Guide: Reducing Cabin Noise and insulation upgrade on F-150 Lightning

[Ben21]

This is a write up on my experiences modifying the insulation on my f150 lightning to improve audio quality and cabin temps.

If you're interested in ways to quiet the cabin and reduce heat/cooling losses, read on. I'm curious about any questions or thoughts on this and happy to expand on any points covered. This equally benefits F150 owners, but they won't benefit from the thermal management benefits that are more important to the Lightning version.

I split it up into background, Ford setup, my goals, process, and lastly with Extra ideas.

Background:

It can be hard to hold a conversation in the truck at highway speeds, especially with any accessories on the vehicle.

I was inspired by someone with an f150 owner on YouTube with a roof rack who improved the sound deadening in between the roofliner and the roof. They installed an amazon sticky butyl rubber mat (ones lined with metal) behind the headliner on the metal of the roof and found a lot of improvement. This material can reduce vibrations and thus sounds.

However, after my implementing it on my own, I found that there are some better ways to quiet the cabin, especially on the highway. The butyl bladder rubber approach is not what high-end luxury cars do. So, I looked at some tear downs of various luxury cars like Mercedes EQS, Lexus LS, RVs, and other luxury cars to grasp what automakers do for soundproofing (examples: under the wheel wells to inside the cabin, to the new version of the model 3's soundproofing, extra door seals, role of foam and various materials, etc)

Ford's Soundproofing background
Ford did a good job with soundproofing (think acoustic glass, underwheel liners, etc, uniform insulation that balances weight and performance.). The Lariats and Platinum trims have a bit better soundproofing, but would still benefit from some fixesthis based what I've seen. The Lightning has more advancements than the regular F150s in terms of sound management, but not as much as they could have done since it is based on the F-150 part production. A lot of the aerodynamic enhancements conveniently help the sound management, but they left some things on the table, like with the mirror and parts of the side profile. As a sidenote, the Hummer EV uniquely suffers from sound issues due to those plastic open roof panels, so those owners may also benefit from the solutions here.

All cars ultimately skimp on soundproofing due to cost, weight, installation difficulty, and safety/efficiency reasons. And for EV's they might even want the cabin to be loud, so you don't drive too fast, as wind noise can signal you to slow down and extend your range. Personally I enjoy the comfort of that independent rear suspension cruising at 80mph in a quiet cabin. It's hard to explain but the vehicle feels more like a rock. I experimented with this and tried to give a balanced approach here. One part is by using thinsulate, a synthetic cotton like material. Another part is using butyl rubber sticky mats.

My Goals:

1. Better acoustics for conversations and music
2. Improved thermal insulation
3. Enhanced safety and door integrity (better door thunk effect)

I won't comment on whether or not I've taken any ballistic protection measures...

I was really most interested in music. The music plays would play better inside, and less of it can be heard outside That's what got me started on it anyways. since I was taking off the door panel to replace the speakers, I might as well make other sound deadening changes.

Process:

I'd suggest going with Thinsulate first, then butyl rubber mats. Thinsulate is safer for your skin, more effective, and offers thermal benefits.

• 3M Thinsulate: This is a great material. It insulates your car, reducing energy usage in winter and summer. An RV site online sells this insulation material for a good price. You can buy SM200L and line the front doors with an extra layer. Hot glue is your friend here. You can also buy SM600L and do the headliner. Important: Do not remove the headliner from the car. Instead, drop the headliner and slip in the SM400 or SM600 materials between the headliner and roof. There's no need to tie it down; it will stay in place. Honestly, you could probably just tuck and sneak in thinsulate into the headliner from the side in large sheet cuts. It's hold there and do a lot I'm sure. Especially against the heat of the sun in the summer. Costs is less than $70.
• Butyl Rubber Mats: This traditional soundproofing approach helps with vibrations and improves sound quality, giving your doors a thunk when closed. However, it's very heavy and may make doors harder to open or cause injury if they forcibly close in strong wind. I recommend about 20% coverage, especially in areas prone to vibrations. You'll need a large pair of scissors to cut the panels to shape. The material can easily cut your hands, so wear heavy-duty gloves. Cost of is less than $50.

Extra Soundproofing Ideas

• There's no sense in applying material to the floors. There's a huge battery there providing insulation and some moving pad like sound blankets between the carpets and the floor
• Many cars have more soundproofing in the wheel wells than the f150 lightning features, even though Ford deserves credit for putting good wheel wells on the lightning when they really didn't need to do that. Adding more materials in the same places where the existing material could be beneficial because it would be thicker and reduce road noise.
• I would re-inspect the added materials after a few years to ensure they are still in good condition, especially if placed in exterior areas. Or don't, that's fine too.

My Thoughts:
- Safety-wise, Thinsulate is the industry-leading material and should not worry you. Just be careful not to cover airbags.
- It takes around two hours, especially convenient for those already considering swapping the speakers since you can do it in one go.
- Remember how I said thinsulate could manage the heat of the sun in the summer from entering through the roof? I have no idea about the consequences of this on the paint. If less warmth is let transfer into the cabin, it could cause the heat on the meat to go higher than it would have otherwise been. I think it should be fine, especially if you put a polish on the paint, but I am worried that my black paint will deteriorate faster because it will be hotter on the surface during the summer.

