And in rolls the SaaBeeru ... by Bradcr

6 minute(s) of a 145 minute read

Since the rear doors are where the sound is most pronounced now, that's my next area to attack. To avoid the 'sub box' effect on the rear doors that I saw on the front, I added 4 12x4" Dynamat panels to the back doors, and then figured what the Hell and added 5 of these to each of the front doors as well.

I noticed the back seat release pins had a little rattle to them and made a couple of Velcro carpet 'washers' with a slit on one side, then just put them on the seat of each pin to stop vibration:

With the Dynamat and door panels in, there's an immediate change in sound dynamics. Sound is now 'displaced' and exhaust tone seems to come a bit from everywhere, but at still-reduced volumes. Idle and cruise levels are both lowered, sound is getting very close to a luxury car level with an aggressive exhaust at this point:

At idle:

At cruising:

With the doors done and running low on MLV, I figured I'd try an interesting tip- lining the floormats. Since I already have Weathertech Digitalfit Floorliners, I figured this would work well since I'm at less risk of slipping. I had just barely the pieces to make liners for the mats, but as expected they were the easiest things to make:

I simply laid the MLV vinyl-side-up on the car floor and put my mats on top. Results were immediate, the exhaust note moved right to the back of the car and cruising tirenoise was dramatically lowered. I took a ride with a friend who has an '06 WRX sedan with a moderate exhaust and he immediately noted how much quieter my more aggressive exhaust wagon was than his car:

At idle:

At cruising:

Totally ripped off Saab92x.com user Markpress and tried plasti-dip as protectant for my hood scoop:

It didn't look too odd with all the plastic lined scoops out these days, but it definitely doesn't work with what I'm doing on my car. Fortunately, I found out my local O'Reilly can custom order any Dupli-Color can, and I should have 2 OBPs in hand tomorrow.

My sound deadening is finally done. I got down to nothing but scraps and thought I just might be able to make something work and get every last dollars' worth. Since I still had plenty of closed cell foam, I simply traced and cut out a piece matching the area under the backseat, then simply cut, glued and rearranged until I came up with this:

Yes, it looks the mess and was not the most 'stable' piece, but since it's sandwiched between the lower backseat and its sheet metal, it's unlikely that anything will come loose.

Plus, it worked. Sound didn't move any more than with my floormats, but just more of a good thing, as road noise continues to lessen and the exhaust notes deaden more. Here's my final results and a wrap up:

At idle:

At cruising:

Compared to no sound deadening:

Overall, a very successful endeavor. $150 and 60lbs added for a 7db drop and an interior environment easily on par with a performance luxury car, yet still with the aggressive Subaru boxer rumble. 

Keep in mind that these cruising and idle db levels are not directly comparable to manufacturer or magazine ratings. I did find a C&D test of a stock Aero putting it at 72db versus my 86 (By comparison, a WRX wagon registered at 70db). While linear comparisons don't quite work, it's realistic to estimate that my 70mph cruising volume is now 67 in a professional test. This puts the SaaBeeru right on par with a CTS-V Wagon, Panamera Turbo and 535i; exactly the company I'd like to be in.