(Not Quite) Complete Car Audio Installation (2016 Golf TSI 1.8L)

GranmasGotGame · Jun 23, 2016

INTRODUCTION

-To skip background info on me and go straight to the install skip to THINGS I DID

_____Yo. My name is Nate and I am a Bass Head. Back in December of 2015 I slammed my 2013 Hyundai Elantra into the rear end of a lifted Dodge 2500. I was going 45 mph and he was stopped so needless to say, I needed a new vehicle. Fast forward about 3 weeks and I find myself in this sexy little Golf TSI.

_____Now, it took me all of 2 seconds to realize, "Man, I really need my system back"; AND THUS THE NIGHTMARE OF INSTALLING AFTERMARKET AUDIO EQUIPMENT IN THIS PROBLEM INFESTED MACHINE BEGAN.

_____As I browsed the internet looking for information on how to install door speakers, how to install an aftermarket head unit, how to run a wire through the fire wall, etc. I quickly realized that not many people have posted about their aftermarket audio equipment on forums or The Tube of YOU. SO after all the heart ache I have gone through I figured I'd go about making something substantial for people to go off of. Hopefully they can learn from my mistakes/experiences with this car.

_____Having said that, LET'S MOVE ON TO THE FUN STUFF.

DISCLAIMER

I am a mediocre installer AT BEST, so methods and practices that I use in this guide could be sub-optimal or flat out wrong. I have about 4 years worth of on and off experience with aftermarket audio and have done a fair bit of research. I am not, however, anywhere near the level of a professional.

sorry to spoil the fun with that last paragraph but, figured I'd cover my ass before I post a "How to blow up your car guide"
.
.
.
.
.
that was a joke.

THINGS I DID

So, like the title says, these are all the things I did.

Directly (I went in looking to do this)

Added an aftermarket battery
Added an aftermarket head unit
Added aftermarket door speakers
Added aftermarket sound deadening material
Added a 4 channel amp for the door speakers
Added 2 sub woofers
Added a mono amp for subs

Indirectly (I had to do this to accomplish the above)

-This is all the useful stuff. I did a bunch of other things but these are what people actually might find use out of.

Tear and cut apart the dash (yeah, you have to cut sh*t off the inside of your dash)
Pull out the trim on the bottom/sides of the car
Remove the door panels

MATERIALS

_____I'm going to categorize this as best as I can so bare with me here.

After market head unit
- Need
  - Aftermarket head unit (duh)
  - Dash Kit
  - Wiring Harness (expensive)
  - Antenna Adapter and extender
  - Golf Radio Unlock Keys
  - Fuse Tap and 15/5 amp fuses
  - 3(ish) feet of 18-16 GA wire
  - Various tools for removing trim, cutting and stripping wire, screwing and unscrewing things that screw and unscrew.......yea just read below
    - Electrical Tape
    - Phillips Screw Driver
    - Flat Head Screw Driver
    - Plastic Removal Tool
    - Wire Cutter/Stripper
    - Box Cutter (sharp knife)
    - Hot Knife (optional)
    - PATIENCE (VERY IMPORTANT)
Door Speaker Replacement
- Need
  - Door Speakers (x4)
    - 6.5"
  - Various Tools
    - T30 "Star" Screw Driver
    - 10mm wrench
    - Flat Head Screw Driver
    - Thin/Small "precision" tool (could be small flat head or something else that's thin and sturdy)
    - Shears
    - Flat Backed/Thin Wire Cutter
    - Wire Cutter/Stripper
    - Electrical Tape
    - Phillips Screw Driver
    - Drill With Drill Bit
Aftermarket Battery Installation
- Need
  - Battery (yes I will do that every time )
  - 13mm Socket Wrench (with extender)
Sub Woofer / Amp Installation (this one's a little tricky cause everything is situational)
- Need
  - Desired Sub(s) and Amp(s)
  - Appropriate Wiring Kit(s)
  - M7 Screw with Washer (debateable)
  - Appropriate connections to head unit
    - If aftermarket, you should be fine
    - If stock, you need a line converter

_____And I believe that's roughly everything; NOW, THE MOMENT WE'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR.

INSTALLATION

Battery Removal & Replacement

_____I'm gonna start with the battery because it's quick and super simple

-Pop your hood and locate the battery
-Remove both clamps from the terminal posts using the appropriate socket wrench (I believe it was 10mm)
-There should be a crevice in the front of the battery, look down it and locate the screw that is holding the clamp on the battery.

