As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.
If you often drive a truck cab and have difficulty in driving your truck for noise issues, then soundproofing is the best solution to this.
While you are driving, a lot of annoying noise can reach your ear from many places. That is, street traffic may become too noisy. It will distract you from driving smoothly.
So, now you are badly in need of insulating your truck. Today, in this article, we will let you know everything about soundproofing a truck cab.
Soundproofing Materials To Use In Your Truck Cab
Too loud sound is not only annoying for a driver but also it can be very distracting.
Once, I almost fell in an accident hearing the loud sound in my truck. From then on, I’m very much cautious about the noise issue in my car.
A short journey may not be so disturbing but driving on the street for a long duration, the loud sound may become terrible suffering for you.
The noise problem is not only annoying, but also a reason for hearing issues.
In order to solve any problem, the first thing we have to know is the reasons behind the problem.
Among the various causes, now we will notify you of the main noise reasons.
Three Major Noise Causes In A Truck
First of all, we have to figure out the causes and then we are going to soundproof a truck cab.
The three major noise causes are:
- Structure borne noise
- Airborne noise
- Rattling caused noise
- Structure-borne noise: Noise Coming Through Hard Surfaces
In this case, noise may come through solid structures. That is steel, concrete, wood, stone, and some other hard surfaces.
There are some hard coverings in a truck. For instance, a truck has windows, doors, floorboards, roof, firewall, etc. These surfaces are the ways in which noises transmit into your truck.
You can reduce the noise by altering the mass/dampening proportion of the soundproofing tools. To give you an idea, there are some soundproofing materials like Kilmat, hefty carpeting, rubber mounts, thick flexible seals, etc.
How to Fix the Noise Coming Through Hard Surfaces
In order to easily fix this problem, you can undertake some techniques. If you want to soundproof better, then you should cover with bare metal. Yet, you may need to use thinner material at some point.
To insulate the structure-borne noise, you have to use a constrained layer damping (CLD) material.
Plus, you will need to utilize glue and caulking that is made specifically for soundproofing operations. These products help your truck to keep smooth and flexible. And the most important fact is that these glue doesn’t collapse over time. In addition to this, a sound consuming mat can be very handy for use in your soundproofing project. Nowadays, you will get a lot of mats that can absorb noises.
Now, you have to undergo the same work on the floorboards.
Have you ever heard the name “Velcro“? It is another effective way to soundproof your truck as well. Still, some people don’t support the Velcro method as it is comparatively a temporary fix. Many ones want a permanent fix to the disturbance.
However, Velcro can be a great way to fix the problem especially if you are just hiring a truck for a particular time span.
- Airborne Noise: Outer noise coming from different open sources
The noise includes the sound happening for the vibrations and speed of waves. Entering Outer noise coming from different open sources into your car can make too noisy sounds. No doubt, it is one of the most nuisance problems of an uncomfortable drive.
Having a lot of gaps and cracks in your truck, wind noises will disturb you. Plus, there are gaps between the window and door seals. Then, you have to shut all gaps with a smooth and adjustable seal.
How to Fix the Airborne Noise
First of all, you have to seal all the cracks and gaps. You can simply do it by rubberizing grommets for the holes.
Ensure that your door and window seals have a good condition.
Just by using a CLD material namely Dynamat, you can protect the structure-borne noise. But this is not a good way to soundproof the airborne noise with only a CLD material. That means, just by using CLD, you can’t protect all air borne noise.
So, if you want to insulate your car perfectly, you need to use high mass sound barriers.
In this stage, You need to use:
- Luxury Liner Pro
- Mass Loaded Vinyl
- Noise Caused By Rattling
This type of noise happens because of the inside appliances and junk flying around your cab.
To minimize the noise of rattling, you won’t need to use any expensive equipment. You can simply get the problem solved by the closed-cell foam.
In this stage, You need to use:
Soundproofing A Truck Cab: 3 Simple Ways
- Soundproofing Cabin Floors
Noise created inside your truck cab from parts hitting each other can be insulated by some undertakes.
After driving hundreds of miles with your truck, then it is no surprise that parts inside the cabin are hitting each other. Especially, once there are contacts with one object to another, then there will be noisy sound. The sound supposes to come from loose panels, tools, etc.
How To Fix The Cabin Floors Noise
You can simply do the fixes you can do to achieve a quieter ride unless you need to start tearing panels apart and such, but we’ll get into that in a bit.
Perhaps it is the biggest source of the noises in your truck. Therefore, you have to give more importance on eliminating the cabin floors noise.
As said before, cab tires are liable for structure-borne noise and airborne noise for their connection to the street during running.
Step 1: Eliminate truck cab seats, carpets as well as the small parts. Thus, you will get a lot more free places to do the job.
Step 2: Start layering. A CLD substance should be used for the first layer.
Note: As some parts are covered by soundproofing elements, you won’t need to layer the whole surface.
Step 3: Cover the most endangered parts such as the thin panels more efficiently. Accordingly, you have to choose big and flat panels. In this way, you can insulate the structure-borne noises of the cab floor.
Note: Notice the place that is just under the driver and passengers. In fact, most of the noise comes from these places.
Step 4: Now, you have to cover the whole floor with MLV (Mass Loaded Vinyl). The MLV can also work out for the airborne noise.
Step 5: Finally, you should cover the trims using the closed-cell foams.
Have you tried the above steps? If you have, then the truck floor should be completely soundproofed.
- Soundproofing Car Doors
After insulating the truck cab floor, now you should go for soundproofing the car doors.
As we told about layering the floor, the same is for cab doors as well.
You should cover the flat surface spaces with noise-canceling elements.
Our recommendation is to use 6 to 7 chunks of 10” x 6” for the outer surface. Plus, 2 or 3 pieces on the inner surface.
Then, keep the MLV and cover the trims using the closed-cell foams.
- Soundproofing Back Wall and Roof
This time, we should go for insulating the back wall and roof.
If you have a budget problem, you may exclude MLV from the list. But, we highly recommend the MLV for the back wall.
This is exactly the same you did for other parts.
USEFUL TIPS:
Keep the grounds of your truck cab clean before using the soundproofing matters. You may utilize rubbing alcohol for this purpose.
For attaching the equipment with the panels, you can use a small roller. Thus, the materials will stick on legitimately.
Don’t use asphalt-based CLD materials. Because these types of CLDs melt in warm temperatures.
Let’s Wrap Up!
Overall, this is all about what you wanted to know about soundproofing a truck cab.
We made this guide to help you in soundproofing your truck cab. In addition to this, we have mentioned the necessary products as well.
And, if you love any of our recommended products, then please feel free to order and buy on Amazon. We always try to recommend the best product for your particular requirement.
