# Vertex Barrier Pad Review



## xcoldricex (Apr 28, 2007)

Pictures soon.

VBP comes rolled up in a box, so before cutting it’s good to lay it out for awhile to give it time to straighten out . First impressions are very promising. The pad itself is very durable – since the vinyl layer on top it does a great job protecting the PVC foam layer (which is durable also). Reading up briefly on STC ratings – it seems as though the VBP’s STC rating of 29 is roughly equivalent to a 1/64” sheet of lead with the same weight (1ft/sq ft) – not bad!

Comparing it to the Ensolite I have left over from deadening a good portion of the car – the VBP is in a league of its own. Although it’s comparing apples to oranges as VBP is a mass loaded vinyl with a PVC backing–the closed cell portion of VBP is much thicker and looks much denser than several layers of Ensolite.

I must say this is one of the easiest products to work with in deadening. It is easily cut with a utility knife or even a pair of scissors (I preferred using scissors). I decided to score the shape of my trunk mat onto the vinyl with a utility knife (much more visible on the vinyl than using a marker) and then cut the pad the pad with scissors. While researching MLV’s I found that you can buy lead tape or sound barrier caulk to cover seams to cut down on the “paths of least resistance” for sound waves to transmit through. I will probably use that when I do the floor pan, even though taping down isn’t necessary if it’s going to be under carpet. Since I am only covering the hatch area – I did no tape it down as I need to have access to my spare tire. Installing the VBP on horizontal surfaces is much easier than installing Ensolite, since you do not need to spray adhesive everywhere – if you want to use VBP on vertical surfaces you’ll need to find a very strong adhesive as it’s 1lb/sqft! For vertical surfaces it looks like lead sheets would probably be easier to work with and install as it is more flexible/formable (although you’d probably have to pair it up with some sort of absorber).

If I were to start from scratch I would definitely use VBP to do my floor pan after a layer of deadener rather than a layer or two of ensolite. Time and money permitting, I will probably buy some to redo the floor pan and maybe the rear doors (it seems like B-squad’s rear door application worked out quite nicely!) Also, the great thing about VBP is that it is easily removable and could be installed in your next car (if it’s not glued onto a vertical surface). Since all the other deadening products are pretty permanently installed – this is a nice “new” feature - especially since deadening is not a cheap investment. 

I hope to get a cheap db meter from radio shack to see if it has actually cut road sounds from my hatch area which was already covered with several layers of raam mat and ensolite – I will post results if time permits! Impressions are very good though – I have a large JL Audio High Output box in the rear with a SI Mag D2 and it sounds great!


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