-Using a 13mm socket wrench, remove the screw along with the clamp that is holding the battery down
-The clamp will slide out by pushing up and towards the battery

-Remove the battery and prepare the replacement
-In my case I am using an XS Power D3400,

-Place the battery in the open tray making sure that the negative side is towards the cabin and the positive side is towards the front bumper
-If applicable, re clamp the battery down
-In my case, the battery is too large to fit with the clamp and fits snugly on its own so I don't re clamp it

-Attach terminal posts (if applicable)
-Reconnect terminal connectors as tighten
-DONE!

_____Now, I know what you're thinking. "Did this guy really just make a DIY for changing a battery? I was changing batteries while my mom was changing my diaper." Originally I was going to show the BIG 3 UPGRADE, along with switching out the stock alternator for a High Output one. Sadly, however, I am still figuring out where in gods name the engine block ground is and I have yet to decide if I even want to move forward with a HO alternator. Sooooooooooooooooooo, battery switch is all we get for now.

Head Unit Removal / Installation

_____Now, I have had this head unit installed for a couple months now so I don't have all the pictures of pulling it out. I will do my best to explain everything so that it makes up for the lack of photos.

-Disconnect the positive or negative terminal from the battery (IMPORTANT) ~Because the car doesn't entirely turn off when the keys are out of the ignition [I blew a fuse the first time I tore apart the dash]
-Open the glove box
-Use your radio unlock keys to remove the radio from its housing in the glove box
-----to do this insert the radio keys making sure they are in the correct slot and simultaneously put them apart while pulling the radio towards you and away from the glove box. This will remove it from it's housing exposing the wires in the back

-Once you have disconnected all of the plugs from the back of the "mother" radio, release the keys from their slots and set the radio aside.
---To release the keys simply push in on the tabs on the side of the unit.

-Now move over to the center display
-Remove the trim from the climate controls panel
-To do this pull out (towards you) from the bottom, it should pop right out

-Once you have removed the climate controls trim it's time to remove the main trim
__________This is where I lack some photos because mine was done ahead of time
-Similarly to the climate controls trim start from the bottom of the main trim and work your way up

-Once you have released all the tabs underneath the vents, carefully use the bottom half of the trim (that you just freed from their clips) along with any point you can reliably grab and pull (that doesn't seem like it will snap) and pull it towards you
-This will pull the vents out of their holdings while the trim will stay attached to the vents (this is suppose to happen)
- Once the trim/vents are out look at the top and sides of the vent that were previously hidden
- There will be numerous small tabs that connect the trim to the vent, carefully disconnect these tabs and remove the trim from the vent.
***IMPORTANT***
-There will be a thin piece of trim that can come lose from main piece of trim, disconnect the thin piece and keep it, YOU WILL NEED IT FOR A LATER PART.
-Once the vent is out you have two options. You can disconnect the wire from the vent to move it out of the way. IF YOU DON'T PROPERLY RECONNECT THE VENTS BEFORE YOU RECONNECT THE BATTERY, YOU WILL CAUSE AN ERROR WITH YOUR AIRBAG SYSTEM. THIS ERROR CAN ONLY BE FIXED AT A VW DEALERSHIP OR WITH THE HELP OF A VCDS. [I f*cked this up pretty hard and still have yet to get it fixed]. The other option is to leave it connected and just work around it. (the safer method IMO)
******************
_____Here is where the fun begins
-Once the trim is out use your unlock keys to remove the display portion of the radio from the dash

-Similar to the main unit in the glove box, the keys are released by pushing in on the tabs

-Quick video I just found for pulling out display trim

_____ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_B8H0aEDhw _____

-Now a hot knife is highly recommended for this next portion
-There will be 2 plastic sections that need to be cut away in order to make room for the aftermarket head unit.
_____I have already cut mine so I don't have any images of what it looks like prior to being cut. So some super "high quality" photoshop work will have to suffice
-This first section can be cut with a box cutter as it is like a plastic foam hybrid material.

-The second piece CAN TECHNICALLY be cut with a box cutter but HOLY MOLY WAS THAT A PAIN. [I cut a piece of my pinky off while doing this with a box cutter and tore my knuckles up so I would not recommend]
-This piece is made of solid plastic so a hot knife would be optimal
-The shape in the photoshoped image is only a rough sketch of what it looks like, the red is where I cut the plastic so that its out of the way.

