Making a Quiet Ride, Quieter! Part 2 - More Sound Deadening and Improving the BOSE System?

So in Part 1, I covered my sound deadening efforts covering the Elgrand's floor, engine room, and front fenders. But I then decided to go further - not just making the car quieter, but since I was going to be opening up the front and middle doors, to try to improve how the Bose system sounds.

Starting with the driver's side door...

Taking off the inner panel revealed this weird plastic cover in the middle.

And while I was at it, I decided to swap out the stock 6x9 full range speaker

Because this Elgrand has the BOSE system, this meant this speaker was 2 ohm - thus limiting aftermarket options.  Luckily, I found a US company called PowerBass that had just what I needed!

Stock 838 grams!

Powerbass OE-693 at 1951 grams!

Of course, given the huge size of the magnet, this meant the stock speaker baffles had to be modified to fit.

So a half shield behind the speaker - I wonder if this was a cheap way to get more bass?

Test fitting, nope still need more taken off...

And thus ground away more, and then sand papered smooth

First perfectly now!

The Audio Technica sound deadening kit I bought, had these foam speaker baffles. 

It also had various foam pieces to prevent sound leakage, as well as the usual butyl based sound absorbers. These I applied around the door in what I thought would be a strategic manner.

The white stuff is 3M Thinsulate, to seal off even more areas where there could sound leakage

View of the passenger door, but without the Thinsulate installed

Close up with the foam baffle installed

the Audio-Technica Door Tuning Kit

Here are some of the butyl aluminum strips with adhesive

I installed most of this on the backside of the outer door skin to absorb outside vibrations

And then it was time to do the sliding doors. These were a nightmare to remove the inner skin, the backside which looks like this:

Same thing - 2 ohn speakers from PowerBass

753 grams for the stock speaker

940 grams for the PowerBass - not as big as a difference as the 6x9s

Oh, and with these being direct Nissan replacements, the plug snapped right in place with need for adaptors or splicing!

This Nissan kit, however, came with separate tweeters. So naturally, I figured I'd install those up front, where the OEM tweeters are.

Just snap off the grill piece - that was easy - the tough part was accessing by removing the A pillar covers

Here is how it looks underneath the grill

I measured the OEM in order to make sure the PB tweeter would fit

The PB tweeter came with these adaptors

This should fit!

And it did fit perfectly!

So the tweeter fit perfectly, but guess what - compared to the front door tweeter which immediately improved the depth of the sound - not as much of the usual BOSE "booming" effect- these tweeter did not sound good at all. Or rather, it turns out that the OEM tweeter is a full range speaker, so when real tweeters are added that have limited range, the sound stage does not feel as full, if that makes sense.

So, I went back and removed these PB tweeter and put the OEM full range small speakers back - I will have to research what to replace it with in the future!

Making a Quiet Ride, Quieter! Part 1

Given this is an Elgrand VIP, apparently these is more than the usual sound deadening standard from the factory. And yes, it is very quiet. 

HOWEVER, things can always be improved, right?  So first, I did some research and found this car electronics and audio speciality shop nearby my house -  Dupree United Factory and had the owner, Akiba-san install vibration and sound absorber material to the floor and rear sides of the Elgrand.

Check out that secondary A/C unit on the right. 

Materials used - StP Biplast 10, StP Gold, and BOM

Akiba-san really likes using materials from StP. StP Biplast for noise absorption and thermal protection, StP Black Gold for vibration damping. Can't recall exactly what BOM is...it all worked in the end, but it means the Elgrand is OOA while he has it.

So I decided to do the remaining bulk of what I think is also needed, myself. I tried to figure out where the extra road noise was coming from, and found that it appeared to be from the engine, the transmission, and then front tires (in addition to general windnoise). 

First, I decided to see if adding heat resistant sound deadening (available as a kit from Amon specifically to dampen engine noise) would work.

The Elgrand DOES have this heat liner, but I guess it can be improved. And the goal is to apply the sound deadening behind it so it cannot be easily seen.

Perhaps the most difficult part was to remove the clips without breaking them.

