I am currently adding speakers/amps/sub and Audiolink LOC to my stock HU, and I noticed when removing my door grills and sub grill that about 33% of the holes on the grills aren't really holes-they're fake holes. Which, from a manufacturing POV, makes sense-it's a lot cheaper that way, and, in the case of the door speakers, I imagine it has to do with that old Bose standby-directionality. Being a former Bose home speaker owner, I know that they have always tried pointing their tweets to improve imaging and spatial orientation, and that's probably the case here. But I am putting $260 worth of JL XR-650-Csi 6 1/2"S in my doors, and I don't want 1/3 of my sound being blocked by the fake grill holes. And the outer ten rings on the sub grill are fake.
So, my solution is-drill 'em out. But this is one tedious freakin' job, and if I don't want my grills looking like doo-doo, I have to be extremely careful. The sub grill alone has 2250 false holes. After I did three rings, and then followed the diamond patterning of the ribs on the outer 7 remaining, I think I've had enough (about 750 holes done). The passenger side grill I've done completely, and the driver's side, I'm working on. I may put them back and do a SPL comparison to see what the difference is between them.
Now, you might think that this is all unnecessary, but if you know just what percentage of total output is blocked by this type of grill, you would do the same. Especially high frequencies-they suffer the worst from blockage.
Strangely enough, the grills over the rear 6 1/2' s are completely drilled out like they should be. I guess they thought that this would make up for the lost highs from the door speakers. And blocking off the entire Blose sub wouldn't make make much difference anyway, it sucks so bad. I've thrown frisbees with more mass and substantiality than that piece of garbage. In fact, that gives me a good idea of what to do with that thing....

 

I drilled all my holes out of the door grills a long time ago - the improvement was excellent!!! I personally don't run (never have, never will) rear speakers .

 

I don't know how thick the plastic is here but the factory might have left the holes un-drilled to add strength to keep someone from putting their foot through them. Just a guess.

Chris

 

Drilled out the front grills as well. What a pain in the a.. Noticable improvement in sound quality in my opinion.

However, even though I was super carefull drilling out the holes, still a noticable difference where the factory holes where vs the drilled out ones. Bugs me.

Chris, no problem with the strenght of the grills after drilling out. They are plenty strong and have reinforcement ribs along the back.

Door pods may be in my future..........

 

Did the door panels have to be removed prior to drilling or is there enough clearance?

 

Removed my door panels to do the work and then removed the grills so I could work on them on a bench.

Not sure about clearance at the bottom of the grill. It's pretty close to the door panel.

 

Yes, no matter how careful you are, you're going to see some difference where you have drilled. However, the difference you HEAR makes all the difference in the world. I just finished my install last night and have been enjoying the huge improvement over the 1-note blose drone, especially the bottom end. I wish I had done this a year and a half ago. I am going to post a new thread shortly regarding my install and it's trials, tribulations, and triumphs. Oh, and OP Z-It's a piece of cake to take off your grills w/o removing the panel. Just slip in your tape wrapped screwdriver or alternative prying tool at about the 5:00 position on the pass. side and 7:00 position on the driver's side. Pry the hooks gently back and pop it out. The main pawl which is curved upward is opposite top the two locations where you should start. (5:00 & 7:00) If you drill W/O removing the grill, you're going to swiss cheese your speaker, especially at the bottom, as rplink says.

 

Yeah, I kinda messed mine up a bit. Thinking about shoting them silver to paint over what I messed up, but I'm afraid that might look like crap, too....

 

You can always do I did, this should take care of that problem

 

When I decided to do a stereo install, one thing I wanted was great sound with a stock appearance. I've had too many cars broken into, too much stuff stolen, too much hassle, to want to ever have to deal with that again. Putting in stuff like nissan fanatic did is an open invitation. To each their own, I guess. I've learned that it's better to fly under the radar than to run up to the antenna with a twelve sided steel bat and beat the radar antenna into submission.

 

I just replaced my door speakers and saw the same fake holes. I thought about drilling them but quickly realized how long it would take and how careful you'd have to be. I didn't want to spend the time.

Was it that much of an improvement??

 

Nissan_Fanatic... is your shift **** not aligned properly? I know there is a TSB for this particular problem.

 

It was before the install, but when I got my car back I noticed it was loose and I was going to take it back to get that fixed and some other things. Do you have a link to that TSB so I can see if it is repairable? I have an aftermarket **** **** but it's funny to see peoples reaction when they find out the car is a 6 speed not a 5 speed , i guess that is about the only reason I haven't replaced it yet.