I am still at the very early stages of this:
how does jute (25 years old) compare in quality/performance to any of the things that could substitute for it? or new jute for that matter? in particular, how much does jute contribute to old car smell?
I have been looking at some jute patches in my car, trying not to fantasize about replacing it with the latest greatest materials.
links to vendors would be great, for example:
I’m not clear what you want to know. Do you want to replace old sound proofing with newer materials, or do you want to keep the old stuff so it will smell old?
Is this a show car or driver? Only a show car needs original materials. This must be a hidden application, and you should just look at performance/$ if this is a driver.
In cars that I owned with the rubber floor mats and the jute under the mats, I would pull up the floor mat and rip out the jute. The jute would trap water and cause the floorboards to rust. I know that the jute was there for a sound deadener, but the cars I used to own were so noisy that anyway that a little more road noise wasn’t noticeable.
I agree. I just cleaned out my interior this last winter and ripped all the jute off the carpeting due to smell and trapped moisture from years of soda spills. I don’t miss it at all.
If you’re soundproofing properly you’ll be completely lining the sheetmetal (once you get in all back in tip-top shape) with the stick on rubberized sheets that’ll protect the properly primed and painted sheetmetal against moisture anyway. The rubber actually changes the mass of the metal, changing the way it resonates, but it’s also a great moisture protection. I’ve used the Second Skin products and they’re great. Be advised, however, the Luxury Liner Pro is very heavy. I prefer “jute”, which is not actually jute at all (jute is a plant, woven jute is plant fiber product). I found some “jute” carpet padding, tested it for heat resistivity (to 450F), tested it for outgassing (at 500F) and flammability (using a propane torch), and found that it passed all the tests with flying colors. I used that to line over the rubber-sheet stuck-on lining.
The results were surprising. not only did road noise subside some and the sound of my audio system totally change, but transmission of wind and road noise from passing vehicles dropped dramatically. I didn’t realize how much noise from passing vehicles was transmitted through the body sheetmetal.
Good luck. Let us know you progress.
@wentwest ah, I see how that can read as such. I am merely looking to broadly understand jute and the how/what of its replacement , and the comments here are helping.
a little more detail : there’s a particular patch of jute on my car which I would love to just swap with something. And this is the fibrous jute, with pieces of … can it really be?.. horse hair, rope, other junk. Intuition tells me this must be a cheap-O method, unless there’s some benefit like fire-resistance…
anyways, @jtsanders car is largely for function, but I don’t want it to look like a hackjob and I agree with your statements. @"the same mountainbike" thanks yes, perhaps some of that felt stuff would be good. I think something mid-range price is what I should get - the Second Skin stuff appears to appeal to the $ound-$ystem crowd (not that sound systems are bad, I enjoy sound systems), but still looks functional. @Triedaq I am interested in that too, but must save it for another thread. I have rubber/poly-U/foam things that are smelly and old, and would love to cut new - but this thread ought to be about jute.
actually, I am not sure how much jute is in this Porsche 944. The carpets are nice, not sure if after-market or what-have-you.