Which CLD to buy

Hello all, I am looking for opinions on which brand of CLD tiles to buy for my car. I have read rave reviews about Resonix products on multiple forums and have no doubt that they would work well. My question is would a more price conscious brand like Noico be a decent option? I know that Noico gets good reviews on amazon but I would expect that most people posting reviews on amazon are less discerning than those of us that hang out on dedicated car audio forums. Comparing the two I can get Noico from amazon for about 1/3 the price of the premium option. If the Noico products are garbage than is there any other more affordable options out there worth looking at? I do understand the idea of buy once and cry once but there is also the fact that I have to live within a very tight budget for toys and I would prefer not to swing for the most expensive option unless there is an extremely compelling reason to do so. I also know that I should use MLV and CCF (thankfully i have a roll of CCF already) and I am hoping to use the money saved from a product like Noico to put towards a roll of MLV.


For the TL,DR crowd should I buy Resonix CLD or another brand like Noico and put the money saved from the cheaper CLD towards something like a roll of MLV?

If you want to save money than don’t bother with the MLV as that will definitely blow your budget with diminishing returns. You’d be much better off with a qaulity sound deadening product such as ResoNix and strategically apply it to the areas that matter the most aiming for between 25% and 40% coverage of door panels, floors, and trunk area. With a qaulity product such as ResonNix that is all you really need for coverage to reduce vibrations and resonance and lower the overall db level of the vehicle by about 3 db. When Sound Deadener Showdown was in business this is what they prescribed and I tested that theory which actually was true. I still have some Sound Deadener Showdown to compared hand and hand with the ResoNix I have and they are very comparable in qaulity. I’ve used other brands too and never had an issue with them but they don’t have as good of a constraint layer or butyl rubber compound.

The next time you get new tires make sure you purchase tires that are rated to be quiet. This will make the biggest difference in reducing road noises.

To give you the best advice, you might want to share your goal. Are you trying to get rid of freeway sound coming through the floorboards? Are you trying to reduce a rumble that's only present when you're driving? Are you trying to reduce a specific panel buzzing? Is there a bunch of air whistling in your door seals or wind noise in general?

Each of these has a very specific solution that can make dramatically better use of your budget.

Thank you for the feed back. I am mainly chasing rattles, squeaks, groans, and other mechanical noises. I am happy to hear that i may not need MLV. between the cost and the weight my wallet and car are both grateful. I know that because of some of the performance mods i have done the car (94 civic ex 2 door) is never going to be silent like a tomb but i believe it can be way less annoying than it currently is. the biggest things that bother me right now are how the whole interior starts rattling and buzzing when i get happy on the volume knob. I am betting that CLD will help quell much of the rattles in the doors, trunk, etc. and I am hoping that strategic use of foam will eliminate or reduce the buzzing and vibrating of the interior plastics.

The one source of buzzing and rattling that I am unsure how to treat yet is the sunroof. it periodically will start to rattle on rough roads without any music playing and also gets excited by certain bass frequencies.

My original plan was to wait another year or so until i could afford to buy a dsp and a few other toys and do one big tear down and sound deaden and go full active all in one go but I have decided that I would rather invest the effort in tearing out the interior sooner to sound deaden and than do it again in the future when I have the rest of the bits that I need to go full active 3 way front plus sub.

As it stands presently the car sounds pretty good while parked and listening at moderate volume levels. it just goes to hell when the volume gets up to my preferred levels or when I get out on the road. Tire and exhaust noise are two things that are greatly contributing to my high noise floor but those are less bothersome currently than all the random rattles and buzzes and what not.

Thanks again for responding and hopefully the above will help put any finer points on suggestions of how to best approach my problems with hopefully budget friendly solutions.

Fernpatch , I have used pipe cleaners twisted around rods in doors , the weight of an item determines hertz it vibrates at ( add weight to sunroof ) or try 1/2" foam weather stripping . Clay or electrical thumb gum may deaden area.
Small plastic shims may take care of sunroof ( check in plumbing section )

Rattles, CLD will be your best bet with.
Squeaks and Groans - You will have to figure out what is causing them first and CLD might not solve those issues.

Road noise is where the MLV really comes into play.

So, invest in resonix.

Also, to apply about 25% coverage to deaden every panel (doors, floor, roof, back wall) in my f150 crew cab truck it took me 34 CLD squares. Check out resonix's guide and see how much you will actually need (won't have your specific car but will probably have some similar)

i'd also recommend adding in an order for butyl rope which can be used for decoupling/holding things tightly together (e.g. stuffing in between the various separate plastic pieces making up the door card which can buzz against each other)

Thanks for the responses again gentleman. Unless other information comes to light my plan is to order a box of resonix tiles and a few packs of butyl rope as soon as i can. The only thing holding me back now is waiting until i get Christmas shopping done to be sure i don't end up in a financial hole.

I love this place. So much more helpful and so much less attitude than some of the other forums I have tried in the past.

