# 2008 Ford C-max install



## szubek (May 9, 2008)

I always wanted to do a proper install but never went for it with any of the cars I did own. With new car I lost excuse that I've been using with previous second hand ones - " I wont be using it for long so what's the point". As I was googling the net for some inspiration I came across this forum. That was a ... well .... exactly what I needed. Got hooked on this stuff. Another couple of months took me choosing deadener - in Poland where I am from, Dynamat is considered as the best but it is highly overpriced so off I went with research. To make long story short - went for CAE Vmax and ordered directly from them. Since there is no CAE dealers anywhere in Europe the offered me very good pricing so I bought over 100 sq. ft. (still .. shipping did double the price)
This is my daily driver so I have to do it in pieces and will probably take very long. Here it goes what already been done.

Sorry for my English.



























I was surprised at the amount of factory deadening that was there already. It is very thick and rubber like not the usual hard baked on stuff so I didn't put any mat over it.



























Do You see that cell phone on the wheelwell ... guess what .. Did put all the panels back on leaving it there .


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## margarine518 (Jun 4, 2008)

Nice work so far! Did you have to call the cell to find out where it was?


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## szubek (May 9, 2008)

actually, I didn't realize it was there till my wife called me. Then she went ... 'why didn't You answer???' ... and all that ... we married man have to listen sometimes


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## szubek (May 9, 2008)

Another hard working day.. and rear doors are done. 
Removing door panels was a struggle, luckily nothing got broken, just one scratch on the paintwork ( very close to panel so I don't mind that)


























these actually made me laugh. Factory stereo at it finest by Fomoco  (ford motor company that is). Not going to use rear fill so the stay.


















Done. Didn't cover factory deadening, as I said before it is pretty thick.

















Few words on cascade Vmax mat. This stuff is amazing. Extremely easy to apply with very strong adhesive which actually bonds even better after a while. If something goes wrong You can remove mat and reapply it again without worrying about adhesive. Have checked few pieces that I have repositioned in the trunk and the stick like ... well .. glue. It is clean, absolutely no mess when applying, no sticky goo, it just stays where You want it to. Highly recommended. 
The whole trunk and spare wheel area was done with just my bare hands (screwdriver handle in some corners) absolutely no cuts mind You. When doing rear doors got myself 1 dollar worth roller and it really made my day. Matting went twice as fast.









to be continued


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## Obelisk6800 (Jun 10, 2008)

Looks good so far. I need to finish installing sound deadener in my car. How much does that material normally go for and how would you compare it to something like dynamat extreme?


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## szubek (May 9, 2008)

According to some test results available at CAE page it outperforms dynamat in wide range of temperatures but then this is CAE testing their competition. You choose what You want to believe in. Speaking for myself .. I am happy with it. Did use extreme a while ago and it was bit messy and had to be very careful when applying - no turning back. But what really stack on my mind was price I had to pay for extreme here in Europe. For the price of Vmax You would have to shop around. Their suggested retail is near 300$ for 52sq.ft. but I've seen it cheaper online ( in USA vmax and extreme are similarly priced I think).
What else got me convinced by CAE was good and honest advise. When asked them about putting multiple layers on the floor they told me to use another product that would be cheaper (compare to going multiple) and better for that application. Saving customers money, I like that.

When I use up all Vmax and still have something to deaden  will maybe order some of their vb2hd which is all vinyl. 
If only I had money to try all the products from all manufacturers  and nice measurement equipment, rta and more cars ... got carried away


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## Beat_Dominator (Jun 13, 2008)

Very nice progress, any photos of the whole car?


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## szubek (May 9, 2008)

Update time... 
My install slowed down to a crawl. Had few family events and didn't really have time to work on car. Driving without panels is no fun and wife starts nagging (love her). 
On weekend started doing front doors... and it took me longer than I would thought. Over 10 hours labour just to do one side. Here come the pics



























































































The victim


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## Beat_Dominator (Jun 13, 2008)

Lots of work ahead of you eh? Keep it up.


