# Running door speaker wires in 2011 Civic



## djcantr (Mar 1, 2011)

Has anybody ran wires to speakers in doors in an 8th generation Civic? I have a 2011 model and it looks to be a PAIN. It seems as though they designed it so that a body shop could remove the door and disconnect a plug at the body and easily remove the entire assembly. There doesn't seem to be much room between the plug and boot to run wire. Has anybody been successful in running larger gauge wire into the doors? If so, how'd you do it?

I'm undecided as to whether run 70x2 into my components and 70x2 into my rear coaxials or 140x2 into the components and run rears off head unit. Would it be bad to run larger gauge wire up to the connector to the doors and then solder it to the wires already run into the doors? I'm also wanting to leave factory wiring so that I can return the car to factory speakers when/if I sell it. I'm torn here and open to ideas.


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## nick650 (Feb 7, 2011)

I usually run it from the boot to were I need to go and leave a bit of stock left.


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## IBcivic (Jan 6, 2009)

it is not easy, but it can be done..preferably with small hands and a lot of patience


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## south east customz (Jan 17, 2011)

There should be a blank two spots in the molex plug, i drilled that (carefully) to my wires
It's very easy to do when u pull off the doors


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## djcantr (Mar 1, 2011)

south east customz said:


> There should be a blank two spots in the molex plug, i drilled that (carefully) to my wires
> It's very easy to do when u pull off the doors


Pulling off the doors was exactly what I was trying to avoid. I'll probably try to run the wires this weekend and curse at it for a couple hours, think about it, sweat, then curse at it a while longer. I was hoping for a better solution than taking off the doors.


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## 96jimmyslt (Jan 31, 2011)

Perhaps a honda forum would be a much better place for this


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## f150fx4 (Jan 5, 2009)

dj,

Try this forum. Lot of good info there on the civic.
8thCivic.com - 8th Generation Honda Civic Forum

I got a 2011 civic also. Two months old. Getting ready for my install. The specs are in my signature.

Sounds like you install like me. Think, think some more. Try, cuss, try, cuss. Sit and think some more. Get an ah-ha and succeed, or cuss some more and sleep on it.

Actually my truck install went easy and fast.

I don't think I'll be that lucky with the civic.

Good luck and let us know how it goes. I'll post my experience as I go also.

George


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## south east customz (Jan 17, 2011)

Pulling the doors are so easy it's disgusting you will work 3x as hard trying to run thru. U can pull the inner fender wells to get more space to
Work with if u don't want to do the doors


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## f150fx4 (Jan 5, 2009)

Found this link on the civic site. Good post with pictures. May help.

Front Speaker Install

George


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## IBcivic (Jan 6, 2009)

96jimmyslt said:


> Perhaps a honda forum would be a much better place for this


thats the spirit....:z:


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## Mark the Bold (May 28, 2010)

I had a 2008 civic so I'm not sure if they changed the door boots, but I remember it being a pain in the ass back when I was young and foolish. 

Now I'm a cantankerous and leathery old man with wisdom on my side, here's a huge tip for this: go down to Home Depot and get some wire pulling lube (made by Klein - usually in electrical department). 

Lube the hell out of the wire and glob a bunch in the boot and pull the wire through. Piece of cake. Most of the resistance to pulling wires thru rubber is the high friction between the surfaces. The lube is like $6 tops. Money well spent.

If you don't want to go to home depot, get a long screwdriver, remove both boots and finagle it thru both ends, electrical tape the wire and pull it thru. Again, I still recommend the lube but this is how I did it without it.......


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## djcantr (Mar 1, 2011)

Great ideas, guys. I'll dig into it this weekend and see which method causes me to cuss the least.  I'm really trying to avoid pulling off the doors. I live by myself so I don't have anybody to help me. I also don't have a floor jack with a door holder on it, which I'd consider a necessity when pulling doors by yourself.


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## Chaos (Oct 27, 2005)

Yeah, pulling the doors to access the molex actually makes the whole procedure much easier... provided that you have somebody to help hold the door.


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## south east customz (Jan 17, 2011)

Yea I forgot that i have a door holding jig that mounts to a jack and makes it a one person gig

Spray silicone is the same stuff as wire lube and is a little cheaper. Also having a large tie strap helps with the pull thru


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## IBcivic (Jan 6, 2009)

Mark the Bold said:


> I had a 2008 civic so I'm not sure if they changed the door boots, but I remember it being a pain in the ass back when I was young and foolish.
> 
> Now I'm a cantankerous and leathery old man with wisdom on my side, here's a huge tip for this: go down to Home Depot and get some wire pulling lube (made by Klein - usually in electrical department).
> 
> ...


save yourself some time and money and diy it using dish soap and a bit of water


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## djcantr (Mar 1, 2011)

It was a pain but not as bad as I anticipated. I removed the door panel and factory speaker. Pulled the boot away from the body and unplugged the two molex plugs. I cut a section from a coat hanger and bent the end around so that the tip ended up being a smooth tear drop shape. I coaxed it up from the inside of the door through the boot. Taped the speaker wire to the coat hanger and gently worked it back down through the boot.


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## theunderfighter (Apr 4, 2011)

djcantr said:


> It was a pain but not as bad as I anticipated. I removed the door panel and factory speaker. Pulled the boot away from the body and unplugged the two molex plugs. I cut a section from a coat hanger and bent the end around so that the tip ended up being a smooth tear drop shape. I coaxed it up from the inside of the door through the boot. Taped the speaker wire to the coat hanger and gently worked it back down through the boot.


