# Product Review - Damplifier pro trunk pack



## less (Nov 30, 2006)

Hi all,

I recently was fortunate enough to win a free trunk pack of Damplifier Pro which amounts to 20 square feet of the new industry standard vibration damping formula of self adhesive butyl rubber coated on one side by aluminum. This is the review I was asked to write in return for receiving the product for free. My camera is missing somewhere - so I had to take pics with my cell phone and I'm still trying to figure out how to get them moved to my pc (getting old I guess and losing touch with the high tech of the new age!) I'll put'em up when I can - but I'm sure you've seen pics of damper installations before!

My car was built in stages over the last three years and along the way, I’ve used one dynamat speaker kit, about 4 sheets of cascade, 2-3 rolls of Raammatt BXT , a couple yards of ensolite and 48sq ft of fiber based RV insulation. The entire trunk was left stock and due to finances - I never got to finish it... this made me really happy - especially since I have always though Damplifier Pro would be about the best stuff available! FYI - my experience taught me to NEVER go cheap on this product - getting goey crap all over your new car just isn't cool - seriously, spend the money to do it right and don't skimp or you will regret it! Its clear right off that Damplifier Pro is among the highest quality products in terms of keeping the rubber in place and neatly covered... 

*THE GOODS*
Let’s start with the packaging and shipping. It arrived safely on my door within just a few days of processing the order… nice start. The box was nice and did a great job protecting the product, although upon opening the box, I found that most of the sheets were stuck to the box... No big deal – but it did take a little time to get the product out of the box.

DP turned out to look almost exactly like I had expected. It has a nice and hefty feeling layer of aluminum on top and you can tell just from feeling it that it isn’t going to split and let the rubber get through under any normal use. It was either the thickest or tied for the thickest layer of rubber of any of the products I’d tried or seen before, and checking the web sites of some competitors shows it to be one of the heaviest per square foot available. This makes it so you don’t have to do as many double layers (paying more and doing more work) to get quality coverage. The DP trunk pack includes 12 – 20” x 12” sheets – which seemed like an awful lot of deadener for the $90 asking price, especially considering its quality. In fact, I went to the Dynamat site and found it was twice as expensive for the same amount!!!​ 
*PUTTIN’ IT IN*
Ok, last night I went through the fun of removing my false floor /amp rack, extra battery, amps, relay box, cd changer and the terminations of a number of wires – whew! I decided on the simple strategy of covering as much space as possible first, since I really didn't know where the most noise was generated.

The sheets were nicely sized making it pretty simply to just lay out the panels in advance and see what fit best and made the best use. I wouldn't have wanted a bigger or smaller sheet size since these fit into the wheel wells and yet also covered a good amount with each piece. (+1 Damplifier!) –It also cut quite easily. The top aluminum layer is more durable than probably any other brand I’ve used. I did manage to cut my index finger trying while sliding my finger along a seam, but you can’t have it both ways… and the last thing you want it the aluminum layer to bust through and end up letting the rubber escape possibly getting into places where it can make a mess!

I used the sides and top of a screwdriver to push through any bubbles and to apply pressure to get a firm grip. I'd say the adhesive was good but it probably wasn't the best I'd used. Other than my user error (I didn’t get all the cleaning agent off from one spot), the product did a nice job of staying in place and it didn’t need any more pressure than any other brand I’ve used to get it to stick in what I expect will be a permanent fashion.

When I was getting close to complete, I realized that,even though it seemed like a lot of product, I could have done with a couple of more sheets. Thankfully, with its price point, you will have some cash left over if you do decide to buy another pack.​
*RESULTS*
Ok, well the job is done and the damping is in! I would have liked to have used a DB meter and drove on a test strip of road at night with no other cars to see if I could actually measure a difference in noise. Since I didn’t do that, all I can tell you is that it subjectively seems like DP did a pretty darned good job at lowering the noise coming from the rear end of my car. Honestly, it seems to have made a nice difference! Sadly, my Civic isn’t the quietest car ever made – in fact it’s sort of noisy (or was). But, it’s apparent that Damplifier pro cut down some of the noise (especially the higher frequency stuff although it seemed to help with the deeper sounds some too) coming up from behind the rear seats.