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Originally Posted by Fernpatch

Thanks for the responses again gentleman. Unless other information comes to light my plan is to order a box of resonix tiles and a few packs of butyl rope as soon as i can. The only thing holding me back now is waiting until i get Christmas shopping done to be sure i don't end up in a financial hole.

I love this place. So much more helpful and so much less attitude than some of the other forums I have tried in the past.

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Yeah, the poor attitude towards members asking legitimate questions on other forums is why I left some of those too. There is a healthy following from DITMA here where the attitude is more mature and professional.

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Originally Posted by Fernpatch

...... I am mainly chasing rattles, squeaks, groans, and other mechanical noises. I am happy to hear that i may not need MLV. between the cost and the weight my wallet and car are both grateful. I know that because of some of the performance mods i have done the car (94 civic ex 2 door) is never going to be silent like a tomb but i believe it can be way less annoying than it currently is. the biggest things that bother me right now are how the whole interior starts rattling and buzzing when i get happy on the volume knob. I am betting that CLD will help quell much of the rattles in the doors, trunk, etc. and I am hoping that strategic use of foam will eliminate or reduce the buzzing and vibrating of the interior plastics.

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You have a 27 year old non-luxury car with performance mods and a loud stereo. You are fighting a crazy uphill battle, but I can appreciate what you want to do. I freaking hate buzzes and rattles too.

You seem concerned about weight and also making the best use of your budget. To make sure you're putting attention and materials in all the right places, here is something you can try. Download one of the free signal generator apps (sine wave generator) for your phone and make sure it allows you to gradually sweep through frequencies as if you were twisting a knob, not having to type in the frequency one at a time. Play that in your car stereo at a low/medium volume starting around a few hundred hertz and slowly lower the frequency until you hit 20hz. Then turn up the volume a tiny bit and do it again.

As you sweep the frequency every single rattle and buzz in your car will come to life one at a time. You can sweep the frequency up and down real slow to get it just right, then crawl around the car to find the problem. This is kind of like an acoustic spotlight. Fix the problem with the butyl rope or whatever product you like (Queef has some ideas too), then repeat at least a hundred more times.

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Originally Posted by Justin Zazzi

You have a 27 year old non-luxury car with performance mods and a loud stereo. You are fighting a crazy uphill battle, but I can appreciate what you want to do. I freaking hate buzzes and rattles too.

You seem concerned about weight and also making the best use of your budget. To make sure you're putting attention and materials in all the right places, here is something you can try. Download one of the free signal generator apps (sine wave generator) for your phone and make sure it allows you to gradually sweep through frequencies as if you were twisting a knob, not having to type in the frequency one at a time. Play that in your car stereo at a low/medium volume starting around a few hundred hertz and slowly lower the frequency until you hit 20hz. Then turn up the volume a tiny bit and do it again.

As you sweep the frequency every single rattle and buzz in your car will come to life one at a time. You can sweep the frequency up and down real slow to get it just right, then crawl around the car to find the problem. This is kind of like an acoustic spotlight. Fix the problem with the butyl rope or whatever product you like (Queef has some ideas too), then repeat at least a hundred more times.

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Super cool advice, thanks!

Not trying to be a salesman, but tbh, it's not even a comparison. I'd bet that 25% coverage of ResoNix squares would maybe be equal if no out perform 100% coverage of noico. I went from noico to ResoNix in my own car. I know the difference first hand. I also have a local customer who did noico in one door and ResoNix in the other. Again, no comparison. Its tee ball vs NY Yankees. I dont care how blunt I sound, but it's too late to try to sugar coat it lol. Hell, I might finally cave and post the resonance test results of sds vs ResoNix

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

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Originally Posted by Serieus

i'd also recommend adding in an order for butyl rope which can be used for decoupling/holding things tightly together (e.g. stuffing in between the various separate plastic pieces making up the door card which can buzz against each other)

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This is much more important than one would imagine..

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screw it. They dont exist anymore so this doesnt hurt anybody. Heres the REW file of sds tiles vs ResoNix Squares. Similar rig that 2stub2fail had in his first test. Hybrid Audio L6se as the speaker just like his test, 0.7 cubes on both chambers if i remember correctly. ResoNix Square was cut to the exact same size as a SDS tile (10" x 6"). Both were done on their own, but same piece of metal with the piece placed dead center. Mic measured in the shop about 8 feet from the closest wall and about 5 inches off the ground with sweeps. i'll see if i can find pics on my old phone. Resonant frequency of the metal when secured was about 90hz as you can see. pretty close to a door skin. Im not sure what power levels chris did his tests at, but this was at moderate volume. Nothing crazy, but definitely not weak. look at "All SPL" and "waterfall" tabs. you will need to "generate" the waterfall. Long story short, if going by spl, ResoNix Squares performed twice as good at and around the FS of the panel vs each ones respective subject run with no material applied (SDS was 129.5db down to 122db, ResoNix Square went from 130db to 115.15db. man, ive wanted to post that for a while. cant wait until chris's second round of testing, but i couldnt want any longer.


https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jrl...ew?usp=sharing

Some reason I can’t open with an iPad. I will try later with a pc.

