Trunk insulation...

[mgold]

So Jon325i was at my house yesterday and we noticed something interesting. The floor of my trunk (318iC) has carpeting, but no insulation, while his 325i coupe has insulation (thick sheet of material painted body color) and carpeting. I'm curious if this is characteristic of cabrios or 318i models.

[KenC]

Mine has no insulation.

[mgold]

Nice original spare you have. Mine's just as nice!

[Court M3]

Mine has no insulation either :? Just plain old carpeting

[Jordan]

most e30's with a engine lesser then the m20b25 got no tar mat in the trunk.

Too slow as is, let alone carrying around an extra 65lbs tar slab. :) Realisticily I think it has something to do with where the battery is also.

[AdamF 88iS]

Only 325s have that. It's there to balance the car's weight distribution a little better. That's why M3's dont have/need it.

[Jon325i]

Only 325s have that. It's there to balance the car's weight distribution a little better. That's why M3's dont have/need it.

That seems logical. I know of a couple 325i/is owners who have removed this "slab-o-tar" from their trunks in the quest for lightness. Although 65lbs. doesn't sound like much, I'm sure it has an effect on an E30s handling.

And FWIW (for you track junkies), I took the foam-backed OEM interior carpet which I salvaged from my previous E30 and weighed it the other day.....approx. 36lbs.

Jon

[Ryan Stewart]

I ditched that slab and all the other tar like insulation form the interior. It totalled to just under 80lbs. I then replaced it with just under 30lbs of dynamat extreme and its as quiet as a 7 series.

[Jon325i]

I ditched that slab and all the other tar like insulation form the interior. It totalled to just under 80lbs. I then replaced it with just under 30lbs of dynamat extreme and its as quiet as a 7 series.

What other places are you referring to? I remember seeing nothing but metal panels on the floor after I removed all the carpet. As far as I know, the only tar slab in my '89 325i is the trunk.

The DynaMat idea sounds pretty cool if you want to keep roadnoise down while shedding some of your cars' weight. What areas did you apply it to?

Jon

[nando]

I don't think my car has that slab.. at least there's nothing in the trunk I've noticed that weighs 50+lbs. is it supposed to be under the spare? there is a little bit of something built into my floor mat, but that seems more like something to keep the mat flat over the spare cavity, and it definetly doesn't weigh 50+ lbs.

[mgold]

Nando,
The slab in question surrounds the spare well and sits between the carpet and the sheet metal. If you look at Ken's pic, you'll see that his is just painted sheet metal. Jon's was painted body color but is a solid looking material.

Here's a car I found on eBay with the slab still installed.

[Ryan Stewart]

Its like 3/4" thick.

The rest of the stuff around the interior is not nearly as thick, its as thin as the dynamat. I peeled it out of the rear quarters and by the sill under the seat.

I applied the dynamat to the backseat, sealed the doors and rear panels, tranny tunnel, and trunk. Wanted to keep the engine noise.

Sealing the foors did the most. When I shut them it just thuds.

[nando]

ah.. then my car doesn't have that for sure. :)

[franz]

Where is a good place to get dynamat? I suppose the local stereo hut will be high priced, thanks!

[Rob]

http://www.ikesound.com/category-category_id/52

https://www.carmedia1.com