HILLY
Well-Known Member
To improve my stereo’s sound quality, I came across Sounds Good Stereo’s door panel block off plates for the Expedition. I was going to apply sound deadening to my doors as it were, and these seemed to be the perfect addition to that project to help tighten up the mid-bass sound.
https://soundsgoodstereo.com/produc...compatible-with-2018-2020-ford-expedition-max
The set comes for all four doors about 3/16” thick (I didn't measure before install) HDPE plastic that is very well finished. For ease of install for the average user, they also came with black self-tapping screws to mount them to the inner sheet metal. While these would work, I knew I could do better and set off to do the install with Rivnuts and appropriately sized screw bolts. I felt this would give a tighter more secure install while allowing future serviceability to remove the panel and reinstall if a window regulator, etc., needed to be worked on. I did this by using M4 rivnuts along with M4x20mm screws.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B018RSSVJS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
To start the install, I started by aligning the circled holes in the plates over the nubs that are pressed into the inner door skin. I used a punch to create a center point for a pilot drill for the top L & R mounting holes to start with. Once I had this done, I put the panel down to drill a pilot hole and then followed up with a metric step bit ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07T33RCCY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ) to make a nice clean and tight opening for the M4 nut. Once I had the two holes drilled, I installed the rivnuts. You can also apply if inclined some touch up paint to the hole. But between the step bit making a clean drill and the skin being aluminum, it won’t rust. With the two rivnuts now installed, I was able to loosely screw the panel up to hang from these two. I found it was best to do it this way to make the additional holes. If the panel was tightened down, it would flex the panel enough to make the holes misaligned for final install. Also, prior to the final install, I lined the plate edge with high density foam weatherstrip tape ( https://www.homedepot.com/p/Frost-K...Rubber-Foam-Weatherstrip-Tape-R516H/100090883 ) to give it a nice seal against the door.
While I was at it, I also did sound deadening on the doors, but I won’t get into that for this writeup.
I will say overall that I felt like this was a worthwhile improvement. It definitely clean up the sound from the speakers and the mid-bass efficiency. IMO if you’re going to have the door panels off for either a sound deadening project, replacement speaker install, or both, this would definitely be worth your time and money.
https://soundsgoodstereo.com/produc...compatible-with-2018-2020-ford-expedition-max
The set comes for all four doors about 3/16” thick (I didn't measure before install) HDPE plastic that is very well finished. For ease of install for the average user, they also came with black self-tapping screws to mount them to the inner sheet metal. While these would work, I knew I could do better and set off to do the install with Rivnuts and appropriately sized screw bolts. I felt this would give a tighter more secure install while allowing future serviceability to remove the panel and reinstall if a window regulator, etc., needed to be worked on. I did this by using M4 rivnuts along with M4x20mm screws.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B018RSSVJS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
To start the install, I started by aligning the circled holes in the plates over the nubs that are pressed into the inner door skin. I used a punch to create a center point for a pilot drill for the top L & R mounting holes to start with. Once I had this done, I put the panel down to drill a pilot hole and then followed up with a metric step bit ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07T33RCCY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ) to make a nice clean and tight opening for the M4 nut. Once I had the two holes drilled, I installed the rivnuts. You can also apply if inclined some touch up paint to the hole. But between the step bit making a clean drill and the skin being aluminum, it won’t rust. With the two rivnuts now installed, I was able to loosely screw the panel up to hang from these two. I found it was best to do it this way to make the additional holes. If the panel was tightened down, it would flex the panel enough to make the holes misaligned for final install. Also, prior to the final install, I lined the plate edge with high density foam weatherstrip tape ( https://www.homedepot.com/p/Frost-K...Rubber-Foam-Weatherstrip-Tape-R516H/100090883 ) to give it a nice seal against the door.
While I was at it, I also did sound deadening on the doors, but I won’t get into that for this writeup.
I will say overall that I felt like this was a worthwhile improvement. It definitely clean up the sound from the speakers and the mid-bass efficiency. IMO if you’re going to have the door panels off for either a sound deadening project, replacement speaker install, or both, this would definitely be worth your time and money.
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