Tweeter Replacement How To

Superperv23 · March 2, 2011

This is my first upgrade to the audio system in my truck, slowly going to work on installing the mound of boxes of stereo gear I ordered. I decided that I would rather go with coaxial speakers than components so that left me with having to do something about the stock tweeters. The choice was either unhook them or replace them and I went with replace them. I picked the Rockford Fosgate P1T-S as they come with a crossover that had built in attenuation. Attenuation simply means reducing the output volume of the tweeter, I wanted this feature as I was going with the coaxials in the door I did not want the high end to be over powering. You can achieve this a few other ways, resistors or an Lpad but it is just easier when it is built into the crossover.

First off is removing the trim on the pillars, the drivers side you just pop off the cover and then it is one 8mm bolt, the opening for the bolt however is a little tight so you may need a smaller socket set or a nut driver to get it out. On the passenger side with the grab handle you have to remove the two covers on both ends of the handle then remove two 10mm bolts. The passenger side is harder to pull off but you can kind of grip in the hole for the handle then get at the top to pull it off. Once you have the clips released you then pull them straight up and they come off. Then you want to unhook the factory plug and take them into the house/garage to install the tweeters.

Next step is removing the tweeter assembly from the pillar trim, just press outward on the two tabs and it comes out no problem. From there you have to release the two tabs holding the tweeter to the tweeter grill. I used a flat head precision driver to do this.

Next you have to do some trimming to fit, it is very soft plastic so you can easily do this with a knife, just remember that since it is soft it is easy to make a mistake here and cut what you do not want to. On the tweeter grill you want to trim off as much of the old mounting plastic as you can, making sure to leave the two tabs to secure it to the pillar trim though. on the pillar trim itself you want to trim the two plastic tabs ever so slightly, about 2mm, so that the plastic edge on the tweeter fits in flush. You want to do this as the best way to secure them is to use a construction adhesive and apply it to the three tabs on the back of the trim piece.

I decided to leave the factory connector intact so I used butt connectors to connect that to wires going to the included crossover. The crossover has 3 setting, 0db, -2db and -4db, I went with the -4db to have them at a lower volume than the door speakers, this is the attenuation I mentioned above. To mount the crossovers I stuck them down in the space between the dash and the a pillar, they fit perfect with room around them, I used the included double sided tape to secure them.

Finally I took the emblems off the top of the crossover and stuck them on the tweeter grill, just an appearance thing but I figured if the bose guys have a logo I midas well too. The highs sound noticeably more clear and crisp with this addition, of course the door speakers still have to be swapped out to get a completely improved sound but this is a good start or addition if you already replaced your door speakers.