When i picked up my 2001 LX470 with ML and Nav, I noticed that the drivers door lower speaker would rattle whenever there was bass, almost like it was hitting against something.
The previous owner turned the bass all the way down and switched the audio to only come from the right side of the vehicle to avoid having to deal with it. After doing some digging on Lexus Drivers i noticed an entry that the previous owner had the rear sub disconnected for the same reason. Not knowing if the previous owner had it completely removed or just disconnected, i tore the panel off to take a peak. Sure enough it was just disconnected! I plugged the sub in and sure enough that speaker started rattling. Lucky for me, this saved me from buying a used ML Sub for the trunk. I started testing the speaker and felt the foam detached from the sub around the voice coil. So... i started doing some research. Turns out that foam could easily be replaced!
Turns out the driver side lower speaker and trunk sub for the ML system are the same 6 inch foam size. I purchased the $20 foam repair kit set on ebay (2000-2009 Lexus LX470 Front Door Speaker Foam Surround Repair Kit 86160-0W270 | eBay) in hopes to repair both speakers. I was a bit hesitant that it would fit but even on SimplySpeakers site, the speaker repair kits are the same foam piece.
The kit I purchased included 2 foam trims and the adhesive.
I followed the guide listed here to remove the drivers door to gain access: Door panel removal process
Pretty straight forward, the hardest bit was removing the window control unit but a long flathead will work great.
Tools needed:
Torx screwdriver (T-20 i believe)
Flat head / Philip head driver
X-acto knife or any knife works
This is what i saw after disassembling the door and pulling the foam up. the entire thing was ripped..
I peeled the old foam out and carefully used an x-acto knife to clean the voice coil:
I applied the adhesive to the inner voice coil, laid the new foam down and let it dry for an hour, then did the outer foam and set it in place. I put the gasket back on flipped it over, and used the speaker's own weight to press it down:
And voila the speaker is repaired! i hastily put everything back in trying to contain my excitement and in the process lost one of the screws
. No worry, i found an identical one from the wheel well (surprisingly) and will place an order to replace what's missing.
After putting everything back together, the sound quality has tremendously improved (obviously since it was torn). I cant make a comparison if this actually improved on the initial speaker quality but it sounds great now.
After confirming that, i started on the trunk sub. Some guides will tell you to remove the panel and seatbelt but i simply just pulled the panel off, undid 5 screws and pulled the trunk sub out. I followed the exact same process and was finished in no time. One thing to note is the sub wires don't detach from the enclosure so i had to do it attached, no big deal.
Nothing different with the trunk sub, it was much quicker the second time and was finished very quickly (curing process takes the longest).
Now the Bass in the car is absolutely incredible... I was honestly extremely surprised by how adequate the 6 inch trunk sub was! After playing with the bass settings today, i am keeping it at only 1 bar above neutral, anything more was almost overbearing in my opinion.
So all in all, an evenings worth of work, a $20 foam kit and subs that finally work great now!
The previous owner turned the bass all the way down and switched the audio to only come from the right side of the vehicle to avoid having to deal with it. After doing some digging on Lexus Drivers i noticed an entry that the previous owner had the rear sub disconnected for the same reason. Not knowing if the previous owner had it completely removed or just disconnected, i tore the panel off to take a peak. Sure enough it was just disconnected! I plugged the sub in and sure enough that speaker started rattling. Lucky for me, this saved me from buying a used ML Sub for the trunk. I started testing the speaker and felt the foam detached from the sub around the voice coil. So... i started doing some research. Turns out that foam could easily be replaced!
Turns out the driver side lower speaker and trunk sub for the ML system are the same 6 inch foam size. I purchased the $20 foam repair kit set on ebay (2000-2009 Lexus LX470 Front Door Speaker Foam Surround Repair Kit 86160-0W270 | eBay) in hopes to repair both speakers. I was a bit hesitant that it would fit but even on SimplySpeakers site, the speaker repair kits are the same foam piece.
The kit I purchased included 2 foam trims and the adhesive.
I followed the guide listed here to remove the drivers door to gain access: Door panel removal process
Pretty straight forward, the hardest bit was removing the window control unit but a long flathead will work great.
Tools needed:
Torx screwdriver (T-20 i believe)
Flat head / Philip head driver
X-acto knife or any knife works
This is what i saw after disassembling the door and pulling the foam up. the entire thing was ripped..
I peeled the old foam out and carefully used an x-acto knife to clean the voice coil:
I applied the adhesive to the inner voice coil, laid the new foam down and let it dry for an hour, then did the outer foam and set it in place. I put the gasket back on flipped it over, and used the speaker's own weight to press it down:
And voila the speaker is repaired! i hastily put everything back in trying to contain my excitement and in the process lost one of the screws
. No worry, i found an identical one from the wheel well (surprisingly) and will place an order to replace what's missing.After putting everything back together, the sound quality has tremendously improved (obviously since it was torn). I cant make a comparison if this actually improved on the initial speaker quality but it sounds great now.
After confirming that, i started on the trunk sub. Some guides will tell you to remove the panel and seatbelt but i simply just pulled the panel off, undid 5 screws and pulled the trunk sub out. I followed the exact same process and was finished in no time. One thing to note is the sub wires don't detach from the enclosure so i had to do it attached, no big deal.
Nothing different with the trunk sub, it was much quicker the second time and was finished very quickly (curing process takes the longest).
Now the Bass in the car is absolutely incredible... I was honestly extremely surprised by how adequate the 6 inch trunk sub was! After playing with the bass settings today, i am keeping it at only 1 bar above neutral, anything more was almost overbearing in my opinion.
So all in all, an evenings worth of work, a $20 foam kit and subs that finally work great now!
