains. Plywood on the floor to anchor stuff to and some deadening mat on the wheel wells would be good.

 

[Almost There]

Most all of us that have  had more than one van don't bother with any sound deadening products at all.

Let's face it, a van is never going to be as quiet as a BMW or high end car. It's just a case of getting used to it!

My interior makes more noise with wood squeaking at some joints I forgot to glue than anything else - well other than the dirty dishes rattling in the sink...  

I do find that my new Cooper tires are quieter on the highway than the previous set of Michelins so tire selection is part of the noise battle as well. If you've got any serious off road tires on the vehicle they are probably adding to the road noise - not much to be done if those are your tire of choice.

Just turn up the radio a bit....

 

[Reducto]

I used it on my first van and not my second. It did reduce road noise a bit but that's about it. I had so much noise coming from air passing over the solar panel and crap bouncing around in the back that road noise was not a huge concern.

It won't do much to higher frequencies so it won't help your stealth much. It added a fair amount of weight and good luck getting the stuff off if you need to repair or modify your floors later on.

I'd only recommend doing it if you plan on blasting a sound system back there. It will keep the metal panels from rattling.

 

[greeneyedggirl]

When I'm boondocked, my rig is quiet as a tomb, that's what I want and need. Road noise is just me getting from one spot to the next, so it's not that big a deal, plus on the highway, she's pretty quiet, so I cannot complain!

Thanks everyone for confirming that worrying about sound mats is not needed!!!

 

[Firebuild]

When I worked in the "movie biz" we deadened sound during shooting by hanging sound blankets, which are basically the same as furniture blankets. Maybe if you're worried about sound keep a few on board to hang if necessary.

 

[khicks1957]

Back in the eighties my Dad and I went on a month trip crossing the country Va to Michigan to Denver to Saltlake to San Francisco to San Diego down to mexico to Florida back to Va.He built a camper out of an ford 1979 e150 . Too insulate the body and maximize the space, he glued a 1/2 inch carpet padding to the walls of the van . it looked really nice. We had stopped at the Grand Canyon hiked down and back up, camped over night in the parking lot. Next morning I was surprise to see about 4 inch of snow on the ground.