Ahhhh. So You went the opposite way about it than I. I taped the wire to the coat hanger (tear drop bent), and put it through from the cabin, into the door and out until I could grab it. Now this is my first time around doing car audio, but it took me at least an hour and a half.... for one door. It was a tremendous pain. So I'll give your way a shot for the next door when I work up the courage to tackle it again. Just to clarify, You took the coat hanger, and started from the door, worked through the boot, and into the cabin. Then taped up the wire and pulled it back through and out?


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## blazeplacid (May 19, 2008)

I have a G35 and the molex plug is the same way

after about 20 min of messing with it, I just called my dad.

and within 30 min we had two speaker leads running to each door

taking off the door makes this 80,000,000,000 times easier.


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## djcantr (Mar 1, 2011)

theunderfighter said:


> Ahhhh. So You went the opposite way about it than I. I taped the wire to the coat hanger (tear drop bent), and put it through from the cabin, into the door and out until I could grab it. Now this is my first time around doing car audio, but it took me at least an hour and a half.... for one door. It was a tremendous pain. So I'll give your way a shot for the next door when I work up the courage to tackle it again. Just to clarify, You took the coat hanger, and started from the door, worked through the boot, and into the cabin. Then taped up the wire and pulled it back through and out?


Sorry for just now getting back about this. Look at my pictures. You can see an opening in the boot underneath the molex plugs. I fished the hanger up the boot and through that hole after sticking the wire down through the molex plug portion of a boot and into that hole. I taped the wire to the hanger after sticking the hanger end through that hole. Some silicone sprayed into the boot might help you, but I got the task done rather quickly without it. Once you have the wire taped to the hanger, just keep gently pulling the hanger back down while pushing and pulling on the boot. The hanger will work its way down fairly easily.


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## Babs (Jul 6, 2007)

Now I have both sides run up the molding from trunk, I'm at this point I get to face this demon. Going after it in my 08 Si Sedan tonight. We shall see. I'll probably find the wire-lube and slick it all up. I'm all about hitting the "easy button". I imagine nothing easy about this one to do it cleanly with my big mits in there. 

Funny one thing I thought looked difficult is that where that wiring comes in on both sides there's "stuff" infront of the hole. I imagine running a feeder (coat hanger, thick wire-tie, etc) from the outside into the cabin will show you where it comes in easy enough.


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## Babs (Jul 6, 2007)

I finally did this and yes I totally agree if I were brave enough, removing the doors would have really helped. The absolute hardest part is to get that plug back into place.

Word to the wise.. Make it easy on yourself and get wire lube. Makes fishing the wires soooooo much easier.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

Dish detergent FTW!


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## minbari (Mar 3, 2011)

this does wonders too

Pro.Fit Wire Worm Installation tool helps route wiring through tight spaces at Crutchfield.com


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## Babs (Jul 6, 2007)

minbari said:


> this does wonders too
> 
> Pro.Fit Wire Worm Installation tool helps route wiring through tight spaces at Crutchfield.com


That's sexy! 

You guys are going to laugh at this.. I was looking around the garage for what to use. Saw a spool of the heavy thick weedwacker cord/string. Stiff yet flexible and strong. Thick enough that I could sand a nice round end on it after cutting it. Worked like a champ! No kidding.  I used every tool in the shed on my build, literally. But for tough corners like down in that boot, I doubled it over, ran it down into the lube to get it all slick and into war it went. Made running the wires the easiest part.. So I could spend hours screaming over that stupid grommet/plug.


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## minbari (Mar 3, 2011)

lol, I am sure it would work. I used to use the really big nylon wire ties. tape the wire on the knobby end and pull it through.


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## f150fx4 (Jan 5, 2009)

Thanks for the ideas, guys. Gonna finally get around to my build this weekend.

I'm more nervous about getting the power wire thru the firewall. I can't find any existing plugs/grommets up under the carpet/insulation, so I'll have to drill which causes significant shrinkage.

Checked the civic forums and where they say are plugs/grommets, aren't any in my 11 civic. Oh well, time to quit whining, man up, and go where no drillbit has gone before.

George


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## Babs (Jul 6, 2007)

Its sneaky on the 8th gen civic. Pull the driver side kick panel. Check up behind the cluster of stuff there. It should be on that side wall. Not far from where the door harness feeds into the sidewall.

It's just a large flat gromet covering an existing hole.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk


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## IBcivic (Jan 6, 2009)

Once you've got your wire pulling devic fed through, I found that pulling the cables from the door towards the inside, made the job much easier. 
Lubrication is the key.


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## f150fx4 (Jan 5, 2009)

Thanks Babs. 

I'll check that out. 
Took tomorrow off to get this build going. 

George


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## Babs (Jul 6, 2007)

Be prepared to cuss trying to reattach the two plugs then get that housing back in. Be patient and just concentrate on getting the back side you can't see started. You'll know what i'm talking about when you get there. I ended up having to trim a little bit on the grommet flange around the back of the plugs. If you disconnect the spring right there you can open the door a little more. Put a cloth over it so you don't scratch the car. 

Good luck. Share pics.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

Oh crap! Wrong thread.. I was thinking door wiring.. duh.. sorry. LOL!!!!!


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## f150fx4 (Jan 5, 2009)

Babs, thanks again for the location of the grommet in the civic. Made things much easier on the power and sirius antenna wires. Also got my XM/Sirius, GPS antennas and BT MIC wires run.

Ran my speaker wires run thru to the doors and dash. I used a long plastic tie to pull my wires thru the molex boot. Fed it thru from the door to the body. Pulled the wire from the top of the boot to the door with lube. Worked well. First one took awhile but the second was quick. 


















Everything went back together very easily. The boot was easy to get back into the holes.










Got a mess of wires and the dash is torn apart. I'll get more done this week.


























Thanks to everyone for their great ideas. Finally closing in on the install part of the job.

George


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## f150fx4 (Jan 5, 2009)

Sorry, double post.
George


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