This method can significantly reduce cabin noise and improve thermal insulation. However, I haven't taken enough measurements to tell you exactly how much. All I know if that I've looked at how the Lincolns and luxury makes do it, and looked to copy that. I look forward to real world testing this winter and summer months to see the effect. Happy to answer any questions.

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[thais0n]

Great writeup!! I was considering something like Dynamat for my doors, but it never went past a thought.

Can you give more detail on your install? Did you combo butyl mats and thinsulate in the doors? Does the thickness of the thinsulate impact window function? Any chance you took any pics? Assuming you would do butyl mats first since they adhere to the metal surface, and then hot glue the thinsulate on top of that?

This could be a great winter project - I would also love to reduce some noise (and also increase insulation).

 

[Ben21]

Great writeup!! I was considering something like Dynamat for my doors, but it never went past a thought.

Can you give more detail on your install? Did you combo butyl mats and thinsulate in the doors? Does the thickness of the thinsulate impact window function? Any chance you took any pics? Assuming you would do butyl mats first since they adhere to the metal surface, and then hot glue the thinsulate on top of that?

This could be a great winter project - I would also love to reduce some noise (and also increase insulation).

Yes, did a combo of the butyl mats and the thinsulate. Think of the door like a sandwich that has an outer aluminum layer, an inner frame, and the plastic door trim. The inner frame has a big hole in it, covered by a plastic sheet called the vapor barrier which separates the outer frame from inside the cabin. The butyl mats mostly go inside of the vapor barrier, on the outer frame since there are large non-reinforced metal. However, strips of butyl mats can also go on the inner frame or the inside the plastic door trim to reduce vibrations (really.. 40% coverage is more than enough and benefits drop off after that. I wouldn't do more than 30% due to weight concerns). It can be hard to reach through the vapor barrier to stick the butyl sheets on the outer frame, so i cut multiple large strips and applied them by touch rather than sight. And then there's the thinsulate To avoid any water, it goes between the inner frame and the plastic door trim. Actually, there's already some thinsulate here. What we're doing here is effectively tripling the amount there, because the lightning would benefit more from insulation than the other f150 models.

Glad it was interesting. As for doing it, there are some tutorials online about switching the front speakers on the lightning. This practically follows the same process. Then can cut out slits in the new thinsulate and actually literally place the same places where tthe existing thinsulate is located, and just use those same hooks to place the new thinsulate layer. Or, can use hot glue to force it into place. I made the mistake of thinking 600 series thinsulate would fit into these cavities, but it does not because it is too thick. However, 600 series does fit in A pillar and in the headliner. 200 series thinsulate strategically placed in the vehicle (it will be obvious on opening where it would go (Overlap the existing one, and hot glue parts into where it is missing) . And if I get my thermodynamics hat on, let's just say this material is several times better than other materials because of how it hacks "air" to insulate, but that this also means that compression of the material prevents it from working fully, so you'll want it in areas where it won't be compressed against the frame too much.

 

[thais0n]

I realized after I posted my message about the mutliple layers of the door panel. But I like your approach of the butyl sheets on the outer-most layer of the door, and the thinsulate on the inner layers of the door.

Any thoughts on the headliner for those with the panoramic roof? The roof in my truck is mainly glass, so I can't see the thinsulate in the remaining bits of the headliner doing that much.

Curious - which butyl sheets did you go with?

 

[Ben21]

I realized after I posted my message about the mutliple layers of the door panel. But I like your approach of the butyl sheets on the outer-most layer of the door, and the thinsulate on the inner layers of the door.

Any thoughts on the headliner for those with the panoramic roof? The roof in my truck is mainly glass, so I can't see the thinsulate in the remaining bits of the headliner doing that much.

Curious - which butyl sheets did you go with?

I ended up going with the Amazon Basics sheets. "Less is more" when applying. I probably used about 12x24 inches for each of the driver and passenger doors.

For those with the panoramic moonroof, thoughts are it would be a bit different:

• I think that the panoramic roof has a flexible cover, so this wouldn't work! The glass already does a good job.
• Butyl sheets on a panoramic moonroof don't make much sense. The structural supports around models with the panoramic roof mean that butyl bladder won't be as effective for vibrations as it would be for vehicles without the panoramic roof.
• So then thinsulate would be more effective. Here, there are still areas on the sides and corners of the roof where air around the vehicle is "breaking" away turbulently, causing more noise along the sides than the center of the moonroof.

Along those sides, you could add thinsulate by pulling off the door opening seals against the headliner, wearing gloves to protect against any fiberglass from the headliner, and slipping it in areas with distance from any speakers that might be there. Easy other corners of the car with wind turbulence include the tray where the mirrors are. Harder are the A pillars and B side pillars with hot glue as well.

Overall less important than with the non-panoramic roofs, but not pointless. For all I know, the higher trims with panoramic roofs may already have extra sound deadening there! For context, Lincoln uses 2x the amount as in the f150.

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