Don't believe us? In the video below, Flannel Philip learned of the negative side of using asphalt mats and had a bearish time undoing his mistake. Whether you've already installed asphalt mats and want to make the change to protect yourself and your passengers, or you're starting a new project, this video is a great look into the what-to-do's and what-not-to-do's.

Asphalt based mats fail on four dimensions. Yes, FOUR!!

1. Asphalt does not damp vibrations very well.
2. Asphalt is not as sticky, and have been known to fall off.
3. Asphalt will outgas harmful chemicals when heated.
4. Asphalt is not actually cheaper! (That's right. Keep reading.)

Any one of those is enough to disqualify asphalt mats as a legitimate option, but people still use these mats. One of the big reasons is that asphalt mats don't advertise themselves as "asphalt-based" (Why would they do that?). They also do SEEM to be a lot CHEAPER – they cost so much less per square foot of material! But as you're about to be thunked over the head with, those “savings” are not as real as they appear.

Failure #1: Performance

Here’s the thing about asphalt’s vibration damping performance. Once installed, it will actually deaden the metal!! Yes, I know, did you expect us to say that? That’s why it can get positive reviews. Your car actually will be quieter. The problem is that it doesn’t deaden the metal very well. To visualize how big the difference is for you, we tested a leading asphalt-based mat in a lab and made a graph.

Yikes. But how is your everyday shopper supposed to tell the difference?! All they know is that they installed the stuff and their car did get quieter. To compare the two products, they’d have to do multiple cars, but your average DIY customer won’t do that. You know who does multiple cars? Auto body shops. Auto shops who care about quality ALWAYS use butyl for deadening.

Failure #2: Adhesion

We regularly hear from customers who have had their asphalt mats fall off the metal and want to know what to do next to fix what's now a car soundproofing disaster. For those of you considering asphalt, we’ll give some real advice (besides DON'T). Be very intentional with your surface prep and use a heat gun prior to sticking it to the metal. It’s unlikely you will have issues if you are VERY careful. No guarantees though. You could end up with a car that looks like this...

At Second Skin, we guarantee Damplifier’s adhesion for the lifetime of the vehicle. Should you clean the surface a bit and make sure there’s no rust? Yes, you should – especially on the rust. But Damplifier Pro is going to stick anyways. Once applied to the sheet metal in your car, our butyl rubber compound is not coming off and will go with your car to the scrapyard.

Failure #3: Health Safety

You probably have heard that asphalt stinks and can make your car smell bad. We’ve found that different people have different levels of sensitivities to smell so that asphalt smell bothers some more than others. Your nose is telling you something though. Listen to it.

But let’s get serious about health – not just the smell. The problem is that asphalt based mats outgas chemicals when heated. Cars generate heat. Cars sit out in the hot sun. What could go wrong?

• The materials we know are in the mat are bad. Asphalt and tar – we don't burn them in our houses and we don't use them in candles. You have warnings from OSHA and the NIH about increased cancer risks. You even have roofing companies releasing guides about how asphalt is safe to use on a roof despite the Class 2A Carcinogen designation (“probably carcinogenic to humans”). Sure that’s fine for you roof, but why put it inside your car?!
• Who knows what “other fillers” are in those mats? Asphalt based mats are almost always made in China or Russia, where the manufacturing standards are lower than the USA. We’ve literally seen an asphalt mat melt in front of us because it was part of a “bad batch”.

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Let’s wrap up by taking a final look at price, but let's do it from a new angle. Let's look at it using a lens of VALUE. What's the true cost of that $20 piece of asphalt you’re about to put in your $30,000 BMW?

Second Skin vs Asphalt: A Price Comparison