Replacing Leon speaker cable with new stuff.
This is meant to be a brief
guide but hopefully it will let you know how easy this job is.
What to remove;
Front door cards - pop the handle cover off ( large flat blade screwdriver does the trick here ) Undo the two screws inside this that hold the door handle to the door and remove the two torx bolts from the bottom of the door. Gently pull the door card away from the door and pop the clips off - you may snap these if you don't pull straight. Once that's done, lift the door card up and it comes away. Unplug the tweeters, electric windows, mirrors, courtesy light and unclip the door handle cable holder and remove the cable hook from the door handle.
Rear doors is identical except there are no torx bolts.
Trim between the doors at the bottom of the B pillar. Just pull this away from the pillar and it will unclip and lift up and out.
Bonnet catch:
Two screws hold this in place, undo them both and let it hang loose.
Front footwell covers:
Remove both of these carefully, they're held in with clips on the passenger side and two plastic bolts on the drivers side. You may lose a clip or two, but they can be pulled out with pliers.
Bottom trim along the sills:
Once the footwell covers are out you can remove this. There is one screw holding each side in next to the seatbelt mechanism just behind the drivers and passenger seat. Lift the rear set forward and undo the rotating plastic screw / washer that holds it in place. Get someone to lift the whole piece from the front so you can slide it out from under the rear plastic cover that it links to. Again the trim clips may come loose, they can be removed from the car with pliers and refitted to the trim strip.
Removing the factory speaker holders:
Drill the rivets out with a large drill till the tops come off, then lever the speaker holder away from the door till it pops off. Drill the remaining metal of the rivets out.
Cable Run into front doors
Drivers Door;
Unclip the rubber grommet between the door and car, remove the plastic holders at each end and take care NOT to let them fall into the hole. Refix them to the rubber grommet. Cut a hole in the grommet that seals the existing cable through the door, feed your cable in and reseal with tape. When you put the new cable into the hole, there is a plastic
guide that will ensure your wire comes out where the grommet hole is. Run it through the grommet and down into the car body, it will appear through a hole in the metal where it can be pulled through exiting just below the area that the bonnet release attaches to.
Passenger door;
Same as the drivers door excep the location where you need to pull the cable from is packed with foam in a plastic bag, half remove this and the cable will appear.
Rear Doors
Both are the same however there is no cable
guide but if you have long slim fingers you can pass the cable through and reach it. Repeat the same process with the grommet and its two clips from the door to the car - don't want to lose them inside the door or the car. Run the cable over the top of the factory fitted plastic plug and with a bit of wiggling the cable will appear just above the seatbelt mechanism. Make sure you run the cable behind this and away from any moving seat belt parts!
Fitting is a simple case of reversing the removal process - take real care with the door card clips as they like to jump out and roll away and are definitely on the fragile side. Expect to lose one clip on the drivers side footwell card as it's a really tight awkward fit.
Why bother ... well when you sell the car and you want to fit the old speakers back in, it's easy to do because all the old wiring is there and hasn't been hacked up, plus the factory fit cable is not suited for amplified speakers as it's really cheap and thin.
Hope that's useful to someone
