Alright, so this morning I determined that the rattle noise I was hearing near the passenger seat was coming from my H/K speaker, a documented problem. I know how to fix it and how to remove the door panel, but my question is this - when you put the door panel back on, can you tell that it was ever removed? Does it fit snugly as if it was new? I'm a little scared to take the panel off 'cause my car is pretty new and I don't want to screw anything up. Someone reassure me!

 

Why not have the dealer fix it under warranty?

 

Ive had door panels off many times and never had any issues. Still look like new also. Just be careful when removing the armrest on that horizontal bar to not scratch the plastic. Make sure to put some tape in front of that piece to protect the plastic. Then it is 4 torx screws and numerous push clips.

 

I don't wanna worry with making an appointment, etc., etc. And from what I've read about this problem, most dealers don't fix it properly and it ends up coming back. I also just got my MINI back from the body shop after not being able to drive it for two weeks, so the last thing I want to do is not have it again.

 

The door panel will not show any signs of removal. But, be very careful about removing the armrest, as the paint under it can be scratched. As noted above, protect the paint with masking tape. Here's a tutorial that I think will be very helpful: http://www.jwardell.com/mini/hkdoor.html

 

Yup, that's the first one I checked out this morning. I also read the one at MINI2 and miniguide.org.

 

I followed this same guide for adding sound deadening, padding the h/k's and adding the speaker baffle.

It is a perfect guide. This was the first mod I did to my car and it was like getting a whole new set of speakers. I can now turn the bass all the way up to it's highest setting on even hip-hop albums and it wont rattle. I would still suggest not doing so as it is a good way to blow your speakers however they definatly sound 200% better then they did stock.

It took me about 1.5 hours between cutting the felt etc etc.

I would highly suggest you do this and follow mr. wardell's how-to down to the letter. In my opinion the worst that could happen is that you break a retaining clip while removing the door. Even though I was nervous as heck when i was doing it that this would happen. I didn't even tweak one at all.

gl and let us know how it goes.

erik

 

Thanks for the info, Erik. I'm going to try this out this afternoon, so I'll be sure to post how it goes.

A question - when taking off the door panel, what about the puddle light? Does it need to be removed first?

 

yeah diconnecting the puddle light is prob the easiest part to forget. Fortunatly if you follow that walk through it's fairly easy to get to. When removing the door panel you remove the bottom clips and the top ones act almost like a hinge. I started on the side away from the door's actual hinge at the front quarter panel. Once you get the first 2-3 clips off you should be able to stick your fingers in and unplug the puddle light. I actually forgot to do this not once but on both doors and i just pryed the door panel off without even touching the puddle light. Luckily it kindof unpluged itself with no damage to it and it still seems to work fine.

again good luck and glad i could help.

Oh. btw there are two parts of removing the door panel that will make the sweat bead up quick and make your stomach sink (at least the first time you do it). The first one is getting the last screw out of the door... the one that is under the leatherette padded arm rest. I used an old plastic paint scraper that i trimmed down and flattened with a dremel to get at it. A good pair of sheet metal strips should do the same (my little home made tool for reaching it was about 7/8'ths of an inch) The only reason it got me going was because i thought i was going to break the clip under the door since i couldn't see it. In reality that thing is very strong and you shouldnt' worry. The second and most obvious part is when you pry the actual panel off. Jwardell's directions work perfectly on how you pry it up but it still feels like you are going to break something for a second. However once you do it the first time you will feel the pressure that it takes and it wont scare you a second time.

Oh yeah and one more thing. The felt application looks a little decieving on the josh mini h/k fix how-to. When you apply it like he did... which is exactly how I did it, you end up being able to see the felt stick out under the panel, which is really the point of this so you pad where the panel meets the metal, but i digress. You will see how this happens as there is actually some metal parts of hte door you can see that stick out below the rubber or w/e they are interior panels. I got black felt so you can see it when the door is all the way open. So it might have been smarter for me to get red felt since it would blend it but realistically it is barley visible and i think the only one that will notice it is me since I put it there. I hope that made sense.

 

I haven't done the extra 05 armrest step myself but...I can assure you it is very easy and nothing to be afraid off. I've had mine off several times with no trouble. People warn to be careful not to break the tabs of the small round reflectors but I've never had trouble with them either. The "scary" parts are using a big padded screwdriver to pry the bottom..a good bit of force before it pops, and then you kind of have to wrestle the top out--easiest with the window down and you lift the panel up towards 90 degrees, it should pop out of the top.

 

now that we have the man of the hour in the thread Josh. I want to thank you for your how-to. It realistically saved me from buying new speakers and having them do the same thing and then being really po'd... Your attention to detail saved me.

thanks again
erik

 

I'm back inside from just doing it, and wow! Very easy. A big thanks to Josh and Erik for their help. Josh, your walkthrough was printed out and next to me the entire time. Erik, your tips were immensely helpful.

When I first started getting my tools together, I realized I didn't have anything to slide under the armrest to pop it off. And then it hit me - we have fudge pops in the freezer! So I first sat down and enjoyed a fudge pop . After I finished it, I wrapped the stick in tape and it worked like a charm. The rest was easy. I didn't even have to use a screwdriver to pry the door panel off - I was able to get it with my fingers. Total time (including eating the fudge pop) = 1 hour.

 

sweet I'm glad it went well and I'm very happy to help. It's a rare occasion when I can contribute to the welth of knowledge that is NAM.

erik

 

Glad it went easy...let's hope no one notices the chocolate in the armrest!

 

That looks like great info and since Im about to rip my panels off to paint the handles I figure I may as well do this because the rattle from the speakers is so annoying! Anyhow I noticed on the instructions it said to get 10 of the sheets of the dynamat stuff but they are 10x10, do I really need that much? It only covers the top half of the door right? Because I think it is cheaper then to just get the big 32x54 sheet for $25

 

I'll leave the Dyanmat advice to the others, as I didn't put any in my door. I thought about it, but was more concerned with fixing the rattle. The felt alone took care of that.

 

I think i used 5 sheets of the asphalt stuff that josh had listed on his web page. I dont remember the dimensions but he had it listed there so you can scope it out. Really it didn't take much and I think that most of the silencing work is being done by the felt but since u have it open the dynamat can't hurt.

P.s. Make sure to clean the inside of the metal door panels out well with some sort of paint safe solvent cleaner because mine were almost slimey and the sound deadening material would barley stick on.

gl

 

why oh why didn't I find this thread one set of speakers and one replacement amp ago? the San Antonio Mini Dealer is officially on my eternal hate list - not only did they tell me "this isn't a harmon kardon stereo" (not true!), but they told me "no question, your speakers are blown" and "we will not cover anything under warranty". Uh, guys, there's a technical service bulletin on this! Oh well, I still have the old stuff, maybe I can recoup some of the cost. Thanks for the great directions, guess I know what I'm doing next Saturday.