I have three ford vans E150 1992 chateau and it is quiet on the road. A 2002 Full size xlt van with v10 and it is fairly quiet on the road too. I bought a 2005 full size xlt v10 van and its has been very noisy since I bought it with road noise. I have been researching for a while what would be best. I thought dynamat might be a good choice but some say that it is not good for road noise. I don't know seems there is just too many opinions on the internet these days. What have you used to kill road noise, and what has worked best. Thanks for the help. Andrew.

 

Is this new-to-you van mostly bare and/or the side walls & ceiling exposed sheet metal? Is the OEM factory rubber mat still installed in the rear area?

IMHO using Dynamat is too often done incorrectly and ends up needlessly wasteful. There are better materials to greatly reduce road noise, far less expensive too.

 

This is an xlt passenger van with the seats out that's all, carpet, roof liner, panels all in place. The road noise is mostly up the front. I have Firestone highway tires on it and they are the quiet ones, fairly new too. What materials would you suggest. I have heard that road noise is not addressed by dynamat and don't want to do something that expensive and find it didn't work. The two vans have the same xlt package, both have the seats out, both have the same tires on and wheels. One is quieter the other is an amplifier. I know Ford started reducing the sound insulation in their vehicles, maybe its just the year difference. Let me know some products please and thanks for the reply.

 

My '92 has no insulation under the carpet and if it does its flat as a flitter and worthless. A good padded carpet would help tremendously. I noticed when I covered my windows with reflectix and put up a heavy curtain barrier between the front and 1st row seats that it killed a lot of noise. I never realized how much was coming from the back. Check the engine cover and make sure the insulation is in good shape and present. Depending on the van usage a flooring with some sort of insulating padding will help. You could also put some insulation behind the side panels. The windows there isn't much hope for except to cover them with something like the reflectix or similar but you lose that side vision. I'm used to driving my work van with less windows so it doesn't bother me much. I'll replace my carpet once I find my water leak at the firewall.

 

Making almost any E-Series stock configured van "quiet" isn't easy, its not so much about products as it is about processes or ways to go about reducing transmitted road noises. Naturally tires would be a contributor but so would the roads you're driving on. Over 4 different bare stock vans I've learned how to make them a lot less noisy at freeway speeds, the biggest and immediate effect coming from a 3/4" plywood floor in the rear area, filling the doors and some side wall cavities with fiberglass insulation then applying a double layer of radiant barrier insulation on the side walls and ceiling, each between the body ribs.

Over the plywood I use a commercial grade carpet which further reduces noise. One huge change was adding a sliding partition curtain just behind the front seats. These steps won't work on a people mover van especially if it has windows in the rear area.

As a word of caution you DO NOT want any sort of carpet or similar material that'll absorb moisture---the factory mats with the spun padding are the best example of what type floor covering you want to avoid. The vans sweat, the padding absorbs the moisture and never ever evaporates back out. Exterior surfaces you can see may look dry but the padding is soaked. That trapped moisture lays against the steel floor and over time causes rust which goes undetected, sometimes almost forever.

I place my plywood so it spans the floor ribs leaving air spaces. Any moisture finding its way into those spaces is free to evaporate out as the van becomes warmer while driving.

The front seems more quiet because there are more soft surfaces to absorb road noise, the cabin being behind the front suspension so it doesn't transmit road noises inside. Do keep in mind the same cautions about factory floor covering with the spun padding applies to the front as much as it does the rear---if keeping a van for the longer term its a good idea to remove the front seats and floor covering to check the floor condition. Sadly that can be downright scary

Two photos showing more of the surface rust that can form unnoticed:





Please none of the rust showing had perforated the floor---for the most part it was just surface rust. It was properly treated with POR-15.

 

Thanks for all that info. I can refer back to it as I work on the van. I have been led to believe from youtube videos that some foam with certain density is good for road noise. Yes the moisture causing rust is a big issue. thanks again. Andrew.