It also made an impact on the rattles generated with my new sub. When I first swapped to the GTI from an IDMAX, I found a number of new rattles from the rear end and they’ve all disappeared with the installation of the damplifier – making me a happy camper.​
*OVERALL*
When these products are so similar in construction, it’s tough to chose one from the next based only on manufacturers claims. My experience with a number of these products allows me to honestly recommend this product as what I believe is the best value product of its kind. No product is perfect and I am fussy… as you can tell from above… but, DP is a top quality product which meets or exceeds the performance level of anything else I've used - and it does it at a very reasonable price point! It weights more per sq foot (assuming it meets the published specs) than anything else I've seen and comes in at half the price of dynamat. I was impressed by the packaging and suspect the service support would be excellent based on my dealings with them and their involvement on diyma.

As long as it stays stuck in place, (and I'm pretty sure it will) I’ll definitely be using this if I do another car. I'd love to try some of their luxury liner pro too as it seems like the ideal topper to Damplifier Pro.​
Recommended without hesitation... no need to shop around... just do it! Thank you very much for allowing me to try this out for free! 

Less (aka Jim)


----------



## less (Nov 30, 2006)

Here are the pics from the installation that I had to do with my cell phone. I apologize for being cell phone challenged (and time challenged lately), as I should have had these up with the original post.

The review says it all - so I'll break these into a couple groups and spare you more of my rambling about how good the product is - its great! I should clarify one thing - DP stuck fine and the only issue I had was my own issue... get the cleaning residue up & let it dry and its as good as you can get of an adhesive. The little spot where I was worried about since I didn't do the above, is now stuck very well =) Thanks for making DP fool proof lol. 

Pre installation:



















Post installation:




























All Reassembled - note- since I bought the JBL GTi 12 sub, I've got to redo the entire trunk to get it in the custom reinforced fglass enclosure I'd planned... a lot of work, but its worth it (GREAT SUB) and the old standby box works fine for the meantime










And lastly, I have to sneak in a shot of the beautiful Granddaughter my son brought me, after giving me a lot of reason to believe he wouldn't live long enough to have a family... she's a beaut 










Thanks Second Skin for making a great product and giving me the chance to review it!

Less


----------



## IBcivic (Jan 6, 2009)

great review jim, thanx
i am seriously considering ssa products to further get noise under control in my vehicle.

you are a lucky fellow to have such a beautiful g-daughter...congrats!


----------



## olbear1962 (Mar 13, 2009)

russhay78 said:


> What is the difference between second skin and dynamat? The weight? The durablility? Or, the price? I started with dynamat, but with so many other manufacturers of sound deadening out there now i dont know who to go with. Honestly i like dynamat, but i think its more because they have been around for so long. I want to see the difference between all manufacturers before i finish my build.


Russhayy78
If this will be of help? I did a great deal of research and came up to the conclusion for me that Second Skin products were superior to Dynamat - MHO. 
I have just completed installing Damplifier Pro and Luxury Liner Pro into my 02 vette coup; what a huge difference it made. I used a single layer throughout the interior and trunk, did a double layer behind the seats, rear wheel wells and trunk floor. Then a layer of Luxury Liner Pro directly on top. The doors had a layer of Damp Pro on the inside of the outer panel and a layer on the inner panel.
There is an excellent reviews and comparisons in this forum and other web sites.
The result for me was a quality product that was relativley easy to apply and great results.

Dynamat is a great product. Personally do not like the "hype" surrounding the product and think that with all the high profile folks associated with it we the consumer pay for this thru a high priced product.

Great article Jim, thanks....


