Cabin noise

troubadour · 05-02-2012, 01:10 PM

I had the cabin floor area done, too, yesterday while they were putting in the remote start kit. In driving around, it seems to have made a small difference, although I could be fooling myself since things are down to the finer shades of gray now. After replacing the tires, doing the sound treatment on the back, doors, and floor, I would rate the soundproofing something like this as to bang for the buck:

1 - Tires
2 - Back (Hatch) Area
3 - Doors
4 - Cabin Floor

I also had them raise the back mounts of the passenger seat by 1 inch. They got longer bolts (factory bolts were too short) and fabricated a slightly-sloping spacer to do that. About an inch is the amount of adjustment of the rear knob on the driver's seat, and the seat is more comfortable now. My wife swears it went up by at least a couple of inches - and she is thrilled to now see over the dash! I rather passed off how much it was raised with somethiing like "As long as you're happy...." But that 1 inch did make some significant differences even if some of it is "apparent" to the person involved.

I'm quite happy now. The car is reasonably quiet, we can carry on conversations, and my wife (and I as well when I sit in that seat) is happy in the comfort and improved view of the passenger seat. The remote starting (something I've had on many cars) is great as always. Love the car, and it's really fun to drive - which was the whole idea.

Bonzo · 05-02-2012, 03:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by troubadour

I also had them raise the back mounts of the passenger seat by 1 inch. They got longer bolts (factory bolts were too short) and fabricated a slightly-sloping spacer to do that. About an inch is the amount of adjustment of the rear knob on the driver's seat, and the seat is more comfortable now. My wife swears it went up by at least a couple of inches - and she is thrilled to now see over the dash! I rather passed off how much it was raised with somethiing like "As long as you're happy...." But that 1 inch did make some significant differences even if some of it is "apparent" to the person involved. .

Hold the phone......

I have thought about this for a while now, and I'm very interested in exactly what they did. Perhaps you could start a new thread (to not derail this one), and post up some pictures. With the limited seat adjustment, I have to assume others would be interested too.

Please, more info......

RiCharlie · 05-03-2012, 08:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by troubadour

I

I also had them raise the back mounts of the passenger seat by 1 inch. They got longer bolts (factory bolts were too short) and fabricated a slightly-sloping spacer to do that. About an inch is the amount of adjustment of the rear knob on the driver's seat, and the seat is more comfortable now. My wife swears it went up by at least a couple of inches - and she is thrilled to now see over the dash! I rather passed off how much it was raised with somethiing like "As long as you're happy...." But that 1 inch did make some significant differences even if some of it is "apparent" to the person involved.

My wife has the same complaint...let us know when you post something about how this was done..

troubadour · 05-03-2012, 10:45 AM

I'm too new to this forum to know how to redirect readers to a different thread on this topic, but I'll post a response here and if someone moves it over so that I can follow I'll try to keep up - - -

= = = = =

Here's what happened. I noted the adjustment for the driver's side, and did a rough eyeball estimate that it moved the back of the seat bottom up and down about an inch or so, total. I also noted that the passenger seat was pretty sloped and since it had no adjustment I discussed it with the installers.

Things we discussed were that if the back were raised, the factory mounting bolts might not be long enough (which proved to be the case), and that they were probably hardened bolts. The installer also thought that the upwards tilting of the back might put some stress on the front bolts so he theorized adding a very small slanted spacer in the front.

Initially I had studied the room between the cabin roof and the passenger seatback/headrest, since the bottom of the seat wasn't being raised relative to the seatback but rather the whole seat would be raised in the rear - seatback and all. It appeared that there were easily a few inches of headroom with no adverse affects for a 1 inch rise. Someone who is really tall might reconsider that but for most people I figured it wouldn't be a problem. My wife had said when she sat in the driver's seat (which I leave permanently raised all the way in the back) if felt more comfortable. So I figured one inch would be a good matching target amount for the passenger seat. You could probably go some more if you wanted.

In the end it turned out to be really simple as they only had to do two things:

1 - Add two aluminum spacers of 1 inch with a very slight cant on them (to account for the sloping angle) at the back of the seat rails.
2 - Replace the factory bolts at the rear with 2 longer hardened bolts, which they easily obtained from a local nut/bolt specialty shop. They also selected a suitable washer for each of the new bolts. (I told them not to worry about the little plastic cap that covered the original bolts as they were out of sight anyway.)

The installer told me that when he looked at the front of the track mounts, there was a slight slant already there and thus he saw no reason to have to do anything with the front mounts.

The whole thing amounted to about a half-hour of labor, throwing some black paint on two slightly canted 1-inch aluminum spacing pieces (from square aluminum pipe or tubing - I just glanced at them and didn't ask what he used - you could probably use regular pipe for that matter), and bolting the seat rails back in with the two longer bolts in the rear.

