Hi,

My 95 E320 seems to be considerably less resistant to external and engine noise than my old 94 E420.

Any ideas as to why? Where might additional soundproofing in the E420 have resided?

Also, what might be good simple ways to improve soundproofing on the E320?

Thanks
farrukh

In reply to your topic....
There are several products available from Crutchfield and other car audio retailers. The one I am most familiar with is Dynamat. The product comes in a mat and should be stuck to various surfaces. There are several lines( with increasing price, of course) which provide increasingly better sound deadening. I recommend buying the highest line that you can afford, so that you will not have to replace the material in the future. It can be applied everywhere, but here are the most choice locations in order of decreasing priority.
1. Behind the trim panel on all doors.
2. Behind the driver's and passenger's front foot wells.
3. on the under side of the trunk.
4. Foot well of rear passenger wells
5. Behind the rear passenger seat back

Good luck

Raghu
91 300 SEL

I would think the engine compartment is where you would want to soundproof, the firewall inbetween the interior and the engine compartment. The 420 had a bigger engine, which I would assume generates more heat in the engine compartment, needng more insulation at the firewall to keep noise levels down.

Dynamat from what I understand is not for sound proofing, but panel Rattle deadening, in other ords, it is there to stop rattling of body panels due to excessive bass.

What appears to deaden the sound is actually because you can't hear the whole car shaking from the thump of a sub woofer, so it would appear that it does soundproof.

Best bet is to look into the insulation of the firewall.

Alon

__________________
'92 300CE - Sold
2004 C240 - 744 - C7 Wheels - Android Radio
2002 C320 - 816 - Sport Wagon

Ashman is right. Dynamat is used to add mass to sheet metal in order to change the resonant frequency to something that is less annoying. One of the cheapest sound deadeners is jute. Jute is that dryer lint looking crud you find under carpets in cars. Try adding an extra layer of that beneath the carpet where you can. You can get it at auto upholstery shops. The dynamat stuff is good for sealing the inner door panel though. Take off your door panels and cover all of the openings that you can in the inner sheet metal skin of the door. Add some jute under your rear package shelf as well. You can find cheaper products than Dynamat brand that are the exact same material. One is sold by http://www.mcmaster.com as hi-temp mastic. They also sell some viscoelastic sheets that do a better job than the asphalt based ones for a little more money.