I didn't take any pics during the door removal stage. I meant to, but as with all of my projects, I am in such a hurry to get started, I don't end up taking pics of the start of the job. But, fear not. This was my first venture into removing ANY door panels, and it was SOO easy. First thing I did was download and print a detailed step-by-step removal procedure (with pictures) from justanswer.com. Here is the link:

http://www.justanswer.com/lexus/4cl9...el-es-350.html

I taped up the blade of a small flat tip screwdriver to pry up the window actuator panel, courtesy light and door handle bezel and used a flat plastic pry tool for the panel itself. These step by step instructions are a NO FAIL. The rest was too easy.

1. Here is the door with the panel off.

2. once removed, I peeled the foam gasket away from the torx screw heads and removed them. The speaker came right off the mount.

3. This is hard to see, but if you are using the same mount with your new speaker, you have to cut off two tabs that stick up on the mounting surface of the stock mount. It is really simple, I used a hacksaw. Once you have the speaker off, you will see them. Your new speaker will not fit flush until you cut those tabs off.

4. New speaker installed on stock mount. Used the same torx scews to secure my new speaker on the mount. These are just the cheap speakers I had laying around the garage. I am waiting for my new component 6x9s to come in the mail.

5. Before you mount the speaker into the mount, I cut the wiring harness off of the old speaker and soldered it onto these speakers so they will plug in to the wiring harness on the mount and door frame. If you want, you can use butt splices to attach the speaker connectors that come with your new speakers to the wiring harness you cut off the old speaker. That will be your decision. Then I installed the speaker mounts back into the door. My biggest fear before starting this job was pulling the door panels. But, if you print out those directions and follow them, it is pretty easy. I was able to pull them off with no damage at all.

Hope this helps everyone.

 

thanks for the front and rear door panel removal links

 

+1! Great link & great photos too!

 

so replacing all the stock speakers with aftermarket ones will do wonders even if you keep the stock head unit?

 

I have the Mark Levinson system and had a blown door speaker. I have not received my new speakers yet, by I am pretty sure they will sound alot better than the stock ones. The stock door woofers had paper cones and a tiny magnet. If, after I install the new door woofers, it sounds as good as I hope it is going to, I am going to install new 3" mids in the dash. After looking at the ML amp in the trunk and the way all of the Nav, climate, bluetooth etc. is integrated into the head unit, changing those is not an option, so I will do the best I can with what I have to work with. The final step will be to have a sub and dedicated amp installed (professionally). I have been waiting almost a week for my new speakers. I am used to ordering off of Amazon and getting stuff in about 3 days and my car is still torn apart in my garage (making me a little anxious!), so I hope they get here soon. Once they are installed, I will post with the outcome.

Anyway, the trick to swapping the speakers is to find like type speakers to match the system. The cheap 6x9s I installed for the test were crap. However, they improved the sound I was getting from the blown speaker. They are 40 watt RMS 3 way speakers (says 400 watts on the box, which is one way I try to determine how crappy a speaker is without listening to it. The higher they advertise the wattage and the lower the RMS, I can assume they are garbage). I ordered component 6x9 woofers, so they should just push clean, uninterrupted bass instead of taking the wire coming off of the stock crossover pushing only lows and trying to power a 3 way speaker with it.

 

Can put a 10 in sub where the 8 in sub is

 

is this a question or a statement? Direct drop in replacement?