@rustytoolss hello mate.
I will tread carefully here, because my experience with reviewing Peel & Seal had many people up in arms within the VW scene - which I lost no sleep over, but it is most definitely a sore subject for the insecure - having a well known brand plastered across the product seems to make some people feel like it increases the size of their genitalia. Personally, I want a product to work, and not be so expensive that I have to remortgage my house to buy some. Hence forth...
I love Peel & Seal. I had a small piece of Dynamat in my hand at one point, and I couldn't for the life of me differentiate between them enough to justify the gargantuan price difference. Sure, Dynamat (other brands are available) feels a little different in your hand, but certainly is not thicker, or spongier or lighter. To me, it looks more or less like the same product, or as near as makes no difference. That's just my opinion.
Rule #1, don't stick it near heat sources, or to be more descriptive, direct heat sources. On the VW Buses and Bugs I was first using Peel & Seal on, I never put it in the engine compartment, along the lower heater channels, or in the roof, or the underside of the trunk or deck lid where the sun can beat down.
Front firewall, floors, inside doors, behind the dash, and inside the trunk only. It did not smell, at all. Even on days that were so hot my aircooled VW would be vapor locking. I've never had any issues with smell, oozing/melting, nor staining anything.
As you can see in one of my pictures, I bought the silver tape to seal off the exposed edges. I overlapped my pieces about 1/2", and ran that reflectix tape over each edge that you can see the bitumen (or whatever the brown sticky stuff is called).
Applying this stuff is much easier on a warm day. I used an exacto knife to cut the pieces, and a hard roller of some kind to roll it on. The rounded end of a large screwdriver handle to mush it into recesses and low spots on the metal work. Cold days make the sticky stuff much slower to adhere. During the winter I've never had it begin peeling back up again. Ever.
Does it make a difference in dampening sound? Hell Yes. I put my '72 Bus into Vintage German Motors, to have the twin carbs sync'd. The owner Dave called me while he was on the final test drive, and asked me what the heck I did to my bus to make it so quiet? Apparently, he thought it was stalling at the lights, so tried to start it again, realizing it was already running... He couldn't hear the engine very much. I told him Peel & Seal, and some carpet. He recommends it to people now too.
Degrease all the surfaces first. I like a microfiber rag and some isopropol alcohol.
Does it lower interior temperature? Probably not. A white painted roof would do more for that.
Would I use it again? Absolutely. Every old car I have is Peel & Sealed. It was $17 for 25ftx6" roll when I last bought some, and if I remember correctly I used 5 rolls for my '78 Monaco in this thread.
Now, there will be people who call me names, and tell me just how much more superior and less idiotic they are compared to me, based purely on a decision regarding sound deadening material. That's fine. Each to their own, right? But I sure do feel ok about not spending $600 on a branded sound deadener, and having various people actually comment on how much quieter my car is than their not-deadened car. Who's the idiot? Not really sure to be fair.
Has it made an audible noticeable difference in the Monaco? Yes, I can hear road noise coming through the door gap I've not quite gotten right, whereas before I never noticed that.
Are the Dynamat brigade right in spending 5x more on their cammed glasspacked V8, of which no type of sound deadening material could ever dampen? You decide.
Here's where I found out about it, my main man Chris Vallone, this is an updated vid - I know it's VW based but it gives you the idea.
Hope this helps. Gary.
