Speakers and door seals

mikesndbs

Active Member
Apr 3, 2010
603
23
West Sussex UK
www.youtube.com
Hi chaps

Well I gave up trying to get an audio fitter to do this job so combined it with sorting out the inner door card seals as well!
A job equally disinteresting to trade it would seem!

So here I present a photo diary of what I did and links to suppliers where possible.
I would also like to acknowledge the help and support from various members of the forum.

Stuff I needed:

Speaker adaptors: The last owner had fitted speakers directly to the door card, this resulted in a real bodge and left the speakers getting soaked by rain water!
This is how it looked >
audio8.jpg


The adaptors used come as a kit with all the screws, clips and cable you will need to do the job in both doors!
I got mine here > http://www.dynamicsounds.co.uk/auto...-165mm-front-door-speaker-adaptor-p-9044.html

For the sealant I just used an outside silicone type purchased from B&Q.

Removed the speakers and the bodged connections, mount the adaptors so that the groove is at the top.

Very simple to fit the adaptors to the card. hold in place and reach in through the adaptor to hold one of the little metal spring clips in place while with the other hand and a slim X head screw driver offer a screw to the clip.
Do this for all four.

speakers_05a.jpg


speakers_06a.jpg


Then mount the speaker in the adaptor, you will find that the connections go at about 10 o'clock in the adaptor.

Use the supplied self tappers and do the bottom one first so that the speaker is kept in place while you do the others.

speakers_02a.jpg


For the seals I undid the bolts on the bottom of the card and kept the ones at the top in place.
This avoids the card falling off etc.
As I could not use the electrical connectors supplied with the adaptor kit, I used these to hold the card off the door body :)
speakers_07a.jpg


You can see here where the water had been getting in >
speakers_08a.jpg


Its not surprising really as there is a silly well at this point where water will collect.

I made sure to add a good thick bead of silicone at this point.

Replaced bolts and job almost done.

As there is a chance of a shower over night I added tape over the window edge to try and give the sealant a long time to dry.
speakers_04a.jpg

speakers_03a.jpg



Now, one more thing, the door card is held in place by plastic spring clips, these break and distort so I would say get yourself some of these before you start.
I got mine from here >
https://www.veedubmachine.co.uk/ind...=jf7c9oe9j1107p6p9cb6md4qf6&keyword=3B0868243

There are loads of threads showing how to remove the door card from the start, bottom screws and screws inside the handle.

I did have a look at the rear tweeters, it would seem they are simply defective as they are connected but intermittent so I guess I'll have to buy a set of them (any tips?)

Rear door card was a real so and so to get off :-(

Anyway chaps, hope that helps someone else later on.

Cheers

Mike
 

Steely

semiskimmed cupra R
Dec 30, 2008
1,425
5
Doncaster
rear tweeters are £15 each for oem blaupunkt ones,

had one fail about a year back, they're an easy fix tbh, door car off and held it with 3 plastic lugs
 

mikesndbs

Active Member
Apr 3, 2010
603
23
West Sussex UK
www.youtube.com
Good guide mike. What size do those pods fit?

Is there much space in the door pannels to fit a cross over? Also, is it safe to put one in there? I mean, is it likely to get rained on?

</ben>

Hi Ben

If you mean speaker size its 16.5cm.
I guess you could put a cross over in there, anything this side of the carrier card should be fine.
I just need to get a pair of tweeters for the back now (not going to have front ones) and it will be done.