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## CJ8501 (Nov 27, 2007)

Jak tam w Polsce?


Nice to have a fellow Polska on the forums.... and your English is damn good compared to anyone else I've spoken with that is fresh of the boat....


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## szubek (May 9, 2008)

Beat_Dominator said:


> Lots of work ahead of you eh? Keep it up.


Yeah, I bet. If I knew before how much work is ahead of me I would never get myself into it. Now I am like.. addicted to it. Can't really stop. Left to do are roof, floor and of course firewall which is going to be a major pita. 
So far I was doing it all by myself but now my brother offered his help so maybe it will go a bit faster. All gear is ready to install, speakers are breaking in, hope to finish it in August.  call me optimist.



CJ8501 said:


> Jak tam w Polsce?
> Nice to have a fellow Polska on the forums.... and your English is damn good compared to anyone else I've spoken with that is fresh of the boat....


:blush: Thank You. I am just kicking myself because my English used to be much better, now I am all rusty. Well, time flies. Things in Poland go very well if one don't look on politics. They just bunch of...
So, You have polish roots, do You?


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## DaleCarter (Jan 3, 2008)

Your English is better than many of us who ae native speakers. certainly better than my Polish.

I had the pleasure of attending a wedding last June in Szezcyn. I enjoyed your country very much and the people were great. I was disappointed that I had to go back and deal with Berliners on my way home haha Berlin is beautiful, Belriners....not so much.


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## tr0y_audi0 (Feb 13, 2007)

nice detail, That car will be super solid lots of deadning going on here..
keep the Pix comming
Oh Welcome to DIYMA


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## szubek (May 9, 2008)

DaleCarter said:


> Your English is better than many of us who ae native speakers. certainly better than my Polish.
> 
> I had the pleasure of attending a wedding last June in Szezcyn. I enjoyed your country very much and the people were great. I was disappointed that I had to go back and deal with Berliners on my way home haha Berlin is beautiful, Belriners....not so much.


Szczecin You say... I live in Gdańsk which is 200 miles away but I used to have girlfriend form Szczecin and I met her in London. World is small, isn't it?



tr0y_audi0 said:


> nice detail, That car will be super solid lots of deadning going on here..
> keep the Pix comming
> Oh Welcome to DIYMA


It is going to be over 100 feet of Cascade Vmax but I will be getting some of their vinyl heavy duty mat so in total ..around 150 feet. I wouldn't go that far but the more is done the more engine noise is profound. It is addictive I tell You that. Thank You for the welcome.


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## szubek (May 9, 2008)

Just received ship tracking number for the cascade vinyl mats. Should be here in couple of weeks. I really want to be over with whole deadening deal. I want my car to be complete again 
In the meantime ... gear pics to give You idea of what it is coming to be. Budget wise.

As close to factory as I could get










It lacks in processing department so it is going to be paired with kenwood kac-x4r










And last but not least... very popular choice lately PRS Pioneers 










Need to work on that dash to make it fit nicely


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## quest51210 (Dec 27, 2007)

awesome choice all around and i like the look of that headunit compared to he factory deck. how do you like that kenwood? what amp for you sub duty or did i miss that?


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## szubek (May 9, 2008)

quest51210 said:


> awesome choice all around and i like the look of that headunit compared to he factory deck. how do you like that kenwood? what amp for you sub duty or did i miss that?


As I didn't get to install it yet I can't say much about that amp except that it is small . 
At the moment I am planning to go subless just 2 way active and then will see how it sounds. Or maybe passive and then bridge the other 2 channels to drive sub... or.... .


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## szubek (May 9, 2008)

.... during the weekend weather didn't allow me to continue with deadening, so decided to stay indoor for some dash fun. 
Double din fitting kit that I've purchased from ford obviously didn't fit with my head unit not to mention dash itself.. had to sand it quite heavily to get that thing fit in. Got myself sheet of abs some super glue and started slowly building it up using ford fitting kit as a template.


















