Mustang66

I have a 2013 GT with 3.73. I have added CAI, LT Headers, Catted x-pipe, BMR Poly LCA's, 1-piece Alum DS.

The resulting rise in NVH in the car needs to be brought down. I have too much.

I need solid suggestions that you have used to bring down the NVH.

houtex

Turn up the radio, and install memory foam seat cushions.






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Oh, ok, and without facetiousness, here's what I got for ya, I think. I'm sure others have other ideas, but here we go:

Remove the headers and catted xpipe and go back to stock, for one.

Take the poly LCAs off and put on the stock rubber control arms, secondly.

Third, buy more expensive, but quieter, tires like the Conti DWs.

Fourth, rip out the seats and carpet, and apply a layer of dynamat. Trunk too, and even the doors and inside the rear quarter panels.

Fifth, for extra deadening, install a full width trunk baffle, securely fastened and braced so it doesn't vibrate (an X brace across it would be fine) and then layer THAT with dynamat.

I'm not sure about the one piece driveshaft, but there's a couple of reasons Ford did the double jointed one, so... maybe put that back.

See, the question I have is did you have NVH before you did all that? If no, then the answer is obvious. If yes, well.. you needed to deal with it before going non-stock.

But if no, then the other answer is obvious, your add ons are causing NVH. So you'll need to address them directly... or put up with it.

These aren't, after all, luxoboats. They're higher performance cars out of the box, which by itself will induce some NVH by their need to exceed, but if you then start adding 'gofastmakeloud' parts on it... then you will induce the NVH. I mean, the suspension comes from Ford with rubber for a reason. This is pretty much the reason.

Noise is just that. Noise. Whatever outside noise that gets in the car, that's what we're talking about. Creaks of suspension count too.

Vibration, well... that's pretty much a thing. That driveshaft might be the biggest culprit, might not... but the whole car is full of vibrations. Removing any rubber that isolates that stuff for poly (lower control arms) or changing out rotational pieces (driveshaft) this is a problem that might happen.

Harshness. How does the car respond to bumps. Back again at the poly vs rubber. Also spring rates and shocks, but you don't seem to have done those.

The only other thing to really suggest is to research the parts for that particular purpose... as in reviews which state "This one is *noisy*, but DUDE the car's quick now!" versus "This doesn't make noise, but it also doesn't perform as well."

Good luck and all.

Mustang66

I ask a straight forward question and get your wise guy answer.

boss man

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If the NVH is with the car standing still, It's the LT or catted X pipe. If its only when your moving than it's the LCA or DS. Is it safe to say the 373 are factory??

First off, is the NVH a whine or a bang / thump sound?
If its a whine than its comming from the rear. Maybe pinon angle due to the one peice DS. Guessing that the 373 are facorty.

If its a bang or thump sound. It may be coming from the LCA. I'm not questioning your mechanical ability. But are the LCA installed correct?
Are both ends of the LCA polly bushings? If they are adjustable are the locking nuts set correctly?

Did you add Relocation brackets when installing the LCA and are the LCA adjustable ones?

Are there any other mods that you may of forgotten about...Springs/axel weights/shocks/panhard bar......ANYTHING

The more info. = More help.

berzerk_1980

I think although houtex's answer may have been a bit more intense than necessary, the approach is correct.

Each of the mods you listed are known for increasing NVH in exchange for other performance factors.

There are many factors in engineering, not just cost, performance and reliability. In autos, NVH are three more that come up a lot.

You have to ask yourself, for each of these mods, was that mod worth the cost (whether be dollars, time, or NVH), and decide whether there is a better choice for each particular mod. It may cost more or have less desirable performance characteristics but better NVH characteristics. Unfortunately you rarely can have it all, but the good news is it's your choice with these cars.

On a side note, this is why I've come to the conclusion that you just can't get everything from a single car. You try to make your car better at each application and pretty soon you find that it ends up being a zero sum solution. Track mods suck on the highway. A nice stereo for the long trips sucks on the track. Etc.

Mustang66

No other mods. Car is not lowered. BMR Poly LCA's not adjustable. No relocation bracket.
Not a whine or thump.

It is noise level. I can hear the drive train after I put on LCA's. Exhaust is also more noticable after LCA's put on.
I love the response and performance of the car.

If I could reduce the noise level some that would help.

houtex

I'm sorry you don't like the answer. Truth is a harsh mistress sometimes. But I gave you straight forward answers. Even the radio and seat cushion suggestion is a straight forward answer to the questions. Practical even, to a certain extent.

I fail to see where I was a wise guy, but hey, that's text vs speech and face to face for ya, I suppose.

If you're bound and determined to keep the mods, then you will have to add sound deadening/masking and/or vibratory reduction methods elsewhere to prevent the problem you're having, or put up with it and enjoy the car's better performance/sound output, point blank.

Hence *all* the suggestions. Not just 'remove or radio.'

What did you expect or want, sir? I am honestly curious.

Varilux

I think "wise guy" is a pretty accurate description of the original answer...

Still, that doesn't mean it wasn't all spot-on.

