Rewiring Front Door Speakers

[GoldnKnight22]

Hey Rick, nice to hear from ya. Thanks.

UPDATE: So last night I got the wires through one of those bitches. OMG it sucked. Rick, you hit the nail on the head, the friction is the biggest problem. And the fact that the tubing was pretty damn tight, not much room for the double-12awg wire to fit through there. The upper grommet end still isn't fitting back into the door jamb quite right. Door side was no problem.

Taking the doors apart is way easier than I thought, and even easier to put back together, luckily.

One set back... the solder I'm using simply isn't working. It won't adhere to the speaker terminal, it just balls up and rolls off and flows onto the wire only. SOOO I got the wire through to the door but can't even get the speaker wired up.

***Has anyone ran into soldering issues? Is silver-based solder not what I should be using??***

Thanks guys. Sorry for long post.

 

[talontsiawd]

One set back... the solder I'm using simply isn't working. It won't adhere to the speaker terminal, it just balls up and rolls off and flows onto the wire only. SOOO I got the wire through to the door but can't even get the speaker wired up.

***Has anyone ran into soldering issues? Is silver-based solder not what I should be using??***

Thanks guys. Sorry for long post.

solder usually won't work well on speaker terminals. Either wrap them tight and solder, or crimp a connector on the wire (what i recommend) and just use a connector. Then you don't have to unsolder it to pull them out.

 

[GoldnKnight22]

Ahh, okay. Thanks Matt.

My question then would be... if you are using one of those small *** connectors, is it negating any benefit of 12awg wiring? Seems like it's all just going to the tiny terminals anyways.

I gotta get me some of those double barrel connector things...

 

[talontsiawd]

Ahh, okay. Thanks Matt.

My question then would be... if you are using one of those small *** connectors, is it negating any benefit of 12awg wiring? Seems like it's all just going to the tiny terminals anyways.

I gotta get me some of those double barrel connector things...

I've had speakers that came with what looks to be about 12 gauge wire and they had connectors. If you buy them from like Radioshack, you will also have to buy ones that fit 12 gauge wire so i wouldn't worry much.

 

[I4 CG5]

Plus I wouldn't solder the wires directly to the speaker terminals, since you will plan on taking them out eventually, whether it be when you sell the car or want to upgrade. Definitely use a connector. I like to use heat shrink to insulate the connector instead of electrical tape because it looks a lot cleaner.

Those grommets kind be a huge PITA to get back in. I had to fold mine and push them in with a screwdriver to get them back in.

 

[dorkino]

I just finished running 12awg wire thru my door grommets. Despite being 12awg copper, the wire is enclosed in a round plastic casing that makes it about the same thickness of 4awg wire (http://www.knukonceptz.com/productDetail.cfm?prodID=KAR12SS).

First thing I did was remove one of the 12mm bolt holding the door to the car on that little black greasy thing that slides in and out of the door. This gave me maybe only 1 or 2cm more room to work with, but every little bit helped when messing with those grommets. I then pulled the grommets from the door and car.

It was fairly easy to get through the grommets themselves using a bit of vaseline and a pair of needle-nose pliers to pull it through the end. The driver side was a bit easier to work with because there isn't much in the way of the wire once it comes through the cabin, so I ran it from the door to the cabin, going up through the grommet. Putting the grommets back into the door and cabin were fairly easy... the cabin side one was a pain, but I was able to reach thru behind it under the dash and pull it into place.

The passenger side was a whole different story, because the blower motor and glove box are in the way. I also ran it from the door into the cabin on this side, but the only way I could find the wire once I pushed it into the cabin was to angle it back towards me (towards the rear of the car) immediately after inserting it in the cabin hole, and sticking my left hand thru the fuse box back towards the opening until my fingers met the wire. I then ran the wire down thru an opening in the fuse box area. Putting the passenger side grommets back was a huge pain. The door grommet was as easy as the drivers side, but the cabin one took about 10-15 minutes of messing with until I felt comfortable that it was back in place - or at least as good as its going to get.

 

[GoldnKnight22]

+1 to all

 

[matty2013]

Your probably soldering with I think it's called 40/60, has more Tin in it. Tin has a higher melting point than lead, so it's very difficult to solder with. Are you using soldering flux to clean all the surfaces before starting?

 

[GoldnKnight22]

I haven't used flux although I know I should. I got all my other supplies from my work, but I couldn't swipe a bottle of flux from there so I didn't bother to pick it up from a store.

Flux is a miracle-worker, so it will probably make everything better if I use it, but I just figured it technically should be wetting to the speakers termanals anyways. Guess not.

thanks for the input.

-1 for my laziness. -_-

 

[matty2013]

I'm gonna tackle this on friday, wish me luck