It was real pita .. but then I made some of abs sludge (acetone dissolved abs) and it worked like a charm. 


















This thing is dry to touch after just minutes but takes at least whole day to fully cure and then it is solid. I was using pretty thin solution and did apply it with brush 

After first sanding










I am also considering gluing this two things together but then need to work something out with screws that will get covered/will lose access to.

tbc


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## szubek (May 9, 2008)

.. Driver side door is deadened partially .. just the outer skin. It took me even longer than the passenger side. Running new wires was a hideous task .. with almost no access behind steering wheel column and dash. To get my hand there I decided on removing front seat to give me more space to work in and to deaden that side of the floor as well. Forgot to take pics of the door.










Footwell area deadened as far as I could get my hand in.. up to the pedals. That white cotton thing covers entire firewall and goes all the way to the windshield.


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## daGwagon (Jul 27, 2008)

very nice so far, im anxious to see the dash piece 
so correct me if im wrong, the "C-MAX" would be a focus wagon in the states or is it just a diffrent car altogether
keep up the good work
-Garrett


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## Gambit7 (Sep 15, 2006)

Cool trick with the acetone! Can't wait to see how that comes out!


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## szubek (May 9, 2008)

daGwagon said:


> correct me if im wrong, the "C-MAX" would be a focus wagon in the states or is it just a diffrent car altogether


Early models of that car were called Focus C-max. It used to be the same floor pan as focus but it is way taller - different car I would say. Still, european focus and american focus are completely diffrent cars I think, except the name .











Gambit7 said:


> Cool trick with the acetone! Can't wait to see how that comes out!


As for abs sludge .. not so great as I thought. It takes way to long to fully cure. One should rather use it as a glue to build from pieces of abs or just apply small amounts - then it works just perfectly fine. I made a mistake and wanted to go quick by pouring large amount of that sludge on my piece and the whole thing started melting... was over a week before it got cured. Now I am even further away from finish ..


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## szubek (May 9, 2008)

Silence from above - cascade way

Headliner dropped just a bit, enough to get deadening in....








then layer of cae insulator glued with some contact cement 









Did also receive ordered VB2-HD vinyl mat - here is rear floor done with it

















This stuff is so different from what I expected when ordering. I thought that it would be soft/spongy and flexy - nowhere near. It is stiff and solid so heating gun is a must (or really hot weather), but once it gets its temp (just worm is enough) it is easy to work with and nicely moulds around curved objects. 
Harder to apply than Vmax but that extra effort is well worth it.

I am almost done with deadening just few spots left. There is just one drawback of the whole process. With all the noise levels down so much there is just one that got more profound - engine noise. Won't go that far to strip whole firewall so it has to stay like that.

Amp's location - storage compartment in the floor. Need to work on that cover so the amp could breathe


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## EricP72 (Mar 23, 2008)

hey did you ever finish the install? was looking good. i was wondering about the performance of the head unit with the kenwood kac-x4r. i have that amp and love it, and now i'm currently looking for a deal on that head unit.


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## dany2k3m (Jun 4, 2008)

Wow, very nice and clean. Looking good so far, wait for the final installation.


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## brianlin87 (Dec 9, 2007)

very thorough, great build thread. subscribed


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## szubek (May 9, 2008)

Thank You guys for bumping this thread .. that was the kick I needed. For last months I didn't touch install - didn't have time and will to finish it. It even got backward.. had small accident and rear side door was replaced so have to deaden it again. Now I am back on track and should finish it in couple of weeks, I hope.

So far I did install head unit amp and woofers ( no tweets yet so they play full range ). Amp works just fine .. will judge when I get to some proper tuning. Head unit would be perfect if it wasn't lit in blue and was less glossy - aesthetics really (Still looking for oldschool/plain looking high sq double din unit). Bluetooth is just great, no problems there 
Did some work on interior. Hated lower dash greyish plastics so had it covered in alcantara. Here are the pics...



















