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Background:Hey guys, I'm doing a a tweeter relocation in my c5 to the door handle/latch spot as pictured. My work looks decent but I was able to go buy another set of both door handle/latches for 20$ on ebay so I figured I would do a better job and swap them out.
Question:I see there are two rods connected to the inside door handle/latch. One rod is for the lock and outer handle. If I try and depress the rods, at least on the bottom there is a plastic tab that prevents the rod from lifting high enough to clear the hole it's mounted in. Not sure if I needed to something else first but was hoping you guys could tell me what I'm missing so I don't break tabs on my existing handle/latches. Thanks.
I'm running MB Quart PVM216 components up front, I dropped one of the MB Quart Tweeters while relocating and damaged it. So I purchased some high end Alpine SPR-10TW tweeters that are pictured to replace the MB Quart tweeters.
The reason for wanting to redo this is that I was only able to fit in a 1.75" hole saw through the door handle and then have had to dremmel out the hole to a bit over 2" to fit these. The hole looks like you would expect, sloppy. I'm probably the only one who would ever notice but since door handles were so cheap to purchase I figured why not do it clean.
There are two slots for the door handle, one in the front most and one at the rear most with the two rods connect the lock and handle. Wasn't sure if maybe I need to disconnect the rods from the outer handle first or what the trick is to get them out. Did a lot of searching but couldn't find anyone who has pulled these.
Last edited by tommypenguin; Jul 18, 2016 at 12:15 PM.
Brother, it must be monday. I totally forgot about my shop manuals in the basement. there is a torx screw hiding behind the lock I didn't see. Will play with this on my lunch and follow up in the thread with pics.
Last edited by tommypenguin; Jul 18, 2016 at 12:30 PM.
Ok, this worked out much better, definitely have your window rolled up so if a rod dislodges from the latch/lock you don't damage tint or your window. I was fortunate I didn't but could have. I will add some more detail after getting my new door handles and redoing the passenger side.
After getting the door panel off. Remove the T15 hex screw.
Then as the manual says you push the from the rear most of the door handle against the two tabs holding it into the door forward and then pull the handle away from the door so the tabs clear the door and pull it back and remove it from it's holes. Afterward you just need to swing the door handle/latch in a counter clockwise motion so you can dislodge the rods and clear the retaining tabs.
If the rods dislodge from the door striker/latch you just need to slide them back in their holes, pics for reference....
I had already cut a hole in my handle prior to removing, so to prevent the hole saw from skipping up over the rest of the handle and gouging it, Needed the pilot drill bit to mount into something to keep the hole saw in place.
Grabbed a piece of wood, drilled a hole into it and then stood on the block of wood with the hole saw/drill bit assembly mounted in place on the handle. I had one foot on each side of the door handle.
I pressed down with the hole saw/drill bit down fairly tight and once I felt the whole saw engage into the handle, I set the direction of the drill to go backwards. This was so the drill would slowly cut into the plastic and minimize torquing the handle too hard against my feet and breaking it.
Once the hole was cut, I could sand down the rough edges and install my tweeter with a clean hole.
I am much happier with the result. This is why members have stated you're better off mounting in this location than cutting a hole in the door panel. If you damage one of these door handles, you can replace it for 10$ off of ebay versuse 150-200 for a door panel. If you need any specific pictures, let me know and I will try and capture them when getting my new passenger side handle.
Will do, hoping they sound a lot better than being extremely suppressed being down by my legs. One thing that was intriguing about these alpines is the that mounting cups they came in allow to swivel the tweeter to aim where you want them to go.
Will chime back in, in a week or so when the other door handle/latches arrive and I fire these up with everything put back together.
Got the new handles drilled tonight. Much happier with the outcome. Here's a video I took, hope it helps someone do this mod. Do this mod at your own risk.
Initially I feel the sound is a lot better from this location, will follow up on impressions after driving the car in a week when I have wheels to out on it.
All the interior is back together. Prior to moving the tweeters I always had too much bass, not enough highs/vocals. I made some custom eq's with my deck and found myself constantly toggling between them based on the song to get decent sound.
I played a variety of music after doing this mod and found that I was able to set the eq to one mode and forget. My system finally feels like it has consistent balance to it that I was chasing after.
Attached are a few pics of the finished results. After remounting my amp, there are no wires visible from my system.
Have gotten to put on some miles with the new setup. The new tweeters and location have made all the difference in my setup. Below is my stereo progression since I started this quest with my C5 along with how I felt about each configuration.
-Started with the stock Bose, completely disgusted.
-Added a head unit, still unhappy.
-Then replaced stock speakers with upgraded polks in front and rear, got a little better.
-Swapped out front speakers with 6.5", tweeters, sub and started using amp and added VetteNuts insulation kit, much happier with the setup but still wanted more.
-Then swapped out tweeter and location, completely satisfied.
No more plans to modify my stereo going forward. I'm no audophile, however I like to have good balanced sound. If I were giving a recommendation to someone wanting the same from there C5. I would avoid cheaping out and getting a quality set of 6.5, amp, insulation kit and head unit from the get go. For 950-1000$ you can have a setup comparable to mine if you do the work yourself.
Last edited by tommypenguin; Aug 2, 2016 at 02:51 PM.
How do I remove the inside door handle/latch?
