I've done a series of things that have resulted in a much more quiet Westy. I'd like to describe my experience and ask whether one modification will cause problems. First, I had a persistent and mysterious hollow knocking coming from the cabin area. I took the van to a larger garage that specializes in tires. The mechanic had me drive while he rode in the cabin and thoroughly looked for the source of the sound, at least the general location. Initially, he was also mystified. To demonstrate the sound, I stood on the rear bumber and rocked the van hard -- up and down. What we heard was a nearby steel on steel high pitched clang. The source turned out to be very simple -- loose bottom nuts on both shock absorbers. He tightened the nuts and sent me on my way with no charge. Not bad. A substantial reduction in noise for no charge. The second noise challge was more obvious, more common and more difficult: wind and road noise at highway speed. In my Westy, we can still carry on a conversation at 70mph but it becomes difficult. I initially planned to buy rooled roofing tar to place in the doors and floor but was disullisoned when I saw it. Too stiff and it seemed to have little potential for sound management despite what I had read in the Archives. I rejected the several commercial options I had seen on the net as too expensive. Finally I found a product at Manards that is easy to work with, cheap, and it works. It's "Reflectix." |
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