----------



## mvw2 (Oct 2, 2005)

For anyone installing these products, I suggest you work with smaller pieces. Take the sheet and cut it into 4 pieces. Working in manageable pieces makes the process very easy. You can further cut down into smaller pieces as need be. I've installed a bit of Damplifier in my car, and I've used nothing more then a razor to cut pieces and just my bare hands. The stuff is really easy to work with. I know the Pro is thicker, so I would assume it to be slightly more troublesome in corners. However, this stuff is incredibly easy to work with in smaller sections. Cut the main sheet into 4ths or 16ths, and it's a breeze. All you do is overlap some.

Even with the thicker Pro, I would venture to guess anyone would want at least 2 layers on any bare surface. This tends to make me question the usefulness of most of these kits. You really don't get enough product to really be entirely effective. Anything helps, sure, but I tend to wince a little when one puts forth the effort to tear apart their car to only do a half job.


----------



## less (Nov 30, 2006)

Hi all, 

I just have a couple of comments here. First, in response to the concept of using smaller sheets - I am sure that has its advantages but I personally prefer to use larger sheets to minimize the exposed edges of the material. I guess I "learned" this when I had a fair bit of material ooze out the edges after a substantial time in spots where I'd used an extra goey formulation of RAAMMAT. As a result, I occassionally find black rubber residue on my windows and in other places when I'd obviously like that material to stay covered up and under the foil where it belongs.

Minimizing the exposed edges should help with that - while smaller sheets may allow a slightly better installation... so its your call. I will say that I didn't have any real issues getting the product into place in corners or really anywhere. In those places where you have odd connections between parts or other complex spots, using smaller peices trimmed in advance will definitely have its advantages with any product. The thickness of DP is in no way a disadvantage in my experience - but others may see a thinner layer advantageous I guess.

I do like Dynamat and have a hard time finding anything bad to say about the product itselt, except its price is quite high by comparison to anything else out there. I thought the Damplifier Pro was of similar weight and quality in every regard with the small Dynamat sheets I'd used - but I didn't really use enough Dynamat to make a good comparison. 

What I will say though, is that I've never had any exposure to anyone with Dynamat and they have had plenty of time to become known as individuals or as a company concerned with customer service - but its almost like they don't really care to do that. Is it crucial to be able to talk to someone about this type of product - well, no. But, I sure like to support companies that are out there visible and demonstrating that they are more than just a selling machine.

As such, and with the products being of apparently quite similar composition/design/quality, I'd go with DP over Dynamat every time. Add to that the cost factor and its a "no brainer." 

Its nice to see response to this thread - since I tend to be too wordy, alot of people seem put off by having to read my ramblings. So, its good to see some found this useful and even better that Damplifier Pro turned out to be a easy product to review with glowing terms... as I am the honest sort and didn't want to have to "bite the hand the fed me" so to speak.

Less aka Jim


----------



## Tiger-Heli (Jul 7, 2008)

I'm by no means an expert at this, but I believe Dynamat Xtreme would be to comparable product to SSA DP. Plain (non Xtreme) Dynamat is still asphalt-based and little better than Peel-N-Seal, from what I have read.

Please correct me if I mis-spoke.


----------



## olbear1962 (Mar 13, 2009)

less
I agree with your comments, the larger size you can use the better. Customer service is very important, I had a couple of calls with Ant from SSA to find the right combination and qty of product required, he was great, his follow up was exemplary. Their shipping was very fast. Just great to do business with. The cost of SSA verses the Dynamat product does speak for itself...... Its good we all have so many choices, it can be tough to decide on what to use; for me ultimately is was the many positive stories I read on line, and what "sealed the deal" was talking to Ant at SSA, his advice, customer service and follow-up counts as far as i am concerned.


----------



## ANT (Oct 15, 2005)

Tiger-Heli said:


> I'm by no means an expert at this, but I believe Dynamat Xtreme would be to comparable product to SSA DP. Plain (non Xtreme) Dynamat is still asphalt-based and little better than Peel-N-Seal, from what I have read.
> 
> Please correct me if I mis-spoke.


