[LancePearson]

Sounds behind the center of the dash when driving? It’s probably the ZF six speed gear noise which I believe sets up a resonance inside on the plastic housing stack which holds the DIC, HVAC controls and the Bose Gold radio head which actually sits over what becomes a cave when installed and the plastic center console trim is back in place. I bought mine in Dec. in Atlanta and drove it 515 miles home on the interstate wondering the whole way what that background “whooshing” sound as I characterized it was. I knew the tranny was working perfectly and subsequently got the fluids checked and changed to be sure that was all okay. I later found that when I folded and laid a microfiber towel on top of the cigarette lighter area and across the bottom face plate below the radio on the center console trim it went completely away which isolated it.

I needed to remove the tunnel trim to check the shift boots and fish out someone else’s dropped screws with a magnetic probe, etc., remove the radio to put a new face on it and see if I could not do some sound proofing incidentally. There is plenty of thickish, basic sound proofing between the exterior and the interior but this vertical utility stack of digital electronic controls sits both attached to and in a relatively thin plastic material with the cave below. I’m no sound engineer but it seems to me like it was a perfect place to take what sound seeps upward and, you pick the word, either magnify it or resonate it as the thin plastic vibrates a little and that cave works it too, perhaps even a miniature echo chamber.

I bought .080 and .050 sound deadening material on ebay, you need less than a foot and a half square feet in there. It is just foil faced sound deadener of some type of urethane or rubber material which has adhesive coating on the back and comes with peel off paper which allows you to cut to fit and then peel the paper, attaché it, then use a small roller to press it on.

It is not a huge task. It is not thick. It is not smooth by design.

It does seem to have completely stopped that sound for me. How? I’d argue it stopped the thin plastic from resonating and magnifying the sound which previously you might hear as a kind of annoying white noise behind the radio, dic, hvac stack as you drive with windows up and top on.

Not anymore. It worked. I believe it both absorbs some sound/energy in the plastic material and stabilizes the plastic structural frame that holds these devices by killing vibrations to a great enough degree to matter.

I actually put a piece on about half of the metal top of the radio head case and the bottom and 2” strips on the side just to be safe though I believe the metal did not hear enough sound to resonate.

I wouldn’t do this just for itself but as part of opening the center console up, I’d consider it as it takes less then fifteen minutes to do once open. I was careful not to cover any openings so that air will continue to flow nor any screws or bolts for obvious reasons. This is not the greatest thing since sliced bread but it did quiet that irritating noise down for me as I was doing other things that needed doing in the stack. I also put a piece on the bottom inside part of the center console stack finish trim plastic piece just in case since it forms the “front” of the cave below the radio head as well when it’s reinstalled. This sound deadener is thin enough that it does not stop anything from fitting.

I’m sure some sound engineer might know more about this but what I know is it worked rather well in a test drive today. We’ll see how it works out over the next few months but it should stay put and I have no plans to go back into that stack again….all other punchlist things done.

I share this as a possibility for you if you have ever wondered. Not something you have to live with it seems to me. Will post photos here and in the subsequent panel so you can see what I'm talking about if you haven't opened your console up.

Lance Pearson