Hey guys,

Need some help here. I'm wondering if there are any tricks to running speaker wire into the doors from the car. I tried to pull the little rubber tubing off (that runs between car and door) but it won't pull all the way out. Also tried to get a socket into the bolt on the top of said rubber thing but I can't get the right angle to loosen it. Thought about drilling or cutting into the rubber but don't want to do that if I don't have to. Anybody done this???

TIA,

Andrew

 

I just used the stock wires. Are you trying to put in something heavier?

 

haha, well, no..but I'm tapping into the signal there as opposed to the rear (supposedly clipped on stock system) or pulling the whole dash apart.

 

nobody's routed their own speaker wires?

 

found this thread about going thru the rubber grommet, but I can't figure out how that is done. There is no way I can get a drill in there, on either side. Tried poking a hole with a hanger to no avail. Anybody?

 

Andrew,

You can use a socket wrench to take the bolt out. I purchased one from Sears.
I was able to run two sets of 16 gauge wire without too much difficulty. Anything bigger probably will not work. You will need to cut a piece off of the harness to get the wires pass through. When it's all done, it's water tight and looks like nothing was altered.

 

Thanks, raz. I was able to get the bolt off with a socket wrench and can disconnect the wiring harness without issue.

What seems to be the hard part is getting through the rubber that surrounds the big chunk of wires inside the car. It has a really tight grip around the wiring loom and I can't seem to push any wires through it. Did you cut into this rubber? If is so, how? (from which end?) Can you get around it some how? I can't see into the hole from the door side (due to the door being in the way).

Thanks a bunch!

 

poolemac -

I used to a wire clothes hanger bent into a small loop at the end. Fish the hanger through the door side of the the rubber tubing. Once it comes out the other end, thread your speaker cable through (about two inches or so) like you were threading a needle. Then, pull the clothes hanger back through. It helps if you lubricate the speaker cable and hanger (I used some 5W30 motoroil). Also, it wrapped the hanger in electrical tape where the looped end meets the rest of the hanger so that I wasn't snagging any other wires in the process. I hope this makes sense.

Good luck.

 

Poolemac -

Actually, I just read your post more closely, and my previous response may have been, well, unresponsive. I actually just pierced the large rubber grommet to get access to the speaker plug. As long as you don't cut a gaping hole, there should be no problem.

Again, good luck.

 

chilisport--your posts were extremely helpful. I hadn't even gotten to the tube between the door and car yet but that will be an important piece of the puzzle as well. How did you cut the rubber grommet though, did you just poke it with the same clotheshanger?

I'll give it a shot this weekend... thank you!

 

I actually just used an exacto knife. It really shouldn't be a big deal since water isn't a problem there.

There is one thing I am curious about: If all you need to do is access the speaker leads running to the door, why are trying to get through the grommet?

 

I think this would come in handy for me also. I put in some Polk Momo 6.5 components and the crossover is huge. It would be nice to have the crossover in the car, instead of in the door. Can you find the stock speaker wire inside the car, before it goes into the door without having to take apart the dash?

 

I'm not sure; hopefully someone with a 2nd gen model will answer that qestion for you. In the 1st gen model (and, based upon the posts above, it sounds like the 2nd gen also), you can excess the wiring by reaching behind the glovebox or in the drop down panel under the steering wheel.

 

I kinda did the same thing chilisport did. I cut a tiny hole in the rubber and put the wires through. I used some steel wire to route the wires through the rubber boots and tubing(started wire from inside the car).
I've included a very rough drawing of what i did to the harness to have the speaker wire fit through and still have a water tight seal. Let me know if you have any questions.

 

thanks guys. I was able to get it to work by poking a straightened clothes hanger through and then making a loop around the wires at the other side, then yanking through. Thanks!

 

There's one problem: only one cable goes into the door. It is splitted inside the door in parallel for both speakers. A crossover in the car would require two cable pairs.

 

Not very easily. It's kinda up in there and the wires come in from the door and straight up towards the dash, and they're part of a huge bundle of wires covered with tape. It'd be pretty tough to try to split that out.