1st Gen. Lunch Table - General Discussion

You can do a lot. And the net of years of passionate work can be amazing.

I fully agree that the returns are diminishing. Sound deadening is especially labor intensive. I’ve done very little myself. Lots of hope, very little action.

The best mobile audio environments are the biggest ones, the most room-like. Most of our vehicles come with massive compromises. Especially first Gen Tundra, mine has all sorts of noises. As does my 2016 Tacoma.

I’m highly curious how the Tesla semi might be as far as audio. It’s center seating position and large volume interior puts it into a special category.

 

The 'street takeovers' have become a common occurrence over here.
https://youtu.be/KYQefKOqg9w

Dude, I was right down the street while you were there. Just a couple miles down Goldenwest. Whatcha gettin at Camburg?

 

@NickB_01TRD if you want to rattle fillings out of your teeth and wake up neighbors on the other side of town, you could always go this route:



Those 13w7s will handle 1500w RMS by themselves. They're a sight to behold in action. 4" peak to peak excursion. Insanely loud. When I was working at the place that sold these(I was a home theater installer), we had a guy put 4 in in the bed of a Harley Davidson f-150. They cut a pass through into the cab. I got to hear it before the perfectly legit businessman came and picked it up. I could feel every hair on my head shake. It felt like it stopped my heart. I loved it, but it was a tad too loud for me. That was competition levels of loud.

 

Yeah, that's SPL comp stuff. Don't get me wrong, I'd love it if you could get that kinda handling in shallow-mount for my AC, but I'd hafta keep things dialed down to, like, a 1 or 2 just so I don't rattle every bolt in the truck loose. If you want rattles, that's how you make rattles.

 

It’s impossible to find a tailgate for a DC. Been looking for a new aftermarket one that’s primered. No dice.

 

If you want to speak of 'diminishing returns' you picked the right topic: 'sound deadening'. It's probably the one biggest money throwaway, b/c people way overdo it, way overspend on it.

Unless you're going into SPL comps where it's genuinely critical to seal the cabin and suppress panel vibration, you DO NOT need to cover every inch of every panel. You don't even need to cover 50% of a panel. Studies I've read over the years have changed due to new testing tools and techniques, but the general ballpark for enthusiasts is 10-25% panel coverage with no overlap is plenty, 10% coverage on unique panels of rigid metal surfaces, 25% coverage over wide open flat panels.

Some vendors scare people into "50% minimum to be effective", but news flash: They profit from your purchase. Overlap is also bad. Products don't need to be ultra-thick to be effective either. The whole point is to apply a controlling mass to the panel to stop panel vibration. Some materials work better than others for this.

In our trucks, you'll see a notable difference by taking one-quarter a standard 20x30" sheet of Noico (so a 10x15" piece) and applying it inside each door, to the inner surface of the outer skin. Doing the same with three or four 20x15" quarter sheets along the cab's back wall, and same on the roof, would work wonders to supplement what Toyota already added.

Sadly, a lot of noise in our trucks is from stupid shit. Steering shaft seal. AC rear window surround flattening. Loose window track rattles.

This is more than ample for most people, and a good ballpark target, assuming this person also slapped a scab sheet inside the outer door skin, behind the panel:

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This, on the other hand, is a total waste of money for 99.999999999999999% of people, and makes me shake my head:

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My trucks such a shitbox as it sits I probably won't even do any sound deadening. I'm not going for 100% sound reproduction quality, more of a "how many car alarms can I set off on this drive".

 

Stop me guessing, what is a scab sheet?

 

What's the protected way?

 

Looks more like a faraday cage. Good to help prevent trackage of the microchip in people’s heads or at least use that argument to increase value when selling your truck.

 

www.car-part.com

 

F me man! D&E won’t take appointments in advance. Call back call back call back. Then when I call they only have 1pm on Monday. Maddening.

 

Yeah, for me it's always call in and they'll give a few time slots, I usually drop off and come back later. They do very good work and treat me well but the older guy behind the phone can be very brash.

 

I literately called months in advance asking how I can line this up. Several times. And each time, no, can’t book ahead of time. Not even for my special circumstances. Just don’t really care about accommodations I guess. F me man.

now I’m basically going to trash my tires for 1000 miles? I dunno what to do. I’m sorta f’d.

 

Can try the shop Sunny recommends, or there's another shop near D&E my family used for years. Hawthorne Tire. https://www.hawthornetire.com/

 

@alb1k any good shops near you? Heading south on Monday just to drive north isn’t a great plan.

 

@daveeasa, if you can make an appointment when Chris Davison is working, I totally recommend:

 

I may be forced to. Maybe they can do Saturday. Lots of driving that day though.

 

There is a shop in El Segundo with a Hunter machine that I have had great success with. I spec my caster and tell them OEM on camber and toe. Walk in only...If you are there 15 min before they open, fairly quick usually. after that, a couple of hours...

 

Lol. No one is trying to force you to get your alignment done by the best alignment tech I’ve yet encountered.

I know you have a lot of balloons in the air, and a short time period to get a lot done. If you decide you want to try this option, I suggest you call today— for a Saturday appointment in the immediate future, you’d probably be looking at “standby” status anyway.
You know, for a known-throughout the region expert.

 

My cousin was in the big woofers and hydro's scene. This was the car i learned to weld on. All the control arms and flanges they bolted to needed to be reinforced, it survived some bounces, but my cousin was smart enough to set it, and cruise.

 

I booked 3pm, dunno which tech I get but I'll take any alignment by any tech over no alignment for 1k miles.

Now I have to figure out how to get the truck down to the airport for my arrival...

 

I thought california had driverless tesla taxi's?

 

What day are you flying in to what Airport?

 

I could help drive the truck on Saturday but not sure how I'd get back to North County.

 

It's all fun & games 'til you get pulled over.

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Oh man, that's nice of you to offer, but let me see if I can line it up with my friend who I'm staying with for the weekend first.

My biggest concern is ensuring Jason doesn't think I'm trying to screw him over, gonna try to connect with him today. I can look into an earlier flight too, now that I'm in this situation.

I really like D&E, just maddening how they don't let you book a spot in advance if you have some very specific reason. I guess when you have demand out your ears you just don't have to do things any other way.

 

SAN arriving 2:30 with a short layover in Vegas.

I could just book the Alaska nonstop and eat another $500 or so

 

Keep me updated, happy to help where I can.

But yeah, I definitely agree with you. I think the good alignment places might not be too eager to schedule much in advance because there's no shortage of work/ people that will take 'standby', and a cancelled appointment is downtime. Paul probably only wants to do alignments instead of the grunt work.