Re-wiring Factory wires

[Rocky213 10+ year member]

i was thinking about re wiring all the stock wiring for my door speakers to the amp with new 16g or 18g..would this really be beneficial and how hard would it be?..do i have to re wire everything to the front and then to the amp or can i go straight to the amp ?..do all the speaker wires have to be together on a certain side for noise reduction?...thanks so much for the help

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[Phoenix Risen 10+ year member]

are the speakers wired to the hu now or are they already on an amp

 

[Rocky213 10+ year member]

their wired to the hu

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

list the vehicle details and the equipment. some cars are easy, some are a PITA.

we need to know what we are talking about - specific make/model #'s on aftermarket pieces.

i think 16 is a minimum size, and i prefer 14 awg for standard systems, 12 awg for high power systems. really, wire size is dictated by power AND distance.

 

[Rocky213 10+ year member]

2003 ford explorer 6'8 RF power series 80wats on each door..pretty soon will be getting RF power T6004..i dont think 12 awg is necesary for mids and highs

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

larger wire size means lower resistance which yields lower voltage drop which means more power to your speakers. keep wires as short as possible - or up-size for longer runs.

re-wiring door speakers is just time consuming - probably 30 min. each door if everything goes well and you've done doors before. double that for a learning curve. you need to zip tie the new wire to factory wiring every 6-8". have plenty of zip ties on hand.

you can route speaker wiring down each side. speaker wires aren't as sensitive to electrical noise in a car. i usually route RCA cables down the middle, but you won't get noise induced in RCA cables either.

 

[Rocky213 10+ year member]

what do you mean zip tie new wire to factory wire?..every 6-8 inches?

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

buy a bag of 100 black 6" zip ties at a local autoparts store, walmart, etc. when you route new speaker wires, run them next to the factory wiring bundles. use the zip tie to secure the speaker wire to the wire bundle. trim off the tail on the zip tie when secured.

notice in this pic how the new speaker wire has black zip ties to the factory wiring

 

[nateberrier 10+ year member]

need to redo my doors but im lazy. 14 from the trunk up to teh front then like 18 to the doors but its only a couple feet. If youve never taken your car apart, prepare for PITA. if you have then you know what youre in for

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

i think it's fun disassembling cars. a Haynes manual or Metra instructions will help.

 

[Rocky213 10+ year member]

i agree..why are you doing 16 then 18 to the doors ?..why cant you do 16 all the way from the amp to the speaker with no but conectors or anything just straight wire nothing stoping it

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

i believe in wiring straight from amp to speaker - no splices or cuts. use good quality female disconnects and terminals with heat shrink around the connectors - preferably color coded.

 

[Rocky213 10+ year member]

im gona get shrink tube and a heat gun..you know where to get a good one..what do you mean by color coded..like black and red for neg and pos

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

i don't use a heat gun, i use a windproof butane grill lighter. they are cheap and being windproof they work in any direction. they also aren't too hot and very portable.

yes, red heat shrink for positive and black heat shrink for negative is best. not only does heat shrink make it look 10x more professional, it's much safer since it keeps everything coated/insulated and snug.

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

this is my sub wiring before i installed it in the car. i did a test run to verify lengths, then assembled the wires using solder on the terminals, heat shrink over the ends, split loom along the run, and then secured them in the vehicle.