- Thread Starter
- #76
No, I didn't. I contacted the company I bought the products from and asked them why their instructions didn't talk about shimming at all when it appears like it might have been necessary and I referenced several other videos, including a competing company that apparently sold the kit with shims and a new dust cap.
The gentlemen was a little passive aggressive, suggesting that shims are rarely needed and how they sell so many kits and only 1% of people have issues. They were going to refund me (unasked), but I asked for suggestions instead including possibly sending me an extra foam to try again. They did oblige, but when I asked if they sold shims and replacement caps I was told they didn't...so in the end I'm not really too happy with them and would likely look elsewhere in the future (and have).
The foams they sold were definitely just a tad to large (and they were marketed specifically for my vehicle). I know because the current cone had a very thin black border (2-3mm) where the previous cone and glue were attached, I removed all of it, but the black border remained (basically stain and a bit of glue from the last foam), so I know how the original foam was attached. With their foam, when laid on top would not overlap the previous borders. It was like this:
This is just an estimate, but it was a size such that you could not really line it up so all edges were in contact with the cone. If you did, there would not really have been enough surface area to adhere to.
So I did 2 things:
1) I was more careful when adhering it to the cone this time. I sort of bunched it up and kept working it while it was tacky to try to make it adhere more evenly to the code border (the black edge). This really shouldn't have been necessary had they made the foam a couple mm smaller it would have fit without this ordeal.
2) Before I adhered the outer foam to the housing, I plugged it in and played it for a minute. Then I glued it and while it was freshly applied I kind of just moved the cone up and down in place until I didn't feel any friction. In all honesty there really isn't much side-to-side motion of the cone. I would say at a maximum there is like 1mm of play, probably more like .25-.5 mm. I think the bigger issue is the foam causing it to push down on one side more than another which in effect causes the cone to be at a slight angle and that is what is likely making the voice coil rub.
The fact that I did one of them right the first time with no special precautions shows in a way how it clearly isn't too delicate, but I took these extra precautions and it seems good.
Because they sent me 2 extra foams I did the front door speaker following the more careful technique. The existing foam was also so degraded that light pressure with my finger tore right through it.
My driver side door is definitely making more noise now too, my guess is that playing at a higher volume while testing everything out finally blew the foam on it too. I ordered another 2 foams on ebay for $6 (75% cheaper than what I paid this other place...I thought I was paying for good instructions and support, which I really didn't, but they did send me a replacement pair so I won't name them for their poor attitude
). Car is completely re-assembled and taking the driver door off when the new foams arrive is much easier than ripping up the back deck again.
