2026 Integra Rear Sound Deadening

[Boxen]

I’ve been looking for information on adding CLD to the rear of the Integra to reduce the drone on rough roads and at highway speed. Looking on forums and just in general about sound deadening was my research. I ended up buying Resonix CLD Lite and putting some on the rear wheel wells and trunk cavity. All in all it took 8 sqft of CLD and about 3 hours to do. It seems to reduce the drone at 70 mph on rough roads, granted I’m on the OEM Continentals which probably would benefit from a change. Before and afters included, I forgot to take one of the seats, but I just did around the baby seat anchor point and the front lip of the seats with CLD.

I’m debating on removing the factory paste and laying some CLD in its place, not sure if that’s worth the effort. Next area is going to be wheel well liners and see how that affects road noise.

Side note, the car is fine on smooth roads is only rough roads that cause the car to be obnoxiously loud. Is anyone else seeing this issue?

Finally, if anyone has advice I’m all ears, I know the application of this CLD is shoddy.

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[slowcountry]

Thanks for the pics! Have been wanting to do this as well. Did you have a video you referenced for the trim removal?

 

[Boxen]

Thanks for the pics! Have been wanting to do this as well. Did you have a video you referenced for the trim removal?

I used this video, and with tools didn’t break a single trim clip. I did not remove the wheel well trim completely because I’m lazy, but you can peel it away to access all that you need. It gets hung up on the seat back retainer ring. There are two bolts to remove the ring, allowing it to slide out easier but, again I’m lazy.

 

[Victorofhavoc]

The cld materials are great at killing resonance and vibration. If you tap the areas you're looking at with a small metal hammer or pick you can hear where it echoes. That's where the cld should go. 25% is typically enough coverage and you're pretty close there. You can apply over the factory stuff, and I'd encourage that in the hatch area.

Closed cell foam is what blocks noise and insulates. You'd want foam to blanket stuff if you want to take volume down, while the cld is crucial to keeping resonance, vibration, and unwanted tones away. Cld can also block some noise if you blanket everything, but you pay weight penalties that way.

 

[bisquick]

I recently covered my entire tire well and under the rear seats with 80mil Kilmat. Made a huge difference in reducing drone at speed. It was well worth the time and cost.

 

[Boxen]

The cld materials are great at killing resonance and vibration. If you tap the areas you're looking at with a small metal hammer or pick you can hear where it echoes. That's where the cld should go. 25% is typically enough coverage and you're pretty close there. You can apply over the factory stuff, and I'd encourage that in the hatch area.

Closed cell foam is what blocks noise and insulates. You'd want foam to blanket stuff if you want to take volume down, while the cld is crucial to keeping resonance, vibration, and unwanted tones away. Cld can also block some noise if you blanket everything, but you pay weight penalties that way.

That was my process, just tapping to see where the worst offenders were. I have a 7 sheets of Resonix Lite CLD left so I can readdress the factory areas. I got most of the flat areas since the complex geometry doesn’t resonate much.

Honestly, wondering if there is something I can do to replace the styrofoam in the spare tire section. It sucks at noise isolation but it does provide rigidity to the trunk space. Secondly, my understanding is that noise barriers are kind of a waste of time unless you do every square inch.

 

[slowcountry]

All I can think to remove that foam easily would be an oscillating saw with a non-metal cutting blade. I left mine where it was but applied the CLD in the spare wheel well a little more heavily.

 

[Victorofhavoc]

That was my process, just tapping to see where the worst offenders were. I have a 7 sheets of Resonix Lite CLD left so I can readdress the factory areas. I got most of the flat areas since the complex geometry doesn’t resonate much.

Honestly, wondering if there is something I can do to replace the styrofoam in the spare tire section. It sucks at noise isolation but it does provide rigidity to the trunk space. Secondly, my understanding is that noise barriers are kind of a waste of time unless you do every square inch.

You're 98% correct on that understanding I'd say.

It's like my air compressor... I can wrap it in a blanket and the noise goes down 30%. I can toss a blanket on it and the noise goes down 60%. If I wrap it and toss a blanket on it, it's a loud hum and feels 85% quieter.

If you cover everything you can reach, it will help tremendously. Sound travels as a wave though, so a small opening leads to some leakage that spreads after it leaks, but just doesn't have the power it did previously. The noise is there, but more concentrated and localized in that case. The foam I did helped a lot, but there are certainly areas where the coverage isn't 100%. If you can't commit to the time to cover at least 80% of the surface area then the closed cell isn't worth it imo.

