Ryde _Or_Die

Well I have a new radio surround that I'll be putting in my car pretty soon. I was thinking of coating the back of it with something to prevent it from breaking. What do you guys think? What would you use?

$100T2

iTrader: (1)

You know what I did to mine? Bathroom Tub and Tile caulk... It's flexible, it coats well, but strengthens... Good stuff!!

Ryde _Or_Die

That sounds pretty good. Would I want flexible though? I mean I was thinking more along the lines of an epoxy or JB weld so theres like no chance of it breaking at all. I'm not sure though.

$100T2

iTrader: (1)

The problems with that stuff is sometimes it's corrosive to plastics... By flexible, I mean it won't become brittle, which is the main problem with our surrounds... Just go down to home depot, buy a hand held bottle of it for 2 bucks and go at it!!! I used the General Electric brand. Works awesome!!!

Icemark

what I have done on a couple of series 4 radio surrounds now when they start to crack, is too wrap them with black vinyl cloth.

You need to really clean them, and slightly grind/sand down the area where the vents pop in (or the vents will buldge and crack and also sand/trim the edges of the ashtray a little to get extra clearance.

Then use a good contact cement and some strechy upholstry grade black vinyl and a heat gun to stretch it, but the results are great. Much better than the stock hard plastic, or the lame rubber feel of the series 5 radio surround.

The other nice thing is that it is hard to tell from stock, other than the surface is nicer to touch, as it has a slighty give to it.

Covering them however, makes them much much stronger and no need for rear re-enforcements.

l33trx7

so what happens if you have surrounds that are already cracked. Ive used epoxy and it looks like ****. Sp how do I fix BIG cracks.

88 SE btw

Ryde _Or_Die

You buy another one and try to figure out a way to preserve it, lol. They all seem to crack, I'm just trying to make sure I don't have to buy another one for a long long while.

l33trx7

so...where can I buy some radio surrounds. It sounds kina stupid but i have no clue. And not Mazda they're too freaking expensive.

Ryde _Or_Die

Well they have them on ebay alot. They sell them at Mazdatrix.com. I bought mine from someone online, on this forum. They go for like $40-75 usually.

$100T2

iTrader: (1)

If we could ever get somebody to make them in CF...

Ryde _Or_Die

I believe Mazdaspeed7 was doing them or was going to do them. He wanted like $150 for them though. But he does quality work.