We just downsized to a condo and I don't have a workshop any more so I just had them do it for me, but it'd really be an easy DIY job.

My wife loves it. Suddenly the whole ride was improved in her mind - especially the view since she is short. The seat is more comfortable at this angle for me, too.

Bonzo · 05-03-2012, 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by troubadour

I'm too new to this forum to know how to redirect readers to a different thread on this topic, but I'll post a response here and if someone moves it over so that I can follow I'll try to keep up - - -

= = = = =

Here's what happened. I noted the adjustment for the driver's side, and did a rough eyeball estimate that it moved the back of the seat bottom up and down about an inch or so, total. I also noted that the passenger seat was pretty sloped and since it had no adjustment I discussed it with the installers.

Things we discussed were that if the back were raised, the factory mounting bolts might not be long enough (which proved to be the case), and that they were probably hardened bolts. The installer also thought that the upwards tilting of the back might put some stress on the front bolts so he theorized adding a very small slanted spacer in the front.

Initially I had studied the room between the cabin roof and the passenger seatback/headrest, since the bottom of the seat wasn't being raised relative to the seatback but rather the whole seat would be raised in the rear - seatback and all. It appeared that there were easily a few inches of headroom with no adverse affects for a 1 inch rise. Someone who is really tall might reconsider that but for most people I figured it wouldn't be a problem. My wife had said when she sat in the driver's seat (which I leave permanently raised all the way in the back) if felt more comfortable. So I figured one inch would be a good matching target amount for the passenger seat. You could probably go some more if you wanted.

In the end it turned out to be really simple as they only had to do two things:

1 - Add two aluminum spacers of 1 inch with a very slight cant on them (to account for the sloping angle) at the back of the seat rails.
2 - Replace the factory bolts at the rear with 2 longer hardened bolts, which they easily obtained from a local nut/bolt specialty shop.

The installer told me that when he looked at the front of the track mounts, there was a slight slant already there and thus he saw no reason to have to do anything with the front mounts.

The whole thing amounted to about a half-hour of labor, throwing some black paint on two slightly canted 1-inch aluminum spacing pieces (from square aluminum pipe or tubing - I just glanced at them and didn't ask what he used - you could probably use regular pipe for that matter), and bolting the seat rails back in with the two longer bolts in the rear.

We just downsized to a condo and I don't have a workshop any more so I just had them do it for me, but it'd really be an easy DIY job.

My wife loves it. Suddenly the whole ride was improved in her mind - especially the view since she is short. The seat is more comfortable at this angle for me, too.

If you just start an entire new thread (you know how to do that?), then I can link this conversation over there. Just copy the post you made here, start a new thread, then paste it in.

To start a thread, just go to the main forum listings, go down under Interior/Exterior Mods, click on that, then go all the way to the bottom and click New Thread.

I have to say, I think your guy who made the spacers might be able to make some coin by selling kits with 2 spacers and 2 bolts. I know I would buy one if the price was right. I have not only been considering this for the passenger, but also the driver seat. I had all your same reservations, but came to the conclusion that for me the spacer was the only hard part. It's hard to see in your picture exactly what it looks like. To me, that's the key. The bolts I can get easy.

Thanks for this info. Let me know if you need any more help, and if you see your installer guy, could you ask him if he could make 2 more sets for me?

05-02-2012, 01:10 PM	#1 (permalink)
troubadour Base Member Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Salt Lake City Posts: 67 Drives: 2012 Coupe/Trg/Sprts Rep Power: 15	I had the cabin floor area done, too, yesterday while they were putting in the remote start kit. In driving around, it seems to have made a small difference, although I could be fooling myself since things are down to the finer shades of gray now. After replacing the tires, doing the sound treatment on the back, doors, and floor, I would rate the soundproofing something like this as to bang for the buck: 1 - Tires 2 - Back (Hatch) Area 3 - Doors 4 - Cabin Floor I also had them raise the back mounts of the passenger seat by 1 inch. They got longer bolts (factory bolts were too short) and fabricated a slightly-sloping spacer to do that. About an inch is the amount of adjustment of the rear knob on the driver's seat, and the seat is more comfortable now. My wife swears it went up by at least a couple of inches - and she is thrilled to now see over the dash! I rather passed off how much it was raised with somethiing like "As long as you're happy...." But that 1 inch did make some significant differences even if some of it is "apparent" to the person involved. I'm quite happy now. The car is reasonably quiet, we can carry on conversations, and my wife (and I as well when I sit in that seat) is happy in the comfort and improved view of the passenger seat. The remote starting (something I've had on many cars) is great as always. Love the car, and it's really fun to drive - which was the whole idea. Last edited by troubadour; 05-02-2012 at 01:13 PM.

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