Which tools do you use to take the parts out?

 

Not sure which parts you're referring to --

A good set of torx bits is pretty much a necessity; I seem to use the T20 and T27 a lot, with T40 or so for larger things such as seats. I have a 6-inch offset driver that's great for the tight and weird spots (like the two torx heads holding the back of the speedo assembly). For the rest, the ryobi impact driver with an extension is the way to go. For pulling body panels, someone mentioned a plastic putty knife -- I have a plastic tool I think came from a wallpaper set. That combined with fingers and my swiss army knife seem to do the trick.

Oh, and all the pics that are posted here, and the diagrams at realoem -- look before you leap!

 

k6rtm,
Was your Polk Audio DG651S install pretty straightforward? I have yet to do any audio work on any of my cars. Was your's just a direct speaker swap using the same connectors? What else is involved?

Tank

'08 MCS w/stock audio on order

 

I was referring to the above.
Can it be removed only by hand?

 

Can panels be removed only by hand? For the door panels, yes -- I did one of the doors entirely by hand, and used the tool to start the other one. I was worried about putting gouges into the plastic trim.

In disassembling the dash, I also used a hook tool made from large gauge (for me, about 20 gauge) J-shaped hook, to pop some of the trim panels loose.

 

The plastic putty knife made my removing the round plastic piece around the four-inch-speaker much easier ... aaaand was also a big help for getting a finger-grip under the panels or feeling-around behind a panel for snaps that you can't see. Best part: no visible scratches.

 

Can u post a picture of it?

 

Pic attached ... and a follow-on installation thought: once you have the door panel off, take a minute and stick some masking tape markers on the visible side of the panel where the hidden plastic clips are located: that way, when you go to reattach the panel to the door, you know where to push and how many "pops" you should hear as it goes back on.

 

Tank--

I'd say it was pretty straightforward. The process of pulling the door panels is well documented here -- pull the magic little pin, then work the trim off, being careful when you take the courtesy lamp out of the bottom of the trim piece, as that sucker will be hot!

The mounting holes for the new speaker don't line up with the mounting holes for the old speaker. Big surprise.

I used the self-tapping screws that came with the new speakers and my Ryobi impact driver to carefully attach the speaker to the plastic inner frame -- you can see the 4 screws pretty easily in the picture. Be careful -- you only want to put holes where you need them! Don't overtighten -- you can strip the plastic!

Connecting the beast -- the OEM speaker uses a push-on connector that's pretty clever. And it won't quite work for the new one, of course. I took a piece of 18-gauge wire and soldered it to the speaker terminals. Drilled a small hole in the plastic door frame to route the wire. Mounted the speaker.

I tinned the other end of the wire (using silver solder, but normal 60/40 solder would work), essentially turning the ends of the wire into plugs (the silver solder leaves things a bit harder, and silver is still conductive in oxide form). I pushed those tinned ends into the OEM connector, making sure I had positive on the speaker to positive on the connector. This gives me a connection that's quite secure, mechanically and electrically, mimicing the OEM connection scheme. There are diagrams referenced in various threads that show the sound system diagram -- remember that this is a German car, so the wire colours in the diagram are in German! Doing things this way leaves the OEM connector intact. This is clearly visible in one of my pictures.

An alternative would be to snip off the OEM connector, carefully and cleanly slice on an additional chunk of wire, and put push-on connectors at the end of that to connect to the speaker. Where possible, I like to leave the OEM stuff intact.

If I was to do it again, I'd put foam baffles on the speakers, routing the wire in through the bottom of the baffle. I'd do the baffles not necessarily to improve sound quality, but to keep the damn speakers dry! (That's why you route the wire in through the bottom of the baffle -- leaving the top of the baffle intact so any water that gets into the door doesn't get to the speaker, and if any water does get in, it can drain out the bottom.)

Summarizing, you have to be willing to pot new holes in your car doors. This has to be done carefully -- if you slip up, you're either going to screw up the car door (if you do, rotate the speaker a bit and try again) or damage the speaker (nasty word time). You also have to be comfortable with soldering, or have someone who is good at soldering do that part of the job for you.

