Speaker wire polarity

Speaker wire polarity

I went to replace the stock front door speakers in my 03, and found out you can't go by the wire color code at the HU for polarity, the wires change color somewhere under the dash. Just got off the phone with a rather helpful tech at my local Toyota service department, in both doors there's a green and a blue wire...the green is positive, the blue negative.

In the rear it's easy, the wires turn red and black after the connector (red is positive).

Sorry if this has been posted somewhere else, but I couldn't find it.

Thank you. It'll be helpful when I install mine this wednesday.

Front speakers install

It wasn't as hard or as scary as I thought it would be to replace the fronts. The door inside came off easy (thanks to the DIY folks' advice on this board). What REALLY helped was taking my wife's rolla down to the Advance Auto, and getting a window-crank clip remover. Don't think there was any chance of getting that handle off without scratching the heck out of the door panel without it! That was the best $1.99 I ever spent I think.

I drilled the rivits out of the old speaker mounts. Well, actually I tried to. Used a drill bit just big enough to cut about 99% out of the middle of the rivit, and they started spinning with the bit. So I just put the tip of a #1 philips screwdriver in what was left of the rivit, and smacked the handle with my palm. They popped right into the inside of the door (yes, I got them out, no rattles allowed!).

I put the template that came with the new speakers (Polk 6.5 inchers) in the middle of a piece of .75 MDF, and cut out the round hole. Then I centered the old OEM speaker over the hole, and traced arount the bracket. Marked the position for the original mounting holes also. Cut it all out with a jigsaw. I enlarged the mounting holes in the doors big enough to allow pass-thru clearance for a 1/4-20 bolt. Made the holes in the MDF adapters big enough too. WHEN YOU DRILL THE HOLES IN THE DOOR FOR CLEARANCE, HAVE THE WINDOW UP! You don't want the bit to cut thru and bust your window! I swear some sort of divine intervention happened, a little voice said to me "roll the window up or bust it, dummy!".

Got some 2.25 inch long 1/4-20 philips head stainless cap screws, some stainless washers, locks, and nuts. Screwed the MDF adapters to the door with them, putting silicone on the inside of the nuts (acts as poor-mans Loctite), then put a layer of .040 plastic inside the 6.5 hole (to keep the back of my new speakers dry), then siliconed around the outside of the adapter where it meets metal. FIgure if moisture is going to collect, it'll be in that little gap. Put a rubber strip (weatherstripping left over from my home improvement days) on the mounting area of the new speakers, and screwed them into the MDF adapters (drill pilot holes, MDF splits easy).

Hooked up the wires, put the door back together (again super easy!). They crank and there isn't a buzz or rattle to be found! Took me all of four hours from start to finish (not including cleaning up the MDF dust off the garage floor).