Discovered a free improvement at the weekend.

Removed one of the side panels in the boot to see if there was an easy way to fit a 4" Pioneer co-axial I had the option on.

There isn't, as the holes just won't line up, but I spotted something else!

Over the cone, stuck to the underside of the trim grille, is a "felt" like material, covering the speaker aperture.

Knowing that anything restricting the movement of air \ sound is "a bad thing" decided to remove it, just on one side, and refit the standard cone and trim assembly.

Had a listen, in the car, with fader to rear.

Back left (felt removed) fine up to 27 with punchy dance music, no distortion.

Back right (felt in place) gets to about 14 and breaks up! We decide it *must be* a blown cone, as the difference is huge.

Against our better judgement, we remove the other felt and check the cone, all looks fine, and re-assemble.

Sound test - both rear cones fine up to 27, faded totally to rear, balance rolled left to right, no difference between them!

I have no idea what they were thinking when they put felt across the top over the cone - but it wasn't for audio reasons!!!

:speaker: :speaker:

Ian,

I guess this would be the same on the hatch as said felt is also under the rear speakers.

Felt is also on back of front speakers.

Cheers.

Adrian.

Ah, good ol' feltless poverty spec of mine...

Rob.

Can't comment if it makes the same difference on the hatch, as they do not use the 6x4 units that the estate uses. Can a hatch owner check and test?

Will post an FAQ on it.

hatch has no rear cloth... well mine didnt...

Ian you missed out the "drop screw down back of door seal then attempt to amputate Paul's fingers whilst he tries to retrieve it in the ****ing rain" stage.

Ah yes, estate owners, especially 4x4 ones, you must get an RS owner to assist, thus having a willing victim for the "ouch" bits.

Well done again Ian !

Just followed the tip, and yes, I now have centrally balanced 'rounded' sound in my 4x4 estate. The 'felt foam' seems to be a dust shield rather than anything else but one side was totally clean after 31,000m.

I've now done the following to my car:-

1) Removed the felt from on top of the rear speakers.

2) Cut the plastic membrane behind the front door speakers

3) Replaced the front speakers with Infinitys (

i will give it a shot next saturday (hopefully) :fingerscrossedsmilie:

Alex

I don't know the technical term, but you need one of those 'crinkly star-shape' screw head remover bits (!) to get the screws out of the speaker mounting plate, otherwise you can't get to the foam.

Maybe Ian can explain what I mean !

There's also a couple of slightly fiddly screws on either side which you need to look behind the trim for before pulling, but it took only about an hour all-in being careful. Worth the effort.

Rob

'crinkly star-shape'

That will be a Torx screw

You also need a 2 prong type of tool (ie long-nosed pliers or circlip pliers) to undo the large plastic press stud holding each plastic wheel trim in place. I levered one out only to find that it was threaded and screwed in! A torch is also handy to see the hidden front and rear screws if doing the job in a garage, and a telescopic magnet wand is also very useful for retrieving screws which drop or won't come out of their housings.

Ian's instructions were very good but I discovered a couple of gotchas. When relocating the speaker side panels make sure that the forward end of the panel is over the small metal bracket sticking out from the white pillar trim, and that front and rear ends are under the adjacent seals before replacing the front and rear hidden screws. If you don't do so you might well have to remove the panels and start again!

Well done, Ian!

PS Draper makes a 17 piece offset ratchet screw and socket driver set which includes a 10mm socket and the right size TX-STAR bit (torx compatible) suitable for this mod for just

Originally posted by DGW in this post

You also need a 2 prong type of tool (ie long-nosed pliers or circlip pliers) to undo the large plastic press stud holding each plastic wheel trim in place.

Hmm...if these are the things I'm thinking of, they're easy enough to undo by hand! Or at least they are on mine...

Rob.

the job seems to get more and more interesting with each post next it will be remove the rear tailgate whilst removing the LHS rear wheel and drift off the rear hub!

One was and one wasn't.

umm, what were you doing removing wheeltrims?

(I don't even have wheeltrims!)

is it a 4x4 thing wheel trims over alloys

I can honestly say I have never owned a car with wheeltrims!

SJ410 santana - white steels

ZX volcane - 14" alloys, swapped for 16"s

Saxo VTR -14" alloys, swapped for 16"s

Octavia - 16" alloys

i have ian and you are missing a lot

It's the name of the piece of plastic trim inside the car just to the rear of the door opening which covers the wheel arch.

ahhh...

Now that you are enlightened, Ian, why did you decide to take the speaker panels out of your car? Checking speaker size, perhaps? (I did a paper trace so that I can measure the speakers when I have time).

Quoted from my first post...

Removed one of the side panels in the boot to see if there was an easy way to fit a 4" Pioneer co-axial I had the option on.

Didn't see that, Ian! I used your instructions in the FAQs.

An excellent choice sir...

Have carried out the above with an equally gratifying result .....many many thanks to all of you , but would have to agree that it does need time care and patience to replace the panels .

Only other comment I would make is one also made on a previous forum -

disconnect the driver side tweeter in rear door handle ....

to my ears it makes a big difference overall .