I had enough pieces together to get started with my car stereo install this weekend. I've decided to document the process 1) for my own records and 2) to help others who might decide to do the same.
*DISCLAIMER* - I don't do this professionally nor do I assume any liability if you go and muck something up
I will try to be as comprehensive as I can. Step by step guides are hard to find these days. Maybe I'm just a bit slow.
Tasks/Goals
- Change out the speakers
- Run amp wiring to the back
- Figure out where/how to mount my amp for the subwoofer
- Swap out the stock stereo for a Pioneer AVH-P4300
- Retain steering wheel controls
- Integrate an HD radio tuner
I started with the door speakers. I've never removed a door panel before in my life but it wasn't too bad. Let's start with the front doors.
Pop off the plastic piece that covers the wiring to the side mirror. It literally just comes off if you pull on it.
There are two screws that need to be removed. They are both hiding behind plastic pieces. One is by the door handle, and the other is by the door cubby (what you pull to close the door). Take a small flat head screwdriver and pop the plastic covers off. You'll need a phillips #2 screwdriver to take the screws out.
After you've put those screws somewhere safe, it's time to start prying the panel off. On the bottom of the door panel, by the light, there's a gap built in between the panel and door frame. It's about 2" wide. You can slide a trim tool, a flat head screw driver, or anything that'll fit and start the process. I put trim tool in about 2" and applied moderate pressure until I heard the plastic rivet pop out. It's very audible, so you'll know when it happens.
Start making your way to the front of the door panel popping the rivets as they come, and then make your way to the back of the panel. You should have the entire bottom section of the panel free now. You can use your hands once you've gotten 2 or 3 rivets out. After the bottom section is good, work on the front starting from the bottom and making your way to the top. Then get the back section again, bottom to the top. After all that you can just lift the panel and it'll separate itself from the door frame.
Don't drop the door panel just yet. It's still attached! In order to get the panel free from the frame you'll have to disconnect a few things. Let's start with the locks and door handle. There are two metal wires that run through sleeving and terminate with metal balls. Pop them out just by lifting them from their plastic guide. You may have to maneuver them a bit so they release. Just so you remember, the blue one is your lock. If you need to lock your door, pull on the ball. If you need to open the door, pull on the other wire. Remember to pull on the wire itself, not the sleeve.
There's two wiring harnesses that need to be disconnected. There's the fat one that connects to the power window and lock switches. Then there's the power wire for the ground light. Both release by pressing in on the plastic tab and pulling out at the same time.
Upon completing that, huzzah! your door panel is free!
Let's examine that stock speaker. It's secured in an integrated mounting basket so the woofer cone doesn't sit parallel with the door's sheet metal. It's offset at an angle. The basket uses 3 screws to secure itself to the panel. Standard aftermarket speakers mount with 4 screws, so that means your spacing angle is completely off; 120 degrees instead of 90.
After removing the speaker we can see that's basically a piece of **** (not that your ears couldn't tell you that already). The magnet is the size of a quarter. Not to mention the impregnated paper spider is super stiff. I'm replacing them with Polk db6501 (92dB @1w). They were $105/pair shipped. Not very deep mounting depth and have a power handling of 100w RMS and 300w peak. This is not all that relevant as I plan on using the integrated amp in the headunit. 14w RMS is plenty imo. 92dB @1w translates to 103.4dB @14w RMS with headroom for transients.
You can see that the magnet on the db6501 is considerably bigger. This is meaningful to us because of the stronger B (magnetic) field. The permanent magnet is what the voice coil (electro magnet) pushes on as the signal changes. Stronger B field means better control of the cone and less distortion as you get non-linear feedback once the voice coil starts leaving the B field (the reason why they make progressive spiders). Heck, the db6501 even sticks to the door frame with just the magnet, and that's WITH a metal plate on the back as well.
If you plan on adding sound "deadening" materials to the door as well, keep reading, otherwise you can skip this bit.
There's going to be a big plastic sheet on the door. It's the vapor barrier. It serves to block water from getting to the inside. Most newer basements have one. My house is almost 100 years old and does not... that in addition to poor grading in my back yard gives me vapor transmission through my foundation, causing bricks to spald and paint to bubble. But I digress...
Let's rip it all out!
Hint. Wear a pair of disposable gloves while doing this. I didn't and the black adhesive, goop, tar, caulk, whatever it is, is now stuck to my hands. It's some gnarly stuff.
After you've finished junking that plastic you'll be left with a clean door frame to start adding more crap to.
People "deaden" their door frame to stop rattling and improve the sound coming from the speakers. How does this work per say? Well the door's sheet metal is like the face of a drum. It will vibrate at certain frequencies (fundamental to the mass and size of the object). By changing the mass of the object we can shift its resonant frequency. That's what that Dynamat stuff does. It's sticky (asphalt base) and heavy. I ordered a pack of
RaamMat for $90 and that should cover all 4 of my doors. The other piece to this is laying foam on the door frame as well. Any closed cell foam will do as it serves two purposes 1) it's waterproof and is our new pseudo vapor barrier 2) it absorbs errant sound, making your interior cabin quieter. Didn't you notice the sheets of white open cell foam already present behind the door panel? Same idea, absorb sound.
I'm no expert in putting this stuff on. I've seen some crazy installs where people covered every single exposed inch and then went back for a second layer. Not I. 80% of the results in 20% of the effort

I just slapped it on where I could. I did however, try and bulk up the metal panels right next to the speaker cut out. I slapped some on the exterior panel, the backside of the interior panel, and frontside of the interior panel. I think I went through 5 sheets.
It only took me about 5 minutes for each door to get the trim panel off. Laying strips of sticky aluminum takes much much longer. I got through 1 door and decided to take a break and ride the motorcycle around town since the afternoon was gorgeous.
The next issue is how to mount the new speakers? I know some forum members have built new mounting plates out of wood. 'nikbrewer' even has a cnc machine in garage so he fab'd up a new bracket in no time flat. Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I don't have a cnc machine in my garage (I can keep on wishing can't I?). I decided to reuse the old crappy plastic baskets. That involves ripping out the old speaker, trimming the top flush, and then adhering the new speaker to the basket.
I used a razor blade and raw man strength to pulverize the pathetic stock speaker cone. Cut out the foam surround and then rip the cone out. I used a dremel to cut through the 'spokes' that attached the magnet to the basket. While going through the rear set of speakers I found out a pair of tin snips is 5x faster (I'm sure heavy duty shears could work too). I also used the dremel to cut out the lip on the top. I did this so the new speaker could sit flush where the old cone was.
Here is the basket all prepped up.
You can see that even with the new speaker in it, it's not as deep as the older stock speaker.
I used RTV (room temperature vulcanizing) silicone to adhere the new speakers to the old baskets. Silicone is sticky, durable, and relatively cheap. The smell of vinegar during curing is acetic acid (lovely) and is normal. I also picked it because I had a tube of it on hand. I use it primarily for high heat applications; exhaust system on my motorcycle and securing power LED heatsinks to a custom tail light. You can get it at any hardware store for a few bucks.
If you choose to go this route. Lay a thick bead on the surface of your basket and then immediately set the speaker down on it. Since the front's are slanted I raised them by the basket tabs so the weight of the speaker would compress the silicone as it was curing.
I should be able to stick those back in tomorrow.
Also found a spare grommet in the firewall... not sure if I can use it to route the amp wire but will find out later. I think the next step will be getting the doors finished as far as applying raammat and closed cell foam.