The results are well worth it! I've got 6x9 Polk DB691 speakers arriving in a couple of days, but won't have time to install them until the 4th of July weekend.

Have fun!

 

Thanks for the detailed rundown of the process. I appreciate your thoroughness. I found a vendor for the DB 651S on ebay that looks like a pretty good deal. I'll let you know how it all works out if I decide to upgrade. In the meantime, I'm waiting on an early Aug build. The good news is that it only takes a few days to get here once it leaves the factory floor, vice a few weeks to the states. Still, a six-week wait is a six-week wait...

Tank

 

I'm done with day two of my install; about 70% done I'd say. I've got the rear interior out still; but the Focal 690CVX 6x9's are installed and wired. Dash has been apart and the speaker leads re-routed towards under the passenger seat. (Dash is back together, but I have 3 extra screws and the driver's side A pillar has a small gap at he bottom; something isn't seated right somewhere.) Amp wiring is routed; but nt connected. Found almost all the information I needed in this thread.

I've had the passenger side door apart today and the wiring for the Focal 3-ways is in place. I think I made a mistake in reconnecting the battery while the door wiring was disconnected. I had the windows down and needed them up to get the wires ran. I wasn't thinking and reconnected the battery with out the wiring attached. I reconnected it; there were some odd noises but everything seemed to work ok.

HOWEVER; later this afternoon I had to stop for the day to go pick someone up at the airport. I put the battery back in, put all the weather seals back in place and started up the car. AND THEN I NOTICED THE AIRBAG LIGHT...!!!

And of course it won't go out. :( I had read about being careful not to have the seat disconnected with the power on; but not anything about the door! Does anybody know if there is something in the door that could have triggered this?

I called the dealer today shortly after 5pm; but of course all the technicians were gone for the day. The service manager said I should call back on Monday and they'd see when the could work me in. I'm tempted to try tomorrow; but I don't think they have a full staff in on Saturday's and probably couldn't get me in anyway. Besides; I still have the driver's side door to wire, all the front speakers to install; plus wiring up the amp. Since I plan to put the amp under the seat; I don't want to risk triggering the light again. Might as well wait until next week after I'm completely done.

If anybody has any input, please advise. Not sure if this is really the right thread for this; but thought I'd post it here as a potential warning to anyone else.

Once I get word from the dealership what the code indicates is at fault I'll let the group know if that was the problem; or if there was something else. (I hope not something else; I really didn't touch (disconnect) any of the airbags, although I did have all the pillar covers off.

 

Thanks to all of you who have posted hints, suggestions, questions, and curses on this thread! I did the front speakers (replacing the 6.5s with Polk DB651s) a few weeks ago, and the information here made it relatively painless.

So I thought I'd get started tonight, get everything taken apart, and install my new rear speakers (Polk DB691) tomorrow, and reassemble everything.

Thanks to your explanations, pictures, and links to more pictures and explanations, I got the whole thing done in about two and a half hours, and that's from start to finish with no parts left over, except for a pair of old 6x9 speakers!

And it is worth it! Sounds much better!

 

Just finished replacing all my HiFi speakers with Infinity Reference and it makes a HUGE difference. To get the back left side 6x9 I only pulled out the bottom of the rear seat and was able to prop the panel out far enough to replace the speaker. The right side 6x9 is in the club door and was easy to get to by popping off the panel. I had originally replaced the 6.5" and tweeters in the front but that left a large midrange missing so I went ahead with the 4" speakers and 6x9/tweets in the back.

Thanks for all the documentation and confidence gained by doing this myself. I am eyeing my wife's Cabrio now for panels to pop off and replace or paint!

 

Can you list the model numbers to size so that i can get an idea of what you used. I currently have some Infinity Reference Series in my truck that i am thinking of removing before i sell the truck

Thanks

 

Whew..... what a great thread! I finally was able to read it all... That being said, do you guys think this 4" driver will fit? It's pretty popular with the audiophiles at diymobileaudio.com and I want to try it even though it's 4ohm. In a 3 way setup, it seems pretty versatile and I'm guessing it should work well with however the OEM crossovers are set.

