Hi All,
After more than a year since I posted this topic, I am indeed surprise with the amount of responses or interests generated or received even till today. I have to agreed with BMkia that each time some negative remarks posted on the forum, lots of people will immediate come and share their personal good encounters or works who and who has performed to counter the negative remarks even though some might not be specific or relevant to the issues or problems raised. Some even ask me not to air my frustration and disappointment in the forum. Well, is a free world here, everyone can voice their concern and opinion but I am just quite amazed with the speed, the depth and width of the knowledge , the coincidences and the numbers of expert in this field.
I have to agreed with some that Desmond does sound arrogant at time. We both raised our voice many time arguing during our second round of testing when I sent my car in for the re tweak. He keep blaming on my tyre ignoring my feedback and at the same time I try to prove my point that he should have tested my car in the first place and tell me what can be done and the extent of improvement can be achieved before embarking the 4k soundproofing exercise for me . Of course I am fully aware that tyre play an important factor in the noise level but you just dun ask people to change the tyre after you fail to address the problem and after 4k has been spent on this ! If 4k can only improve the noise level by 15 -20% and the rest is due to the tyre, then even a kid will know where I should spent my money in the first place. I am very specific with my problem. I tell him I just want to reduce the tyre roll and not the comfort and handling of the car because I already very happy with the way mazda 3 hatchback behave in this area. It take one year when I sent in my car for the 3rd time re tweak last week for Desmond to admit that he make a mistake and he as a doctor gave the wrong prescription that rather than using my budget to concentrate on reducing the tyre noise, he spent most of my budget on auto foam for improvement that I do not need.
The third round of re tweak did improve the cabin and make it more airy and the noise stay “shorter” in the cabin. But all in after the third round of re tweak, the result is still far from satisfactory, probably about 15% to 20% improvement from stock position when I first collected my car albeit some obvious improvement after the 3rd re tweak . He did mentioned there are some and better new material to solve my problem. But as BMkia has rightly pointed out, I wouldn’t want to spend my money on the same surgeon twice when he already failed me the first time.
So am I happy with KL auto services ? Yes and No. YES for some of their services such as free tweak and re tweak and their prompt follow up after each re tweak to check/verify any significant improvement . NO also for the FOC tweak and re tweak that improve slightly with the large amount of time spent for them to experiment my car ( thanks for their time and my time), their procedure of checking the problem and recommending solution need to be improve ( not all car are the same) and their reluctant to acknowledge mistake quickly when the solution doesn’t work.
Good customer service and result? I am not sure for my case. Refund is not applicable for my case. I am asked to pay for new and better material that according to them can improve my problem. So I am stuck with the current set up and material that improve my problem by 15% -20% for 4k that I have spent and I do not think I want to sent the car in for tweak and re tweak or in other words experiment with my car again with existing material that they installed for me earlier that they admitted they have make a mistake in allocating the budget in solving my problem.
I know lots of people can tell us soundproofing is very subjective, is an art .. etc. This may be true for certain cases but definitely not for my case. The tyre roar is still very obvious and loud. There is no subjectivity in the loudness and nosiness of the roar ! What subjectivity are you talking about here ? The noise is very clear, loud and disturbing ! I will definitely change my tyre in the future, there is no doubt about that. In the mean time, I will want to explore the dynamat exteme with BMkia as agreed somewhere in Sept.
Cheers
Hi KHAWWM,
Very well written and thanks for speaking up to share your actual experience here.
I can sense some comments here insinuating business rivalry and I made it very clear I am in no way working for / getting any commision from any installers from the start. Anyways some of the readers here with wild imagination actually believe I "obtained" a brand new Mazda 3 and "engaged" KL Auto for a soundproofing solution for the roadnoise based on KL Auto's recommendation and then proceed to "whack" them afterwards when the soundproofing doesnt work....LOL
On the "suck it up" part, LOL.... my response is I already sucked it up and lets just say it has been "recycled" back to nature. The whole point of posting up my experience here is to share my dissapointment and what is to be expected when soundproofing your ride (with a specific installer). Heck this thread is even called "Dissapointed After Spending 4K in Soundproofing".
Hopefully, a few readers here who plans to soundproof their cars (whether its a Mazda 3 or any models) can learn from my mistakes and ignorance/gullibility from the postings here (everyone's comments and replies included) which can be summarize as the following:-
a) If you want to spend RM4K and below with Installer A, be prepared to be dissapointed and spend more time (waiting and then arguing with Installer A since its a perception/ expectation issue) & $$$ with more visits, tweaks and then upgrades (poison) to be be truly satisfied;

Don't be poor & or a cheapskate, Installer A prefers if you have a big budget say RM8-RM10K... you will then be most likely be happy with Installer A's work;
c) If you dare try an alternative besides Installer A or DIY (anyone wants to now insinuate I am the distributor of Dynamat?), your ride will suffer from the the poor man's/cheapskate's curse i.e. the scary and dreaded "heavy pressure feeling of a tank". By the way, who here has really drove a tank before? Maybe its light and airy in there. The tanks are way more expensive than most your rides.
-What "PRESSURE", I have damned sensitive ears and feel pressure when most peple don't everytime going up lifts in high buildings, IPOH and during flights. Here is a solution, you can chew a gum like me when I drive up IPOH every month.
d) If you have sensitive ears, don't buy a Mazda 3.
e) The ultimate and cheapest solution like my GF keeps nagging me when she remembers how much time & money I spent on soundproofing, go to Mr DIY or any hardware and get ear plugs. Put it on before you start your engine.
Until then, can't want to compare with KHAWWM's car at the end of Sept.