Posted by Dan on May 04, 03 at 12:24:34:
In Reply to: Headliners posted by DCM on May 03, 03 at 23:11:05:
The short answer: Yes, adding insulation to the roof does help a lot. Your rear heat/AC will work better and, depending on the route you take, will quiet the interior as well.
When I rebuilt my 94, I gutted the interior, installed new carpet, had the seats redone, but the biggie was adding acoustical and heat insulation.
I added the diesel soundmat in the engine compartment.
For the headliner, I put KoolMat (www.koolmat.com, I think) on the bare metal and then B-Quiet's Vcomp acoustical barrier on top of it (or would that be under it?? hehe)
KoolMat has sound deadening characteristics. For example, I can barely hear heavy rain on the roof now. I added the Vcomp for higher frequency sound deadening.
On the floor, I put the KoolMat down first, then B-Quiet's BrownBead (their thickest mat) and on top of that added their Lcomp (thicker than the Vcomp).
In the doors and everywhere I could get in the cargo area, I added some KoolMat, their B-Quiets Lite material next and then their Lcomp.
The results were spectacular, both acoustically and temperature wise.
I was never impressed with the rear heat/AC because of losses through the roof. I live in Texas and in the summer, I'll now get 40 degrees out of the roof vents. And in the winter, it doesn't melt the snow on the roof as it did stock.
As for sound, I've got a highly modified powertrain (read, not so quiet.) Now, front and backseat people can talk over the supercharger and exhaust noise, but I didn't go so crazy that you can't hear the mild cam. Hey, some sound is good!
One word of caution. If you go extreme like I did, the carpet won't fit right without extra trimming and requiring a LOT of patience. That added thickness was a definite challenge, especially at the back of the front section of carpet where it curves up for the third seat wheel well.
Here's another thing I did. To insure the materials I added in the roof don't fall, I _CAREFULLY_ drilled holes in the roof supports (not too many) in the deep curves and inserted plastic clip to hold it into place. I used the large ones that you'd use for holding the hood sound mat in place and trimmed the round discs as needed.
Anyhow, BrownBag's products were pretty reasonable and they were good about getting the product to me. I ordered a bit less than I needed and they understood that my daily driver was stripped down and took care of me very nicely.
: My headliner fell down last week and will need repair or replacement.
: Thought I would ask if there is anything special I should do when it is replaced. I will probably go to an upholstery shop.
: Was kind of wondering if insulation would help heat inside the suburban. When crossing the Nevada and California deserts, it gets pretty warm inside, and I think it is from the roof.
: It is an 87 3/4 ton suburban.
: Thanks