Dayton Audio RS100 @ $26 each
http://www.parts-express.com/pdf/295-378s.pdf

 

Were you able to use the OEM Mini speaker grills or did you have to use the JL grills for the 4" and 6 1/2" speakers? I'm thinking about doing this upgrade myself. Thanks!

 

I did the 6 1/2 inch speakers, and the existing grills work just fine. Didn't do the 4 inch ones. Replacing the 6x9 inch rear speakers, while a PITA involving removing the rear seats, is well worth it -- and you only need to do that ONCE!

 

The grilles built into the doors work just fine for the JLs. PM me if you want some DETAILED instructions on "JLs in the front"; I took notes as I went, and can forward those (rather than clog-up the thread any MORE!)

 

Seems to me that a thread on "Installing JL Spealers" would be useful to anyone considering JLs. It would be a lot more pertinent that much of what gets posted here.

 

Howdy all,

I replaced the OEM Woof's with a pair of 6.5" Vifa's awhile back ( pulled them as they didn't integrate well, 8ohm, poor "free air" response, etc., got a pair of Dynaudio MW162's to go in their place, I have the OEM's back in for now. I've got a pair of Vifa soft domes hot glued in place of the OEM tweeters, Their very nice.. and of course I built my own passive crossovers, but that's not why I'm replying here at the moment.. )

I wanted to point out that the foam ring seal for the OEM door woofers that are on the door panel grill ( facing, and sealing the front of the OEM woofer with the door panel ) might come into contact with a replacement speaker's surround ( the rubber half round ring that attaches the speaker's cone to the speaker's frame ). Ya don't want that to happen.. I used my hot glue gun and pulled and glued the foam outward so it wouldn't touch the surround. That way it still acts as a seal. It was a PITA, but worth it. Patience is the key.. You can check to see if the foam will interfere with the speaker by eyeballing the speaker and grill next to each other..

Bill in P.G.

 

I agree, as these seem like a popular choice, especially for those who can not do the Focals...

 

I purchased a set of those RS100 that I posted above. According to my calculations they should fit. The audiophiles at diymobileaudio.com highly recommend these, so I really think these would be a better substitute to most 3.5" - 4" midranges. Aside from their price, many have said they perform to any woofer 4 to 5 times their price. If you're looking for a 6.5" woofer, there's some guy on that same forum that sells OEM Image Dynamic mids for $90 shipped. I've had Focal Utopias before and actually prefer the ID midbass more than the Focals...

 

Can those that upgraded their speakers comment on the maximum mounting depth of the 3.5" - 4" speaker and the 6.5" woofer? Or perhaps describe which speaker they used and how much mounting depth they had left? I'm just trying to get an idea of the max. mounting depth.

According to OutMotoring,

Midbass - 5.25" one ways with a 5.5" opening for the basket. The mounting depth is about 3.125". You can up to a 6.5" in the lower door as long as the basket opening is no bigger than 5.5"
Midrange - 3.5" one ways with a 3 -5/8 opening for the basket. Mounting depth is 2.25"

 

Fair enough; here's what I've been PMing to folks who asked ... might as well share!

Originally Posted by basil49
This is for JL Audio TR400-CXis and TR650-CXis into an R56 with the NON-hifi audio system.
These are MY experiences, sooooo: caveat emptor!
(That's Latin for "buyer beware" / don't blame me if you mess up)

Go to the FIRST post in the thread https://www.northamericanmotoring.com/for...ad.php?t=95211
for the basics of getting the door panels off.
You'll also need a wire cutter/stripper, a crimping-tool, a drill, a couple of screwdrivers, a knife or scissors, and maybe a few screws that aren't included.
I also recommend that you spend another $1 and get a stiff PLASTIC 1.5-inch putty knife to help you get the plastic 4" speaker domes off the doors -- it'll give you the leverage you need to pop them off the door without scratches.
It only took me two hours to do everything -- but give yourself plenty of time that day (start in the morning) in case you need to run somewhere for parts or MINI-dealer-assistance.