For the foam, you could always buy some higher density stuff and cut out what you need to shape.
You could also create a silicone mold of the foam and then use insulating foam to make a clone.
You could also take the existing foam and adhere a layer of mlv, closed cell foam, or thick felt to the bottom.

Good luck! These cabins are super noisy, so I love seeing what people come up with to help.

 

[Boxen]

You're 98% correct on that understanding I'd say.

It's like my air compressor... I can wrap it in a blanket and the noise goes down 30%. I can toss a blanket on it and the noise goes down 60%. If I wrap it and toss a blanket on it, it's a loud hum and feels 85% quieter.

If you cover everything you can reach, it will help tremendously. Sound travels as a wave though, so a small opening leads to some leakage that spreads after it leaks, but just doesn't have the power it did previously. The noise is there, but more concentrated and localized in that case. The foam I did helped a lot, but there are certainly areas where the coverage isn't 100%. If you can't commit to the time to cover at least 80% of the surface area then the closed cell isn't worth it imo.

For the foam, you could always buy some higher density stuff and cut out what you need to shape.
You could also create a silicone mold of the foam and then use insulating foam to make a clone.
You could also take the existing foam and adhere a layer of mlv, closed cell foam, or thick felt to the bottom.

Good luck! These cabins are super noisy, so I love seeing what people come up with to help.

I’m thinking of putting thinsulate all in my trunk, cheap and easy to remove if I need to access stuff. I think that and wheel wells lined with CLD should help. Maybe Thinsulate in the engine bay?

 

[Victorofhavoc]

I’m thinking of putting thinsulate all in my trunk, cheap and easy to remove if I need to access stuff. I think that and wheel wells lined with CLD should help. Maybe Thinsulate in the engine bay?

Thinsulate melts and catches fire at modest temps. I'd keep it out of the engine bay personally.

Sounds like it would work well in the hatch area though.

 

[Boxen]

Ended up scraping out the OEM deadening. It took 4 hours with air cans to help freeze the paste and make removal easier, then a metal scraper. Definitely nicked the body but whatever, it’s inside and I doubt it’ll rust out to a point where it would even matter. If I were to do it again I’d used gloves and open the rear doors to ventilate a little more. Haven’t fully deadened because of rain, will update after.

Hopefully the bare image helps people, I went front to back removing and discovered all the bumps and dips. Also, not sure what the white paste is on but I didn’t want to scrape it off, hence the two patches.

 

[Victorofhavoc]

Ended up scraping out the OEM deadening. It took 4 hours with air cans to help freeze the paste and make removal easier, then a metal scraper. Definitely nicked the body but whatever, it’s inside and I doubt it’ll rust out to a point where it would even matter. If I were to do it again I’d used gloves and open the rear doors to ventilate a little more. Haven’t fully deadened because of rain, will update after.

Hopefully the bare image helps people, I went front to back removing and discovered all the bumps and dips. Also, not sure what the white paste is on but I didn’t want to scrape it off, hence the two patches.

Interesting to see under it! That looks like it was a lot of work and potential be scraping/cutting territory. Good work.

I'll also add that the plastic rear section there (the one facing the back of the car) I pulled and put butyl all over. It helps the plastic feel more high end, but it also did a good job at muffling the hatch when opening and closing. More "thunk" and less "tink".

 

[XpoH]

Ended up scraping out the OEM deadening. It took 4 hours with air cans to help freeze the paste and make removal easier, then a metal scraper. Definitely nicked the body but whatever, it’s inside and I doubt it’ll rust out to a point where it would even matter. If I were to do it again I’d used gloves and open the rear doors to ventilate a little more. Haven’t fully deadened because of rain, will update after.

Hopefully the bare image helps people, I went front to back removing and discovered all the bumps and dips. Also, not sure what the white paste is on but I didn’t want to scrape it off, hence the two patches.

why not leave the OEM in place and add a layer of aftermarket deadening on top?

 

[Boxen]

why not leave the OEM in place and add a layer of aftermarket deadening on top?

The OEM stuff kind of sucks and if you put the CLD on top of it it’ll help the metal’s resonance but more effective to apply directly on the metal. I figured I’d spend the time to scrape it, since it was a simple job just labor hours to get it done. I want to put some additional insulation as well and this gives me a little more room.

 

[Victorofhavoc]

The OEM stuff kind of sucks and if you put the CLD on top of it it’ll help the metal’s resonance but more effective to apply directly on the metal. I figured I’d spend the time to scrape it, since it was a simple job just labor hours to get it done. I want to put some additional insulation as well and this gives me a little more room.

I did it the lazy way and got 8mm of closed cell on, but I like your method a lot more! Doing it right the first time is the way.

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