As noted above, one of the things to do on the "checklist" was to revisit the Noico Sound Dampening which I had originally started back in May of 2019. At the time, I had finished treating all 4 doors, their panels and the result was a significant improvement from noise. Obviously the Forester is literally a metal box so there will still be sounds rattling throughout, but just with the doors closing and hearing a nice, thick, "thud" is very satisfying. Shout out to Spencer on his install video I used as a guide. Video on how he did it on his old WRX can be found here:
Anyway, I had plans to do the rear seats as that's usually where I believe some of the road noise travels through into the cabin. Just how the rear wheels sit close to the rear sets, vibrations come through along with the drive shaft right below, fuel tank, and exhaust, it just seemed like a good spot to apply some of the left over Noico. From after treating the 4 doors, I had about 2.5 sheets left so I had lots to work with.
The first order of business was taking out the rear seats, which was super easy. Two bolts on the front side and lift up to unlatch the latch release.. and boy, was it a treat to find what was underneath there. You know the feeling of looking under your parents sofa cushions and finding lots of treasure there? Well, I found things alright. It wasn't bad, but bad enough to need a clean.
Removing those seats unlocked a bit of history for the Forester. It looked like the previous owner had kids at one point, or maybe a few clumsy adults who were riding in the backseat. There was a Wendy's plastic spoon, traces of chocolate Wendy's frosty, some gooey, sticky honey garlic sauce that was found in multiple spots. There were lots of hay or grass, lots of hair, and a hair tie. I also found an old gas receipt that dates back to February of 2012. The good news is that the previous owner filled with with ESSO Supreme which is basically their 91 Octane.
And a bonus, a total refund of $0.51 was found under the seats. Small wins everyone, small wins.
I didn't take much photos of the applying process of the Noico, as it's pretty straight forward. I didn't really have a "plan" per say going into it but I had a general idea of which spots I wanted to be treated. With the help of the roller handle, I just went around and did light taps to see which spots sounded like they would need the Sound Dampening the most and went from there. Learning from my mistakes and experiences from doing the 4 doors, I knew I wasn't going to get ALL of the spots, and I can't be perfect in applying the Noico. This mindset helped me in actually getting the job done, and removed the "perfect" coverage for the rear seats. Before I had started, I took out the seat belts and their bracket/reinforcement support as well, just so I can clean more of the Wendy's meal off of them and have more room to work with.
I started out working on the middle seat first, and then worked my way out to the doors on either side. Obviously the large, flat areas were easy to work with and the the areas that caused the most difficulty was the grooves and weird angles you had to massage the Noico into. Luckly, I still had my roller I used from last time so that was a big help with application process. I also added some more of the dampening material to the lower part of the backrest, basically the whole part where the child seat latches onto and what not. I've placed the rear seats back in now and everything is buttoned up. It should be a bit quieter, but I'm not looking for a significant difference. Also, this might have been a result of me trying not to waste as much Noico Sound Dampening material as I could, but after completing this rear seat bench area, I still have just over 1 full sheet left of Noico lol... I guess I can maybe add the rest of this to the spare tire area, or somewhere else in the car. Any recommendations on where to treat next?
