Rear Hatch Speakers
Thread Starter
On The Tree
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 185
Likes: 22
Rear Hatch Speakers I am about to embark on this wonderful journey called "replace your sh**ty blown out Monsoon speakers with actual good ones." I purchased Kee Audio's Level 4 kit, and am excited to actually hear music again that doesn't sound like you are trying to drown a heffer.
That said, the passenger side rear hatch panel comes off (as we all know) by turning those "lock/unlock" plastic screws and pulling the panel up. Done. Disconnect speakers, and I can start the process.
Drivers side.....what in the actual f**k. I do not want to break anything on this car, but how the F am I supposed to get to the speakers without doing so? I see where the rear-most plastic rivet/screw is in the tab closest to the tail light on that side, but its IN there. I feel like anything I do will break that rivet, the panel or both. Not sure why the dumbass engineers at GM decided to make it easy on one side, and not replicate it on the other. Did they think those s**tbox speakers would last 20 years? They didn't even last 5. F**king morons.
Is there a way to get to these without destroying the panel? Parts are both expensive and hard to find, and this car only has 21k on it. I'd rather only fix what is broken, and not break more things unnecessarily in the process.
That said, the passenger side rear hatch panel comes off (as we all know) by turning those "lock/unlock" plastic screws and pulling the panel up. Done. Disconnect speakers, and I can start the process.
Drivers side.....what in the actual f**k. I do not want to break anything on this car, but how the F am I supposed to get to the speakers without doing so? I see where the rear-most plastic rivet/screw is in the tab closest to the tail light on that side, but its IN there. I feel like anything I do will break that rivet, the panel or both. Not sure why the dumbass engineers at GM decided to make it easy on one side, and not replicate it on the other. Did they think those s**tbox speakers would last 20 years? They didn't even last 5. F**king morons.
Is there a way to get to these without destroying the panel? Parts are both expensive and hard to find, and this car only has 21k on it. I'd rather only fix what is broken, and not break more things unnecessarily in the process.
That's kind of odd. My hatch speakers are 21 years old and are loud. If you drill out the rivets you might be able to rotate the speaker out without removing the panel completely.
Thread Starter
On The Tree
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 185
Likes: 22
Disregard - I got one of those panel popper/trim piece tools and was able to slowly but successfully pop out each of the plastic rivets from the body tabs without breaking any of them or damaging the panel itself. What a relief. Now, I can start the speaker swap.
Thanks for the replies.
Thanks for the replies.
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 34,647
Likes: 2,574
From: Schiller Park, ILL Member: #317
I'm at 23 years on my original hatch speakers, no problems at all. In fact, I've never encountered these being an issue on any of my four cars that have had them. Door and sail panel speakers are the problematic ones, IMO. But I guess any part can fail.
As for the issue at hand though, the only reason why GM made the passenger side "easy" is because of spare tire access. If not for that, I'm sure both sides would have been mounted like the driver's side. Glad to hear that the OP got this solved with that panel removal tool though. I definitely understand being concerned about not wanting to break the original panels.
Thread Starter
On The Tree
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 185
Likes: 22
Thankfully, it did come off without breaking anything.
Kee Audio's replacement kit (Level 4) includes every speaker and tweeter for this vehicle, so I'm just going through and doing them all. Might as well have all new components. Can't WAIT to do the door speakers when I do the window motors.
Kee Audio's replacement kit (Level 4) includes every speaker and tweeter for this vehicle, so I'm just going through and doing them all. Might as well have all new components. Can't WAIT to do the door speakers when I do the window motors.
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Copy & Paste Moderator
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 9,764
Likes: 208
From: Eastern MA
I'm not sure what you mean. I have Kee's Level 4 Kit in my Formula and you can't tell visually that anything was replaced. All the original speaker grills are in place covering everything; including the tweeters.
Here is one of the pics from Kee's site with the OEM grill removed showing the new tweeter in there. The OEM grill fits right over it.
http://www.keeaudio.com/sitebuilderc...g.w300h225.jpg
Here is one of the pics from Kee's site with the OEM grill removed showing the new tweeter in there. The OEM grill fits right over it.
http://www.keeaudio.com/sitebuilderc...g.w300h225.jpg
Last edited by VIP1; Jul 22, 2021 at 10:56 PM.
Thread Starter
On The Tree
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 185
Likes: 22
Well, got 3/4ths of the car done yesterday. Rear hatch and tweeters, sail panel speakers (Level 5 from Kee) all complete. What a difference!!! Can't wait to do the door speakers and tweeters, but that will have to wait until I do the window motors. Might as well do everything at once.
Teching In
Joined: Nov 2025
Posts: 18
Likes: 0
I am about to embark on this wonderful journey called "replace your sh**ty blown out Monsoon speakers with actual good ones." I purchased Kee Audio's Level 4 kit, and am excited to actually hear music again that doesn't sound like you are trying to drown a heffer.
That said, the passenger side rear hatch panel comes off (as we all know) by turning those "lock/unlock" plastic screws and pulling the panel up. Done. Disconnect speakers, and I can start the process.
Drivers side.....what in the actual f**k. I do not want to break anything on this car, but how the F am I supposed to get to the speakers without doing so? I see where the rear-most plastic rivet/screw is in the tab closest to the tail light on that side, but its IN there. I feel like anything I do will break that rivet, the panel or both. Not sure why the dumbass engineers at GM decided to make it easy on one side, and not replicate it on the other. Did they think those s**tbox speakers would last 20 years? They didn't even last 5. F**king morons.
Is there a way to get to these without destroying the panel? Parts are both expensive and hard to find, and this car only has 21k on it. I'd rather only fix what is broken, and not break more things unnecessarily in the process.
That said, the passenger side rear hatch panel comes off (as we all know) by turning those "lock/unlock" plastic screws and pulling the panel up. Done. Disconnect speakers, and I can start the process.
Drivers side.....what in the actual f**k. I do not want to break anything on this car, but how the F am I supposed to get to the speakers without doing so? I see where the rear-most plastic rivet/screw is in the tab closest to the tail light on that side, but its IN there. I feel like anything I do will break that rivet, the panel or both. Not sure why the dumbass engineers at GM decided to make it easy on one side, and not replicate it on the other. Did they think those s**tbox speakers would last 20 years? They didn't even last 5. F**king morons.
Is there a way to get to these without destroying the panel? Parts are both expensive and hard to find, and this car only has 21k on it. I'd rather only fix what is broken, and not break more things unnecessarily in the process.