The secret to door panels and door speakers

If you are a car audio enthusiast and are going to upgrade your car's interior speakers, the prospect of changing out door speakers is a daunting one, since you have to remove the door panels to access the speakers tucked away within its walls. They are not a tricky as they seem, if you know the right techniques.
The first thing to do is to locate any screws holding the panel in place. These are generally found in or under the armrest piece, in the door opener latch, or near the bottom of the door panel. Remove as many as you can find to start.
With the screws removed, you will need to carefully pry the door panel off the door. Start in the bottom corner nearest the speaker. Gently pull the panel until it pops loose. There are usually several clips holding it in place. Work around the bottom of the door panel popping the clips out. Be careful to not break them, because you will need them to reinstall it. Continue around the outside of the panel until you have removed as many of the clips as you can. If you have power windows, doors, etc, remove the control panel from the door panel. It is usually clipped in place, and can be carefully pried out. Look for small notches that may give away the position of the clips. If you have mechanical windows, you will need to push the door panel into the door at the window crank, and look for the snap ring clip holding it in place. With a thin flathead screwdriver, pop the clip loose, taking special note of where it goes, as you will need it to secure the piece back in place. Once this is removed, you should have enough clearance to reach the speaker. If not, you can attempt to completely remove the door panel by sliding it upwards and out of the window compartment. You may be caught up by the door opener latch. These can be a little tricky, as some will slide in place horizontally, screw in, or pop out. Look for screws, and if you don't find any, try sliding it horizontally towards the inside. If that doesn't work, see if it pops straight out. It will be connected to the bars that pull the door latch, so they will have to be positioned correctly for the door panel to be removed. If there is a triangular piece of trim in the top corner of the door panel, you will need to remove it also. It also clips in place and can be removed. This should allow the door panel to slide out, assuming you have disconnected the control panels electrical wires.
You should now be in full view of the door speaker. it can be removed by removing the four screws holding it in place. You may also find that the connectors on these speakers won't work for your aftermarket ones, so you will have to clip the wires and attach the end connectors provided with your speakers. Pay attention to positive and negative here. If you are unsure of what is what, there are a few ways to check. Look at the terminals on the factory speaker. It may have a "+" and "-" sign designating positive and negative. If it doesn't tell you, you can log on to installdr.com and look up the color codes for the speaker, or try the battery test. Take a good charged battery and place one of the factory speaker wires (attached to the speaker) on the positive, and one on the negative of the battery. If the speaker pushes out, the polarity is correct as you have it, and attach the wires accordingly. If it pushes in, the polarity is reversed, so reverse the battery and try again. If it pushes out, wire the speakers following that polarity.
Install the speaker in the door by replacing the 4 screws and securing it in place, and reinstalling the door panel. be sure to slide it back down in place, and line up the clips exactly before applying pressure to reattach them. You don't want to break any of those. Finish screwing the door in place, then attach the window control panel/window crank, and congratulations, your done!

Create Custom Door Panels

Are you looking into creating some cool modifications to your interior? You can start with some dash trim, maybe some racing seats and a steering wheel, but do you want something bigger? How about customizing your door panels?

Door panels can be modified just for looks of for cool looks and functionality. A lot of good audio shops can modify your door panels to accomodate extra or bigger speakers or car accessories, and these mods really set off the interior form something ordinary to something extraordinary.

If yu want to give this a shot yourself, then ill give you a rundown on how to go about getting the job done right. Start by taking notes on the clearances you need for the door to close properly and for the driver/passenger to be comfortable. There should not be anything hindering or sticking out too far. Once you have an idea of the space you have available, its time to take off the door panel. With door panels, it is important to work outwards away from the door, not inwards. You want the panel to remain flat and securely fastened, so any modifications, will have to keep the depth of the door panel the same, while building up any needed clearance on the outside of the existing panel. For example, if you are installing a door speaker that needs 4 extra inches of clearance, then you will have to design the door panel to curve out to the speaker by building up the outside of the panel.

There are several ways to do this. One idea is to use fiberglass. Using the existing door panel, build a frame for the new shape you need using a 1/2 inch mdf board. Get some fleece material and some fiberglass resin mixed with hardener. Staple the fleece over the area to be fiberglassed, stretching the fleece tight enough to get a solid foundation for the resin. Generously apply the resin over the shaped fleece material and allow it to dry. You can apply a second and third coat if you think you need a more stable panel for your speakers.

The next step is to figure out the covering of the panel. You can either sand and paint it, or you can cover it with leather/vinyl/carpet material. You can also do a few types of materal, such as diamond plate, leather, and carpet. More on this coming soon.