I've ordered some of this for my focus as part of the ICE upgrade. Anyone had any experience using it. How much do I use, I know with some you don't have to completely cover the panel.

Hi L. There are 2 trains of thought. Either totally cover the door skin or just cover about half. Ideally use one of those small rollers to smooth it out and be careful of the sharp edges.

What upgrade are you doing ?

Yeah I was thinking doing the second option. As it comes in nice precut rectangles.

My planned build:

Head unit: Sony MEX 6000db DONE
Fronts: JL 6" coaxial
Rears: JVC 6" coaxial DONE
Sub: JL 12" in custom box tuned to 23hz. Powered by alpine 600w amp DONE
Amp (speakers): FLI 900.4 (temporary until I can afford a JL)

Is your car a mk1 James? I'm not clued up on either mk1 or 2. I've a mk3. I see you're gonna use coax in your front doors. Is that standard in that car or is there a separate tweeter in the front? Nice sub. Down to 23Hz. If that Alpine amp has an adjustable frequency knob then don't let that sub see more than 100hz. Your door speakers should handle 100hz easily.

Have you read posts by Lenny and Hassen? They've done great posts on their cars hifi upgrade and very concise too. Well worth a read.

Mines a mk1 facelift from 2002. The focus doesn't have seperate tweeters which is a bit surprising as my old fiesta did!

With the sub box there is a computer programme that tells you the dimensions, and port size and length required to get a certain frequency so you just build it to that specification. The sub cone itself can do 25hz but the box is capable of 23hz, well worth making your own, the mdf cost me £13 from B&Q and they even cut it for me so its properly built. I'm sure I read somewhere that humans can only hear frequencies down to about 22hz anyway so I got it pretty covered.

I've got the crossover set at about 90hz at the moment but when the JL speakers are in the front I will turn that down to 75/80hz as the JL's can go to about 55hz, but I'll have a play about with it when it's all installed.

My long term plan is to get a JL monobock amp to power the sub and a 4 channel JL for all the speakers, but I've got a lot of saving to do before then.

I followed Lenny's build when I was active on these forums at the start of the year and was amazed at the lengths he went to get the perfect install, planning to strip my car out in the next few weeks ready for the sound deadening, so will probably end up like Lenny driving about with just a drivers seat for weeks :D

I know the cold weather isn't ideal for applying sound deadening but I'm thinking put a heater in the car before I start and it should be alright.

What plans have you for yours?

Hi James. I've got a thread on here titled Mk3 focus audio upgrade. I did semi pro installs back in the late 80's and early 90's. Lost some interest with one thing and another (life) but after reading Lennys and Hassens and Mr Spocks threads I got the bug again lol. I'm out of touch tho with what's out there now. Except for the sub I've used gear I've had for some years.

Have you considered using component speakers an placing the tweeters on the dash corners or top of the doors?

Oh right I'll have a look later.

I did consider components, but I want the install so that no one knows it's been messed with (until they see the boot, which is just a mess of cable now really annoys me). Besides, the focus front speakers are located quite high up in the doors, so the vocals aren't lost in the footwells.

I know it's still not as ideal as components but I want this install to be really neat, my last one in the fiesta had all the boot decked out with everything on show, I'm past all that now :D

I have installed sound deadening in the fiesta.

It's inside the doors stuck to the metal of the door.

It's stuck to the inside of the door card

Stuck on the boot floor & spare wheel well

It's in small bits all over small bits of trim to prevent vibration

I hadn't thought about sticking it to the door cards as well but sounds like a plan!

I'm going to cover everything I can with the stuff as I've got an annoying rattle from the B pillars caused by the JL

Sounds like a good plan James. Have fun putting it all on and way h out for its sharp edges.