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Originally Posted by Justin Zazzi

You have a 27 year old non-luxury car with performance mods and a loud stereo. You are fighting a crazy uphill battle, but I can appreciate what you want to do. I freaking hate buzzes and rattles too.

You seem concerned about weight and also making the best use of your budget. To make sure you're putting attention and materials in all the right places, here is something you can try. Download one of the free signal generator apps (sine wave generator) for your phone and make sure it allows you to gradually sweep through frequencies as if you were twisting a knob, not having to type in the frequency one at a time. Play that in your car stereo at a low/medium volume starting around a few hundred hertz and slowly lower the frequency until you hit 20hz. Then turn up the volume a tiny bit and do it again.

As you sweep the frequency every single rattle and buzz in your car will come to life one at a time. You can sweep the frequency up and down real slow to get it just right, then crawl around the car to find the problem. This is kind of like an acoustic spotlight. Fix the problem with the butyl rope or whatever product you like (Queef has some ideas too), then repeat at least a hundred more times.

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yeah, I love the car for it's light weight and dynamic abilities. it may be sluggish in a straight line but it can out maneuver or at least keep up with most high dollar sports cars on twisty roads and is an absolute monster on the down hill.

Thank you for the suggestion on using sine sweeps to find the sources of my problems. I have a feeling that using that method is going to generate a vast quantity of useful information for me.

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Originally Posted by SkizeR

screw it. They dont exist anymore so this doesnt hurt anybody. Heres the REW file of sds tiles vs ResoNix Squares. Similar rig that 2stub2fail had in his first test. Hybrid Audio L6se as the speaker just like his test, 0.7 cubes on both chambers if i remember correctly. ResoNix Square was cut to the exact same size as a SDS tile (10" x 6"). Both were done on their own, but same piece of metal with the piece placed dead center. Mic measured in the shop about 8 feet from the closest wall and about 5 inches off the ground with sweeps. i'll see if i can find pics on my old phone. Resonant frequency of the metal when secured was about 90hz as you can see. pretty close to a door skin. Im not sure what power levels chris did his tests at, but this was at moderate volume. Nothing crazy, but definitely not weak. look at "All SPL" and "waterfall" tabs. you will need to "generate" the waterfall. Long story short, if going by spl, ResoNix Squares performed twice as good at and around the FS of the panel vs each ones respective subject run with no material applied (SDS was 129.5db down to 122db, ResoNix Square went from 130db to 115.15db. man, ive wanted to post that for a while. cant wait until chris's second round of testing, but i couldnt want any longer.


https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jrl...ew?usp=sharing

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I was already planning on waiting until I could safely afford the good stuff but this extra bit of info absolutely clenches it for me. Thank you for posting it up :)

https://i.imgur.com/2xtWzdg.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/e0TjXHd.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/VVsV8gr.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/rQ2w0GE.jpg

Resonix stuff is pretty amazing....and it still is sticking on my Polaris RZR (for about 8 months now) on the heat shield that is exposed to engine temps (which melted the plastic on the rear cargo area) and the environment (including me power washing and hand washing the rzr).


Attachment 7745

.. :)

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Originally Posted by SkizeR

https://i.imgur.com/2xtWzdg.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/e0TjXHd.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/VVsV8gr.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/rQ2w0GE.jpg

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Ok, that's pretty impressive....and I don't say that to guys very often.

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Originally Posted by Smitty

Ok, that's pretty impressive....and I don't say that guys very often.

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yeah, after i ran the sweep on the resonix and saw the result my jaw dropped. Before then we had only done side by side "knocking" tests. sds on one door, resonix on another. we knew the resonix was doing a better job at controlling resonance, but we didnt know to what degree. this was able to put a number on it. I admit, its not a perfect test by any means, but it was apples to apples.

I'm looking forward to trying it even more now. I've used a few different CLD's before and I was disappointed when SDS closed because it performed well.

I’m sure I’m in the minority on this but I’ve been using a Noico for about 4.5 years and never had an issue. I run the 80 mil and sticks well. It’s butyl based so no smell. I had it for almost 3 years on my last car and now have it on my 18’ STI for about 1.5 years and still holding strong but if you do need to get to something in a door panel it will still pull clean and can be put back with no issues. My doors are solid and running Morel Comps up front with tons of bass. I cant speak for everyone but I think it’s great for the price. I ran SDS before and I can’t say it was better. I paid I think $60 on amazon for 36 sq feet of Noico. I’m always trying to find the best products for the best prices but there’s always a trade off. I’m been around car audio long enough to know good from bad. I purchased elemental designs CLD when they were still around and that stuff was horrible.

The noico stuff isn't bad for the price, however, it also doesn't do a whole lot IIRC from the previous CLD test.