IMO, the piece of advice that has the greatest likelihood of success is the installation of Dynamat (or something similar). Seriously, if you pull the seats and carpet, and line the floor with sound-deadening matting, you are going to cut down on any noise that is being caused by vibration.

In my '65, since I had it down to a bare shell anyway I installed Dynamat everywhere. Older Mustangs are NOT known for being quiet, but mine is pretty darn civilized. I also took apart a BMW Z4 coupe I owned that was set up with a VERY aggressive suspension (which got loud as well). Installed Dynamat along the floor and it greatly improved (but did not eliminate) the noise.

Good luck! In my current ride ('14 Mustang GT), I recently installed the Blowfish shifter mount (which has pretty much completely solved the awful shifts common to these cars). Of course, the price to be paid is heard every time I get on it in the form of- vibration. I've fought it by wrapping the shifter body in Dynamat- with some puffy attic insulation thrown in as well! Although the vibrations are still there, they are greatly muffled/tolerable.

jp1seattle

This might not be a good answer either, but I think if you wait a little while, it will get better.

When I first put my BMR LCAs on I noticed the whine you're talking about right away. It bothered me for a few weeks, but gradually I got used to it and now I don't notice it at all. Same thing happened when I put the whiteline mount in.

Just something to think about.

Blown CS

You should contact BMR since they have developed a new bushing that has less NVH, but yet it performs as good as the poly.

laserred38

Dynamat is not a noise eliminator. It's called deadener because it quiets resonances, not absorbing sound. I still don't understand why people don't get this (in general, not just you...it's a common misconception due to Dynamat's marketing).

If you want to absorb sound, you need to add closed cell foam and mass loaded vinyl to block out noise. Dynamat will help a *little* in that regard, but that's not what it's designed for. It's designed to quell vibrations and resonances, of which a lot of "noise" we hear in cars is attributed to. A lot of road noise is absorbed with rubber bushings though, so swapping them for polyurethane makes your car turn sharper and react to inputs quicker, but you bring in some road and drivetrain noise. Simple as that. I'm planning on removing all my fender liners and using some of the spray undercoating on the inside of them, as well as the insides of the fenders. On the interior, I may do some deadener tiles on the flat metal spots, and some CCF over that. I don't need it to be whisper quiet, but I would like to swap a lot of the bushings to poly, and I know that will increase the already abundant road noise.

Varilux

Dynamat is not a noise eliminator. It's called deadener because it quiets resonances, not absorbing sound.

You are partially correct. True, Dynamat is not- primarily- a sound absorber (although it will actually absorb a small amount of sound, because its MTF is less than 1). If you have a loud noise (e.g., your teenager's cell phone set to some awful Pandora station), and hold a sheet of Dynamat between you and the noise's source, it will not absorb the majority of the sound.

As you mention, if you really want to absorb (capture) sound that already exists, you need something with a bunch of air pockets to scatter, disorganize, and reflect the sound. Simple fiberglass insulation (like in your attic) is WONDERFUL at doing this- if you are ever restoring an old Mustang, try filling some of the cavernous spaces with fiberglass insulation and you'll be amazed at its ability to muffle noise! Unfortunately, many things that absorb sound well tend to be rather thick (because they are, by definition, somewhat "puffy").

However, the fact is Dynamat does reduce noise by attenuating its cause- vibration. Imagine a snare drum. The drum surface is thin and specifically designed to carry vibration. When you strike it with a stick, you cause the surface to vibrate- and sound waves are basically just vibrations in the form of air pulses. Now stick a sheet of Dynamat to the drum surface and strike the surface with a stick. The vibration is greatly reduced (though not completely eliminated), resulting in far less sound. The metal skin of our Mustangs is similar to a snare drum- a hard thin surface just yearning to vibrate. Or, in our earlier example, place a tiny bit of Dynamat on the speaker of the cell phone... less vibrations = less annoying noise. For the OP, the LCA is like the drum stick and its causing vibrations to ripple across the body of the car. Applying Dynamat will greatly reduce the noise being created by the car. If he were complaining that the exhaust noise was too great (heaven forbid ), then he would need some puffy substance to trap and absorb that external noise.

The approach (spraying undercoating) you mention is solid- in fact its the way Ford reduces noise at the factory (robots are programmed to apply foam to certain points on the undercarriage). However, undercoating is better at reducing transmission of external noises (like road noise, air, etc.). To reduce the noise created by the body of the car itself, you have to keep the body panels from vibrating- which Dynamat (or any other similar product) does pretty well.

Of course, there is one other method for killing sound- destructive interference. This is the approach used in Bose headphones- which actually have a microphone on the outside of the headphone that listens to ambient noise and then ADDS the reverse of that noise into the headphone itself. When you combine waves that are perfectly out of phase, they cancel each other out (its how we remove light reflections from optical devices). I believe Cadillac actually uses this technology to reduce engine noise in some of their models. Of course, the only way to apply this method would be to wear noise-cancelling headphones while you drive (which I'm not sure is completely legal in all states).