 
Dynamat Extreme is not comparable to Damplifier Pro.
Rather, it should be compared to our regular Damplifier Product.
Same weight.
Same foil thickness/strength.

Damplifier Pro offers 35% more adhesive by weight and 50% thicker and stronger foil.

Dynamat does not have an answer for Damplifier Pro.

ANT


----------



## Tiger-Heli (Jul 7, 2008)

Thank you for the clarification - I was mainly trying to point out the differences between Dynamat (original) and Dynamat Xtreme.


----------



## NOTORIOUS97200 (Dec 11, 2008)

I have to agree : GREAT customer service, even with foreign customers !
All my questions been answered sooooo fast!
Thanks


----------



## VerTigo456 (Dec 6, 2006)

olbear1962 said:


> Russhayy78
> If this will be of help? I did a great deal of research and came up to the conclusion for me that Second Skin products were superior to Dynamat - MHO.
> I have just completed installing Damplifier Pro and Luxury Liner Pro into my 02 vette coup; what a huge difference it made. I used a single layer throughout the interior and trunk, did a double layer behind the seats, rear wheel wells and trunk floor. Then a layer of Luxury Liner Pro directly on top. The doors had a layer of Damp Pro on the inside of the outer panel and a layer on the inner panel.
> There is an excellent reviews and comparisons in this forum and other web sites.
> ...


Hey,

About to put the same in my 01 Vette vert....how much did you use and if you had to do it again, would you change anything or have any advice?

Thanks,

Steven


----------



## olbear1962 (Mar 13, 2009)

VerTigo456 said:


> Hey,
> 
> About to put the same in my 01 Vette vert....how much did you use and if you had to do it again, would you change anything or have any advice?
> 
> ...



Steve
Ant from SS recommended the following for my C5 coupe - 120sqft of DP, 5 sheets of LLP, two cans of spray contact adhesive, one 150ft roll insulation tale and a wooden roller. The amounts suggested was perfect.
DP: I covered the doors, inside of outer panel and inside panel completely; the cabin floor, tunnel, behind seats and the total trunk area with a single layer. There was enough left over to add a second layer of DP on the vertical area behind the seats (the panel there is thin), the trunk floor, the center tunnel and wheel well areas. The last pieces I had i placed on the underside on some of the plastic cab trim panels.
LLP: The total cab floor and tunnel; behind the seats; the trunk area and wheel wells.
I am extremely happy with the result.
Tim


----------



## socal28 (Nov 14, 2008)

Great review and info. 
Definitely going to buy some now.


----------



## Selkies (Mar 13, 2008)

less said:


> Its nice to see response to this thread - since I tend to be too wordy, alot of people seem put off by having to read my ramblings. So, its good to see some found this useful and even better that Damplifier Pro turned out to be a easy product to review with glowing terms... as I am the honest sort and didn't want to have to "bite the hand the fed me" so to speak.
> 
> Less aka Jim


FWIW, I like your ramblings 
Thanks for the review!


----------



## VerTigo456 (Dec 6, 2006)

olbear1962 said:


> Steve
> Ant from SS recommended the following for my C5 coupe - 120sqft of DP, 5 sheets of LLP, two cans of spray contact adhesive, one 150ft roll insulation tale and a wooden roller. The amounts suggested was perfect.
> DP: I covered the doors, inside of outer panel and inside panel completely; the cabin floor, tunnel, behind seats and the total trunk area with a single layer. There was enough left over to add a second layer of DP on the vertical area behind the seats (the panel there is thin), the trunk floor, the center tunnel and wheel well areas. The last pieces I had i placed on the underside on some of the plastic cab trim panels.
> LLP: The total cab floor and tunnel; behind the seats; the trunk area and wheel wells.
> ...


Thanks for the help! Looks like the way to go.


----------