Rear side of all panels were lined with some cotton insulation










Will update more soon


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## MikesDman (Nov 24, 2008)

That retrim is lush! did you do that yourself? can i get a close up of the stitching?


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## szubek (May 9, 2008)

Nah.. done by upholstery shop - too many complex curves, too much stitching. Alcantara is pretty darn expensive and I wouldn't risk it for the fist ever job.
They did let me to "help" so was involved in the process . 

Will post pictures of panels installed with some close ups..


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## szubek (May 9, 2008)

Tweeter cups ... will be placed on the upper dash




























Painted in satin black


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## rkb993 (Apr 10, 2009)

Nice job! 
It's nice that with the net we can see international DIYers.


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## Paulo Sillas (May 22, 2009)

Sir, in the first picture of post #4, there are three little black pins next the handler cable. How did you put them back in their place?


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## szubek (May 9, 2008)

Paulo Sillas said:


> Sir, in the first picture of post #4, there are three little black pins next the handler cable. How did you put them back in their place?


The pins need to be pushed back in. Inserting first one is the tricky part - You need to hold door handle assembly against inner door skin ( i did use hook shaped screwdriver ). Once first one is inserted other two should go in easily. 


Small update
Door cards cut-out









New slightly bigger grills.


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## Chips (Jun 14, 2009)

Looks great so far.

I really dig the tweeter cups.


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## tr0y_audi0 (Feb 13, 2007)

szubek said:


> New slightly bigger grills.


I love doing this is make it look so much better with not so much work..
keep it up looks great!


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## captainobvious (Mar 11, 2006)

Excellent work so far! Keep it up!


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## szubek (May 9, 2008)

Thank You Guys. You keep me motivated 














































Speaker baffles - these are just ordinary plastic baffles sandwiched between two layers of CEA VBHD. Heavy duty mat made it really solid and heavy.



















This is what I have used for amp connection - factory power outlet for auxiliary heater. 










Finished with high current quick release connectors


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## Couger (Dec 8, 2009)

Anymore been done on this im just about to rip my max apart and follow you, ive got the focus c max varient though still same setup

The factory auxillary power outlet is man enough to power a amp im assuming


Cheers


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## CA4944 (May 2, 2009)

szubek said:


>


Very nice work. You sure showed that window regulator who was boss!


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## szubek (May 9, 2008)

Couger said:


> Anymore been done on this im just about to rip my max apart and follow you, ive got the focus c max varient though still same setup
> The factory auxillary power outlet is man enough to power a amp im assuming
> Cheers


Nothing more been done on the system .. small rattle developed in one door card that I had to rip again but nothing more really. The car on the other side gets consistently bumped .. in last 6 month had like 5 minor crashes, none of them was my fault . 

That power outlet is sure enough - it goes up to the main fuse box and is fused for at 70A if I remember correctly. More important is that that thing just sits there, no need to route cables through firewall which would be major pita if you consider how tight it is around c-max engine. It works perfectly, got absolutely no noise through it .. none.. 

Would be nice to see other c-max done... 

Cheers


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## jayhawker (Jun 24, 2008)

For a sec I was expecting to see a truck. LOL. Your car looks a lot like the Mazda5 without the sliding door. Looks very clean.


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## kdxrider200 (Feb 1, 2010)

thats looking like a really clean install. good job. keep it up.


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## Menace Kustoms (Jan 31, 2010)

Great job so far, I really like the speaker pods and grilles. We are getting the C-Max over here next year, fwiw.


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## Couger (Dec 8, 2009)

Sounds good, another couple of questions about the quick release connector what amp rating is the one you used ive found one for 50 amp also the amp im using is a Alpine which has a max draw of 50 amps, 

Did you use the ground wire on the quick release connector and run this to your amplifier instead of grounding in the boot or floor,

The the pods you used on the doors look awfully similar to the OEM ones are they ? if not where you get them from


P.s how did you hold the glass up whilst removing the window mechanism
Cheers Sven


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