How much sound deadening is in the ‘21 FK8? Is it worth it to add more alongside a completely upgraded sound system?

[Eeesawk]

I recently bought new speakers and subs for my car and my audio guy was of course trying to push as much sound deadening as possible to maximize the experience. While I agree that I should definitely get some, is there much value in deadening the bulk of the car, especially if i still want to hear the sound of engine and stock exhaust? I’ve heard higher end cars already have some material in place to deaden the sound, but the FK8 is a bit unique in that it’s a sports car. What areas should I deaden before it drops in ROI?

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[Robot3RK]

The Type R is a sports car, not a luxury car so it lacks sound deadening treatment out of the factory. The sound deadening from the factory on the Type R and regular Hatchbacks, Sedans, and Coupes are the same. There is very little to no sound deadening from the factory for the sports car and economy car line of civics. Sound Deadening really makes a big difference in boosting your audio system, upgrading just the speakers only just doesn't cut it imo and adding sound deadening makes the interior cabin much more comfortable during long road trips.

 

[Robot3RK]

Is it worth it to add more alongside a completely upgraded sound system?

YES! It complements the upgraded sound system by protecting it from loud road noise pollution into the interior cabin, stops plastic and metal rattling, and prevents hallow echochamber doors/door panels reverbing. You want a clean and loud sounding crystal clear audio. If you go for a big audio upgrade, might as well finish it. Worth it in my opinion and experience.

 

[speedyserg]

Why would you want an upgraded audio system in a track car?
I would imagine if smooth quiet miles are your goal the Type R is probably not ideal as it'd stiffly sprung, typically has 200tw tires which are noisy and has very little sound deadening which allows road hum into the cabin - whenever I drive a sport touring that's bone stock I remember how loud and bouncy my R is
You can add whatever you want really but seems counter-intuitive to add weight to something you want to push performance wise. Then again some R owners stance their cars and have 10000 watt systems installed so ........good luck

FYI - if you want a fast numb quiet car it's best to just buy a lux brand (BMW, merc, porsche) as they inject foam into every orifice to stiffen the chassis and make it dead quiet inside - takes away from the engagement but I suspect it's ideal for an audiophile more focused on clarity than performance engagement.

 

[Eeesawk]

Is it worth it to add more alongside a completely upgraded sound system?

YES! It complements the upgraded sound system by protecting it from loud road noise pollution into the interior cabin, stops plastic and metal rattling, and prevents hallow echochamber doors/door panels reverbing. You want a clean and loud sounding crystal clear audio. If you go for a big audio upgrade, might as well finish it. Worth it in my opinion and experience.

you make some great points, thanks so much for your feedback! I’ll just have to upgrade the exhaust next so I can still hear it in the cabin

 

[Eeesawk]

Why would you want an upgraded audio system in a track car?
I would imagine if smooth quiet miles are your goal the Type R is probably not ideal as it'd stiffly sprung, typically has 200tw tires which are noisy and has very little sound deadening which allows road hum into the cabin - whenever I drive a sport touring that's bone stock I remember how loud and bouncy my R is
You can add whatever you want really but seems counter-intuitive to add weight to something you want to push performance wise. Then again some R owners stance their cars and have 10000 watt systems installed so ........good luck

FYI - if you want a fast numb quiet car it's best to just buy a lux brand (BMW, merc, porsche) as they inject foam into every orifice to stiffen the chassis and make it dead quiet inside - takes away from the engagement but I suspect it's ideal for an audiophile more focused on clarity than performance engagement.

this is my daily and I often go on cross-country road trips with it. ripping through the mountains and canyons is an absolute delight, I don’t mind losing some mpg nor speed due to the added weight if it means I’ll enjoy my drives even more! I recognize this may be atypical but my focus isn’t tracking with this car.

 

[speedyserg]

this is my daily and I often go on cross-country road trips with it. ripping through the mountains and canyons is an absolute delight, I don’t mind losing some mpg nor speed due to the added weight if it means I’ll enjoy my drives even more! I recognize this may be atypical but my focus isn’t tracking with this car.

Yeah that's called grand touring and there are cars designed for that aka GT cars - they are nice for high speed highway drives, quiet and comfortable - less focused on engagement, usually have a DSG or auto, longer wheelbase etc

The R is just the opposite of that in design and execution is all.

It's your car but at a certain point it has its limits for your use case is all. I think you would be happier in something like an M3 with an upgraded audio setup for cross country road bombing. Much quieter, smoother and more comfortable on long drives. You lose the engagement of the R but your focus is more on comfort anyway so I don't think that would even be much of a sacrifice for you.

Who knows maybe 40lbs of sound deadening reaches your goals and comes at a small penalty on performance - stuff the door cards and remove the open voids/caves that produce booming noise.

I drive my R about 1000 miles a month and find it to be decent even in war torn streets of LA always in R mode on stiff tires so not too bad. Given I'm always on ethanol I probably wouldn't try to cross country drive it - I get about 15 to 17mpg so very fuel tank limited

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