So I recently bought this T/A. If it's anything like the first one I had, I was looking forward to hearing the POP POP crackle noise coming from the back the minute I turned the radio on. I wasn't wrong.

The piggy bank is running a little low from transporting the car 2k miles, buying knock sensors, maf sensor etc.. in the past 2 weeks. I know I could buy a pair of Bazookas for less than $100 but I'd rather spend the money elsewhere in the audio system I have planned. Being Mexican, I like to fix **** if I can.

Anyway, I took out the sail panel speakers and lo and behold. The foam had crumbled away around 90% of the "subwoofer" on both sides. I didn't take pictures by this point since we all know what a blown speaker looks like

So I got on ebay with measurements in hand. I came up with these

<non-sponsor link deleted>

You can find fancier kits that come with a tube of glue but 90% of those is just elmer's white glue. I did some audio forum reading and most people recommend either Elmer's glue or weatherstrip cement. My dad used to make his own speakers back in his college days and he used weatherstrip glue and it would outlast the foam

First thing I did was pop off the gasket with a thin screwdriver and scrape all the foam and glue off the gasket and speaker basket with a razor blade. Use a NEW razor blade to cleanly cut the glue around the cone. You should be able to get the "feel" of where the cone ends and cut cleanly with the razor blade.

It should look like this





Take your replacement surrounds and put the gasket over them to get an idea of how much to trim to make them fit. I had to trim about 1/8" total, so around 1/16" all the way around) off the edge with some scissors to fit inside the basket. Mock it up to make sure its perfectly centered.








Now, flip the foam over and spead a thin bead of that really tacky yellow weatherstrip glue around the foam on both edges with q tips. Be generous with the glue but not overly messy. I didn't take a pic because my fingers were sticky and didn't want to get my phone dirty

Carefully place it on the basket and use your fingers to pinch the cone and foam to make sure it sticks. Take the gasket, place it on top and clamp it with whatever you have handy. I found a roll of tape that fit perfectly in the cone to put even pressure while it dried overnight.




Once it dries you should be left with this.



Put the gasket back on, screw it back in and enjoy. They've been working great for a few days. Not bad for $5 and an hour to do both sides. This will hold me over until I can save to get a decent system. Hope it helps a few of you

 

thanks for the write up. I think my blown speakers are coming from the door, but ill have to look into the sail panel ones to make sure theyre ok. Not bad at all for 5 bucks.

 

I would like to thank you so much for this thread. I purchased a set of the speaker foams for $5 and the tacky glue for less than $2. I only had one 6.5" speaker blown, and I messed up one of the foams on my first attempt. But I retried and mastered it on the second attempt. The speaker works like new now! I have owned the car since 2002, and I have replaced both sets of subs with oems twice. I wish I would have known about this repair much earlier!
Thanks again.

 

Glad it helped ya! Mine are still going

 

Very interesting. Where can I purchase some of the replacement surrounds? Your link was removed. PM me if you need to.

 

It's a four letter word that starts with E.

 

Rhymes with egay. Just a search for 6.5 foam surrounds brings up several hits.

 

Egay haha thanks!

 

I also believe that an electronics supply house, by the name of Pa*ts Ex**ess also sells speaker "repair kits"....

 

That would be Parts Express. The forum rules don't prevent mentioning non-sponsor vendors only providing links to their websites. It's a fine point, I know, but that's what we've been given.

The object is to encourage members to patronize our sponsors (and we are fortunate to have a couple of great ones in this section) but not to stifle the distribution of useful information to other members.

 

OK, I understand!

 

I've been driving around with busted speakers for months and this is the fix?! I'm doing this as soon as I get back home! I was so set on trying to get the Kee audio subs but I'm not real big into sound systems at all so it was hard for me to spend the cash on subs. Great work man! I can definitely spare a couple bucks though!