Digital Designs Sound Deadening Adhesion Failure
In the submitted example shown, the Digital Designs sound deadening material applied to the roof of the vehicle became completely unadhered and fell down. According to the person who supplied the photos, the roof was properly cleaned and prepped before installation, so this does not appear to be a simple case of poor prep or user error.
What makes this example different from many other failed CLD products is that the butyl does not appear to have melted. This is not a melting failure. This is an adhesion failure.
Based on what is shown here, the most likely cause is a very low-quality binder in the butyl formula that was not capable of maintaining enough adhesion or physical retention to support the product’s own weight in that environment. In other words, the product did not even need to reach the usual visible melting stage to fail. It simply let go.
This also hints at a larger quality issue. While this specific example does not appear to follow the exact same failure path discussed in the main CLD failure article, this poor of adhesion strongly suggests a low-quality butyl formula overall. There is no known test data on this material to show how well it performs as a constrained layer damper, but this kind of adhesion failure does not exactly inspire confidence.
I have heard a couple of complaints about Digital Designs sound deadening, but this is the only example I have personally seen supported with photos.