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Other than ears, does bass hurt the car?

7K views 23 replies 18 participants last post by  req 
#1 ·
I mean I know rattling door panels off isn't good, but is there any other effects, such as perhaps getting into the cylinders and confusing the computer/possibly damaging the engine or other parts of the car?

Any equivalent, such as going over the train tracks or bumps?

I know it can't be good...
 
#4 ·
never heard of anyone having enough bass to destroy electronics before. I have seen spoilers knocked off. license plates fall off. rear view mirrors. doors.........the list goes on. but mostly things that are screwed or bolted on getting loosened up.

even then, you have to have some serious SPL to do that kinda stuff.
 
#5 ·
Cars vibrate all the time so most electronics are built for that from OEM, built to last. You can see with cheap amps sometimes they break if mounted on a box for example, from vibration and impact. Sound waves and the power used should not bother electronics in the car, unless you use all the power so they don't have enough. If you read up on SPL stuff you will find what breaks in cars from it, mostly mechanical things that rattle loose. SPL cars have eventually broken spot welds and such, but you are talking serious high output not a typical daily driver than goes kind of loud.
 
#6 ·
I wonder if the ecu could ever mistake bass for engine knock and pull timing. That would be kind of funny. Every time your bass hits the power drops off, haha.
 
#10 ·
I've heard of some Subaru people that had issues I recall with heat shields rattling and causing knock sensors to pull timing. However, that is true that the frequency would likely be very different than sub bass.
 
#13 ·
Bass taxes your electrical system (if not done right), which is why you may see some people's lights dimming every time the bass hits. I had a friend who had a Brahma 10 in the trunk of his Protege, and that thing hit so hard. His paint was actually starting to crack from his trunk flexing in and out. I am sure it is bad for creating new rattles in the car from panels vibrating so much, but that is what sound deadening is for!
 
#19 ·
The last thing bass is going to hurt is the powertrain. Electronics over time, maybe. The harmonics that go on within the block, crank, and especially valvetrain are crazy and no amount of bass will be able to match 1/10th of what the drivetrain sees on a daily basis. No chance in hell of it setting off a knock sensor unless it causes a foreign object to vibrate against the block or heads. In the old days I could trigger the knock sensor on the GN just by banging on the headers with a wrench. Today the ECU and filters are much more frequency specific.
 
#21 ·
Yes, it will screw over your car:

I had a Cerwin vega Stroker 18D2 in my old 306 Gti6 gti6 - Google Search

and the bass gave me 2-3inches of travel on my steering wheel and the gudgeon pins fell out of the doors-I took it out before more damge was caused.

I sold a guy two of the Hifonics Olympus 12" 2400wrms and he fitted them into a 2005 Hyundai Coupe-broke his steering column, took back to the dealer thinking it was warranty and they told him to get bent!

With regard to ECUs etc I've not seen/experienced any issue-but with my Stroker I could sit 30ft away from a CCTV monitor and watch the screen pulse with my b-line. The most likely issue wouldn't be the subs themselves, more their effect on your power supply and knock on effects on delicate circuitry. I did have a friend with a large system in his old M535 BMW, 4x 15" where the back seats should have been, crank it in traffic and the car would stall-but just poor power supply IMO.
 
#22 · (Edited)
Bass speeds up the normal process... Pretty simple

It is known that a car will degrade and loosen over time... Naturally...

Add heavy bass to this and you are simply speeding things up...

How it effects different systems depends directly on impact of the system...

On the electrical system it will be a huge impact, things WILL wear out faster in the charging system...

You are taxing that system, so other things connected to it are taxed as well... bass hits, car runs rich/lean for a second? Who knows?

Then the obvious vibration issues.. gaskets wear faster and loosen quicker... Loose bolts loosen faster...

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To add to this, now that I'm not on my phone...

Say you have a poor connection in the ECU of your car or anything electical.. lets say that connection wasn't due to actually FAIL, for 6yrs... add bass, that could easily reduce to 3yrs, because of excessive movement..

Not the most likely senario out there, but facts are facts... Bad solder doesn't show right away all the time, god knows I've fixed enough in my time..

These are just examples obviously..
 
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