Has anyone ever taken the dash apart to get to the back of the bose concert stereo?
Whoever had my car before me diconnected the rear speakers to put a speaker box in the trunk, but i would rather just re-connect the original ones.
I think he disconnected them at the stereo unit, does anyone know how to get to that the easiest way?


And also, are lightweight forged wheels worth the money?
Or are there other wheels that would be just as good for less money?
The ones i'm looking at are SSR 6-spoke black(same as the car)

 

To get the radio out you have to have special audi/vw radio removal tool.... the look like a pocket knife with a slot in it. There are two slot on the face of the radio directly below the ***** at the very bottom where you stick the tools in.

 

i also have to get into the dash to get the seat warmer/ window defroster ***** back because they were pushed in. since i have to do all of that do i still need the special tool?

 

I've never taken all of that out, but I would assume taking the radio out has alot to do with getting behind the heated seat buttons, but I'm not sure. Cincy will prob chime in soon.

 

Or murder

To remove the radio you do need those keys...which are $4 at walmart. Go to the car audio area...they should be in a small box labeled "import/ford radio removal tools" or something like that. They work like a charm.

To remove the radio you stick them in the two slots in the bottom of the radio...PAY ATTENTION to the key orientation or you can ruin them and your radio. I believe the slanted parts have to face inwards. Then just yank your radio out.

As for wheels...it depends. Forged wheels are lighter and stronger than cast wheels, but nothing is curb/pothole proof (except maybe Schmidts...forged steel though so they're not as light). So you hit a pothole too hard and you're still in for a wheel repair or a whole new wheel ($$$)

 

is there anything i should know about getting to the seat warmer *****? or is it pretty easy with the stereo out?

and with the wheels the main question i had was with performance, the wheels i really want are 16lbs for 17" and 18lbs for 18" but they're a little over $400 each, is the price worth the weight difference or would i be better off getting less expensive heavier wheels?

 

You don't need to get at them to access the radio...but if you need to get at them, once you have the radio out there'll be a little shelf above it with a finger hole. Pull that out. Then there'll be a sort of flap thing that holds all the heater ***** etc in, pull that down. From there you can actually pull the ***** out from behind.

As for weight differences, I'm about to try shedding some weight off my wheels and see what that does. The stock 6-spoke are 29lbs. I believe the 5 spokes are 21lbs (not positive). Both are a bit heavy for 17's. As for the performance differences, I can't say until I get a set of wheels.

However, you can find cast wheels in those kinda sizes that weigh about the same. The OZ Superleggerra is around 18lbs in 18" form, and less in 17". The 17" is around $250/pop while the 18" is around $300. I'm thinking about getting Falken Hanabis in 18x8.5 which are 20lbs each.

What I think is impressive with forged wheels is how light the larger sizes are. SSR Professors are 20lbs in 19" form if I recall.

 

Those are nice but expensive.
There are similar out there for less than half that price, with weight of @20 lbs. I don't believe a weight difference of 2 lbs per wheel is that big a deal on a daily driver. More important is how the wheel is made. I'm going to assume that a $400 wheel can justify the price with better quality.

 

I just had the whole lower dash out of my 01 coupe this past weekend to install my new headunit b/c the tabs where the removal tool grabs was bent. Its not too bad just time consuming. I dont have any pics but if you still needhelp if you willpm mei can go take some pics andwalk you through it. As murder said once you get the radio out you can get to the control *****.

 

ok, so i got the head unit out and got the ***** back in place (although some of them still aren't secured) but i also saw that nothing was disconnected from the head unit. which means the rear speakers are disconnected somewhere else. is there a likely place he would have disconnected/spliced the wires? i don't know how the speaker wires are run.

and also my driver's side window stopped working and i am pretty positive that is is neither the window motor or regulator. is there a module or anything specifically for the window? to control position and the up/down sequence for when you open and close the door?