JL speakers come with four crimp-connectors with blue plastic jackets. Go get a crimping tool ($5-7) at the hardware store, cut the factory connector off close, strip about a quarter-inch of wire off, and use the "blue dot" part of the crimping tool (get it?) to crimp the new connectors on to the bare wire ends. (When you crimp, place the crimping jaws up as far as you can on the connector jacket as possible, right below where the bare wire end is juuuuuust peeking out of the jacket. If you're not happy with the crimp after that, give it a second squeeze with the "red dot" part of the crimper, which is a little tighter.) The speakers and connectors are polarized: + is the wide one, - is the narrow one. If you mess one up, you can buy more crimp-connectors at RadioShack. If you end up with connectors with red plastic jackets, use just the "red dot" part of the crimper.

YMMV, but on MY 2007 R56 non-hifi, my color-codes are:
Left front lower: black/redstripe +, black/violetstripe -
Left front upper: blue/whitestripe +, blue/brownstripe -
Right front lower: yellow/brownstripe +, yellow/blackstripe -
Right front upper: blue/blackstripe +, blue/brownstripe -
(update: these color-codes now known to be good for 2009 R56 non-hifi also -- which makes me think that 2008 R56s will be the same.)

Remove the old upper speaker. The new upper (4 inch) JL speaker has four mounting corners, each with a hole; you'll want to cut off one of those four corners, and drill ONE small hole in the door plastic to match up with the second corner; existing door holes will match up with the third and fourth speaker-mounting-corners (you'll see -- do a dry-fit before you cut anything.) Orient that speaker so that the connectors point toward the upper-front-corners of the doors; use three of the four original MINI screws to mount that new speaker.

The connector for the old lower (6.5 inch) speaker is actually on the front edge of the speaker -- not in back and near the coil, like most -- so the new lower needs to have the wires run BEHIND the door-plastic BEFORE YOU ADD THE CRIMP CONNECTORS. Remove that old speaker, cut off its connector, GENTLY cut back a couple of inches of the black fiber wrapper on the harness to get about two more inches of slack, drill a 1/8-inch hole at about 12-o'clock position and about an inch back from the edge of the door-plastic speaker opening, thread the two wires down into that hole to get them behind the door plastic, and THEN strip and add the connectors. That speaker will not match up with any factory screwholes, so do a dry-fit again to see where it sits best, mark four holes with a pencil on the door plastic through the metal speaker ring, drill SMALL pilot holes, and use #6 or #8 x 1/2-inch self-tapping roundhead screws (hardware store) to attach. Be gentle with the screws; they'll strip the plastic easily if you crank them too hard.
(update: alternate option to get the wires behind the door-plastic: there's a quarter-sized rubber grommet near the 6.5" speaker; poke a TINY hole in that and thread the wires through there -- then add the connectors.)

I'm an engineer, so I tend to be very methodical ...
-- do one door at a time, starting with the passenger door so that you get used to monkeying with the doorpanel snaps (because the driver-door is a PITA with that mirror-switch).
-- the mirror-switch is manufactured to come apart easily; be gentle and be prepared! If it does come apart, go to posts 345 and 346 in the thread for photos of how to reassemble!
-- when you get the door panel off, take 4-5 bits of masking tape and mark on the visible side of the door panel the spots where the pop-in-clips sit on the HIDDEN side; that way, you'll know where the clips are and how many places to PUSH on the panel to pop it back into place on the reinstall.
-- do one speaker at a time, and test each speaker with the stereo before you bolt it in (which implies that you don't disconnect the battery -- so work carefully, and turn the ignition off between tests)
-- If you wanna make the install really solid, put a SMALL drop of silicone caulk underneath the heads of each of the mounting screws and on the hole you drilled for the wire; you won't need more than that.
-- DON'T FORGET to plug the wires back in for the lower-door-edge-lights before you snap the panel back on the door.

good luck!

 

Has anyone done an install going from the standard system to one with tweeters on the A-pillars? I notice that newministuff.com has some kits with replacement (Hifi) A-pillars, tweeters, and harnesses in them.