Please reply! Water ruining door speakers
 

I need some feedback here if some of you could help me out. Car's going to the dealer on Monday. Sorry for the long post. Please comment.

Has anyone had a problem with aftermarket door speakers getting wet in their 2-door Cobalt?

When it rains, water actually makes its way inside my car onto the floor. The back of the speaker gets all wet and the water drips from the inside of the door.

For the record, there is sound deadener on the door (no, the drain holes aren't plugged up).

The speakers are Hertz MLK165s running active off an Audison LRx 5.1k.

More details:
I had this same problem last summer and the speakers were totally destroyed. Water on the floor and everything. Took it to the dealer and had them leak test the car and also check the A/C. Didn't make the connection to the speakers until this year, as they weren't ruined right away. I was lucky to have them replaced under warranty by the stereo shop. I then discovered that the water shield/wire tube/whatever wasn't clipped into the door properly and thought that was my problem. Well, the problem is back with the heavy rains this year and I don't know what to do about it.

I have never heard of anyone having this problem. Neither has my local stereo shop. My last car (2003 Cavalier with Alpine Type Xs) never had a problem.

Any comments you have would be helpful. I don't expect the dealer will do anything, as they will likely tell me the car is fine and that the problem is my speakers/install. I gotta go look at my stock speakers again to see what the back looks like. I'm pretty sure the dealer will say that those speakers are designed to be shielded from the water. I forget what they look like.

That sucks especially being MLK165's. $$$$

cujo, how long have you had those HSKs in there? Have you ever pulled them out and looked at them?

And the MLKs are the "mini" Mille's. The other ones in the series are insanely expensive. I didn't spend that much!

oh, I thought they were those $1000 ones.

Had my HSK's for about a year. Too scared to look in there now. I will let the shop do it whenever I go there next. Had everything done at EHR in Hamilton.

Thanks, cujo.

The MLK 165s were near $1000. The MLK 2 and 3 systems are north of $2000. ouch!

I have always wanted to aim the speakers so they were more "on axis." They're just in the stock locations right now. That might be the best solution here. It's just that it would mean some custom work done. I would need some help with designing a mount and with reworking the door panel. And since I'm a new homeowner, that project kind of took a back seat :) But I might have to look into it to keep my car dry.

Anybody into custom work near Windsor?

I've had issues with water in the doors for a few years now. I'm going to have to change out my speakers this year as it's ruining them too. I am considering doing a couple things:

The first, is just excepting using a good pair of Marine speakers in the doors and not worring about it,
the other is fitting a "backing/baffel" to the speaker opening, and then they will be protected from the water in the door.

Current speakers are Diamond D6 Components.
Choices for new are JBL GTi 660's or C608's
or something like the JBL MS6200 Marine speakers.

Baffle or backing something like this:

or this:

damn what the hell are u guys doing? i guess i do live in a desert so i should stfu

first off any sealed baffle is going to make ur speakers sound worse. both the d6 and millie. but if u go that route u want the foam ones not the plastic

if u feel creative u can build a lil mini barrier for the top of them to drip the water away from the speakers... or just do door pods like mine

mine actually freeze in the winter from water going throw the basket vents and dripping on to the voice coil. i have to take them out and seal the top third of the vents to prevent water from entering. there are diamond CM3's.

Stupid question: How did you mount the aftermarket speakers to to door? Hopefully you used the stock brackets. If you just screwed them into the sheet metal, that is your problem.

The stock brackets has weatherstripping on it to prevent water from getting into the door.

the stock bracket is the speaker itself so that was not an option for some of us

Move to dryer area.

Problem solved.






GL tho

thats why you get the stock speaker and gut it so your left with a perfect bracket for the car

The Pioneer equipped cars can easily be swapped.

The base models are not that difficult, just cut out the old speaker or buy an aftermarket bracket. Scosche makes them.

I don't have this issue whatsoever. Was your car ever in an accident? If your weatherstripping is in good condition you've gotta have some structural damadge or something allowing water to enter your car.

It is a design issue. A ton of water actually goes through the doors in the rain and usually out of the drain holes in the bottom of the door. However, if your speaker area isn't sealed (Usually from just sheet metal screwing the aftermarket speaker into the door), it'll take that little shortcut instead.

lol luckally im in a dry ass place then bc mine isnt sealed at all. not even close. but i havent had any issues

yeah im keeping all stock equipment fot when i sell so i cant cut mine up. mabe ill pick some up used cheap

considering you can get a pair of cheap bullshit 6.5s for like 5 bucks id think saving the stock speakers isnt that big of a deal

i do understand where your coming from but it makes more sense to cut the speakers for the brakets then worry about buying another set of speakers later to replace them once u sell then impropperly mounting the expensive diamonds and having water freeze in the voice coil and then sealing the vents with who knows what

water on the floor of your car isn't in the design

haha... are u sure? i thought gm included that as a feature so u get fresh rain sent all the time

lulz

haha winner!

Thanks for all the posts everyone. It's great to hear your ideas. You've confirmed a few things I was already thinking (like how using those speaker pods or whatever they're called will affect the response of the speaker) and given me some new insight on ways to fix it. I'm leaning towards a custom mount for the woofers that puts them more on axis, and maybe partially shielding the top of the opening from water that might fall inside the door. Also thinking of tweeter locations. I love the sound of a "single" point source, but am wondering if I'll like the soundstage from putting the tweeter lower. Emperor, I saw your thread on your custom pods a long time ago, and have been jealous ever since :) Maybe I'll get into it this summer.

Today's update:
Got the car back from the dealer. They said water is pouring into the door and have ordered a new seal. I had to tell them to order one for the other side as well. They might want to check it out, but I told them I've already replaced both speakers, so I know the problem's there.

I'll know more tomorrow.

Keep the comments coming!

One side is done. I'm going back again tomorrow for the other side. They will also vacuum the carpet and lift it up to dry out. I asked them to do a leak test on both sides after the job is done as well.

I sure hope these speakers hold up with the moisture they have already seen. I will talk to the service manager about what to do if they crap out. He likely won't be happy about me asking, but I'm going to anyway.

This is going better than expected.

since I've already seen a reply from Emp about the baffles, if I was to cut out the bottom portion of them, would they not effect the sound as much, just used them to direct water away from the speaker magnet/spider? (are there 6.5's made for small sealed boxes? do they even put a suggested volume on them for enclosures?)

Thanks, and good luck with your repairs Drummer.

possibly idk i havent tried it.

the only reason i say they suck is because i ordered a bunch of them and tried them on both the demo board and in customers vehicles because i thought it sounded like a good idea. but realisticlly it made the speakers sound like shit so i took all of them out and have just sold them out the door cheap if people want them