Oddly, there does not seem to be any water leaks on the back doors.
 

mikesndbs

Active Member
Apr 3, 2010
603
23
West Sussex UK
www.youtube.com
Nice guide well done for doing it yourself too, saved some pennies there.
I think you should do all 4 widows with that red tape, is a nice contrast ;)

Hi Lee, yeah I guess you are right, need to save some ££££ now as road tax is due and insurance for the other car next month and that is bound to be steep after the claim :-(

Red tape all round eh LOL
 

leon james

Meguiars is my freind
Mar 19, 2008
90
0
southampton
hiya

i did this to my car when i first got it 4 years ago and now have had nothing but problems! my speakers and too big so the magnet is cerlecting water and running it in to the car so is filling the foot wells. i now have a air bag light on as the water is afecting the side impact sensor this week end im going to take it all out and try some other i deia i have to stop it leaking.
 

mikesndbs

Active Member
Apr 3, 2010
603
23
West Sussex UK
www.youtube.com
hiya

i did this to my car when i first got it 4 years ago and now have had nothing but problems! my speakers and too big so the magnet is cerlecting water and running it in to the car so is filling the foot wells. i now have a air bag light on as the water is afecting the side impact sensor this week end im going to take it all out and try some other i deia i have to stop it leaking.

Could be your door seals to be honest, read above, I did my seals at the same time
 
Feb 26, 2009
5,275
1
Wolverhampton
Nice idea with the tape, I'll have to remember that. I wouldn't have used silicone, the previous owner of my car did the same and now I'm faced with leaking doors and a hell of a job to clean it all up before applying the butyl tape. Although compared to the original foam tape even silicone is an improvement! :D

Having said that, in my case the previous owner only sealed the edge of the panel while it was still in place, rather than actually removing it and applying it in the join like you've done. So yours might last a decent amount of time.

Did you only do the bottom edge then? On one of my back doors I found a watermark coming from about halfway up the panel, the water was actually tracking the edge of the panel as it came down, and as soon as it found a gap it came out. The bottom of the panel was bone dry with no signs of water. I don't know whether you'll find you have leaks from a bit further up on the panel?
 

LEE69

Stage 2 Revo'd
Dec 10, 2004
21,262
74
C\UK\Devon\Torquay
On one of my back doors I found a watermark coming from about halfway up the panel, the water was actually tracking the edge of the panel as it came down, and as soon as it found a gap it came out. The bottom of the panel was bone dry with no signs of water. I don't know whether you'll find you have leaks from a bit further up on the panel?

That how mine was leak started on the rear door, a fair way up the panel.
 
Feb 26, 2009
5,275
1
Wolverhampton
Hi, I did mine three sides with only the top edge not being done.
That way I could keep the top bolts in to keep it in position.

Fingers and that crossed LOL

That seems a practical solution, I think to get the top edge you'll have to open up the whole panel, and the amount of effort compared to the chances of leaking out of the top means that you did the right thing. Did you have too much trouble on the trailing edge, IE where the door lock mechanism is?

Unfortunately mine will be cleaning up the botch job first, then doing it all properly, so it's panels off for me! :(
 

pstruck

Active Member
Nov 29, 2010
76
0
Taunton, Somerset
I'm having leakage problems around one of my front speakers. The plastic speaker mount is riveted to the ancillary carrier and one of the rivet holes has broken out. This has resulted in the speaker mount coming away from the carrier. The gap is now leaking water onto the sill and I guess maybe into the front passenger footwell.
 

mikesndbs

Active Member
Apr 3, 2010
603
23
West Sussex UK
www.youtube.com
That seems a practical solution, I think to get the top edge you'll have to open up the whole panel, and the amount of effort compared to the chances of leaking out of the top means that you did the right thing. Did you have too much trouble on the trailing edge, IE where the door lock mechanism is?

Unfortunately mine will be cleaning up the botch job first, then doing it all properly, so it's panels off for me! :(

Not too bad, I cut the nozzle so I could lay a nice bead all the way around the card, quite a genourous one at that, and just used a damp cloth to take away the excess when I bolted it back up again.
Seems fine.

I also took the time to fit scoops over the top of the speaker backs.
I used two small vets animal neck cones (type to stop dog or cat licking a wound) and cut them down a bit, I used a combination of hot melt glue and more silicon to fix them so that water would be deflected away from the backs of the speakers.

Not sure a audio fan would approve but it sounds fine to me?
 
Progressive Parts, performance parts and tuning specialists