The foil material has adhesive on one side. Cut to fit, and bridge the gaps with the provided aluminum tape

Clean install!

And the result? Yes, a noticeable difference in reduction of engine noise, for sure! But, that made the road noise from the tires stand out. So...

Next I decided to see how much front tire road noise I could eliminate. This meant taking off the front wheel liners and not only adding sound deadening/sound absorbtion materials to them, but also the same to the steel body behind the fender liners.

Didn't have to jack it up, just turn the wheel to each side max. A few clips and screw and you are done!

Before - of course it needed to be washed and cleaned up

Here you can see the bodyside where I have added the sound deadning (name) from the Audio Technica Kit. Turns out there is a large HOLE in the firewall - probably for air circulation - that likely resulted in a lot of noise getting through to the cabin. 

Having added as much sound deadening as possible while still allowing for the fender liners to fit back on properly!

And the result? Yes, a significant reduction in road noise from the tires, but I STILL feel lik more can be done.  The rest of what I have done so far, coming up in Part 2.

Luxury: First mod at Nissan Prince Fukushima

So as I stated in a previous post, Midorikawa-san, the head of Nissan Prince Fukushima Koriyama branch was sending me updates via photos of the Elgrand being worked on, and this one shows the dash taken apart.

This was to install the first of hopefully many luxury mods, as well as the two modernization mods mentioned in the previous post.  So why the focus on luxury? Well, it IS an Elgrand VIP, and frankly, Nissan should have made the top version of their large minivan much more luxurious. So I plan to go through the Nissan Elgrand options catalog and add everything convenience and luxury-related I can find, while also checking out what is available in the aftermarket. 

So first things first - I am so surprised that I had to get this installed (that the previous owner did not, given the other luxury touches we found), what Nissan calls the "Rear Kicking Plate" with Elgrand lettering that lights up with blue LEDs. 

Front too - the "Front Kicking Plate":

Note - they left the protective film on! Which I plan to keep for a while.

I just don't understand how this car is offered from the factory like this - I hate cheap plastics!

With just plain plastic - functional but cheap looking. Although the prior owner must have put on some covers to keep them this clean! 

Although given how the prior owner kept these so clean, I am inspired to figure out how to protect these newly installed "kicking plates."  This I will discuss in an upcoming post about what I did immediately after I got the Elgrand home!

Next however a post about a performance mod that for me significantly improved how the car drives!

Modernization: First mods at Prince Fukushima

So in addition to the inspection and maintenance work I had done at Prince Fukushima right after I purchased the car, I took advantage of the downtime to have their techs install some items to modernize the Elgrand.

First up was one out of the Nissan Optional Parts catalog (Dealer installed stuff), the Intelligent Rear View Mirror or here in Japan, the Smart Room Mirror which uses a rear camera to give the driver a direct view out the rear window - useful when carrying passengers in a minivan (so I don't have to try to look past their heads)!

And of course, a dash cam (Drive Recorder is what they are called here in Japan) is needed these days - not really for parking lot protection as the newer ones advertise for but for accidents and the occasional road rage we are starting to see here. I really wanted to install the one made by Kenwood and listed in the Nissan Optional Parts catalog, as its advantage is that it can operate via the car's navigation screen, but we could not find any documentation that indicated that would work with this 2016 car. So instead we looked to the aftermarket.

At this time I could not find one from a Japanese company that had all the features I wanted - mainly the ability to view the recorded images and videos on my mobile phone (without paying for a subscription), and further have cameras with the highest resolution possible, in this case, 4K for the front and HD for the rear.  Hence, I asked that the dealer install the NextBase 622GW. Will let you all know if I made the right choice.  

The only problem is that the wiring harness that connects the 622GW to the fusebox, was not ordered in time, and so currently the unit is running off the cigarette lighter. Since that is on the floor and in the storage bin that comes with the "Multifunction Box" (fridge) it is barely noticeable, but this is something I will have to sort in my spare time. Stay tuned!

This post is short, but that is because I have decided, for this blog, to try to have separate themes of Modernization, Luxury and Performance as I gradually shape this Elgrand into my own.  So later this week I will have more posts in those areas.