Dollar Tuning: How To Quiet Your Car For A Buck

The coins I keep in the ashtray of my Toyota Pickup makes the most god awful sound when going over certain bumps, as if the whole vehicle is about to disintegrate the way a roll of quarters scatters on the floor at the hands of a fumbling cashier.

The ashtray is a useful place to put change but it makes amplifies an already crude ride that much more. So after tolerating this for some time I decided I’d finally do something about it. The solution: A piece of felt from a craft store (less than $0.50) and some scotch tape.

I dumped all the coins out, cut a piece of felt for the bottom of the ashtray, rolled it up, stuck some tape on the bottom and rolled it out in the tray. Then I made two pieces of felt for the sides of the tray and tape them into the ashtray as well, goofing off a little a long the way.

It made an amazing difference, much more than I thought it would. The ride is so much quieter and the coins don’t rattle at all. Ten minutes well spent.