-This is what it should look like without the plastic (minus all the wires)

-Now that the plastic has been cut away we can work on feeding the wiring harness from plug where the glove box radio was into the display area.
-There are 2 ways that I know of to do this, one requires some bendable wire that you can use to feed it through, the other requires some clever positioning and a sh*t ton of patience.
_____I used the latter as it seemed the easier method of the 2.
-Moving the vents out of the way, there will be a hole in the bottom corner of the glove box side of the vent housing. You should be able to look through the hole into the housing for where the radio used to be.
-Make sure that the glove box is open and light is able to enter the former housing for the radio as you won't be able to view it otherwise.

-Feed the wiring harness through first, from there you can use it to feed any other wires you need to run from the glove box/radio housing (I.E. Antenna adapter, ipod/usb plugs, aux cord, etc.)
-From the center console it will look like this

-From the glove box it will look like this

-You will connect the wiring harness to the big black box thing, and the antenna adapter to the blue plug

-I don't have an image of the blue plug, but I do have one of the back of the radio, its gonna be the one that connects to far plug on the right (It's blue, that should tell you enough but yolo)

-Once all the wires have been ran, make all the necessary connections between the wiring harness and the head unit
-Now because the Golf wiring harness doesn't have a remote turn on wire, you are going to have to use a fuse tap to tap into a switched source.
_____I did some searching online and saw that people were able to use the fuse spot for the rear wiper to connect a radar detector so I did the same for the head unit
-I used a 15 and a 5 amp fuse (I think, can't quite remember) and ran the wire underneath the steering column towards the center console.
-If you use a flashlight and shine it into the driver side floor well (towards the center console) you will notice that you can see it through the opening in the dash.
-Run your wire up and into the dash opening and connect it to the remote turn on for your head unit.

-Once everything is connected, go ahead check to see if everything works
***IMPORTANT***
-DO NOT FORGET TO REATTACH THE PLUG INTO THE VENT BEFORE YOU RECONNECT THE BATTERY, OTHERWISE YOU WILL RECEIVE AN AIRBAG ERROR (if you disconnected it in the first place that is)
******************

-If everything works, go ahead and start reassembling your dash.
-Attach the mounts onto the head unit and place it into the bracket (this all comes with the dash kit)
-Screw head unit into the bracket and reassemble the trim
*Remember to put the piece of trim that was save from before onto the new "aftermarket trim" there will be gaps otherwise

_________________________
There will be a picture here of the trim here when I get the picture
_________________________

-The finished product should look something like this

_________________________
Once again, will upload picture when I have it
_________________________

_____That's about it for the head unit install, I will go into detail later on about hooking up/connecting a 4 channel to the head unit.

.....
.....
.....
.....
.....
....
YOU TELL ME THIS AFTER I TYPE IT????????????

Nyulak · Jun 23, 2016

Nice writeup. I had my fronts and a small amp installed by a local installer and I recently discovered the crap work they did when I added some CLD tiles a couple of weeks ago. Now I am looking to replace the foam ring as one of them was cut through. It's nice to see you providing all this information as I'm just a neophyte at car audio installs.

160dB · Jun 23, 2016

Great work. I going down this route too. I am planning on getting a Mechman alternator & XS Power battery. I already ran 0 awg power power from the stock battery to the hatch. I am running a temp setup, which is a amp & dual 8 inch subs. Once I get the alternator and battery, I'll be installing dual 12 inch subs, with a 1500 watt amp. All Sundown Audio.

GranmasGotGame · Jun 25, 2016

PART 2 BECAUSE CHARCTER LIMITS OR SOME SH*T

Door Panel Removal / Door Speaker Replacement

_____It took me a while to figure out how to take the door panels apart. In the process of finding out I managed to break 3 clips, and break off a clip holder from my front driver side door. Luckily the clip holder wasn't in a super necessary place so my door panel doesn't look like it's ready to just take off and run away, but still. Breaking sh*t in my new car sucks, so hopefully this will help you to learn from my mistakes.

-There are 2 screws you must remove and 1 screw thingy that must be turned before you can take your door panel off.
-The first screw is inside of the handle that bridges the elbow rest and the top of the door panel
-To reach this we must take of the handle cover
-Locate the the slight gap where a thin flat head or plastic removal tool can be inserted

-Insert your tool of choice and pop the handle open
-This is what it will look like and the screw is located in the top portion of the exposed handle

-Use a T30 "star" screw driver to remove the screw from the panel

-The next screw will be under the lip of the elbow rest and above the little cubby at the bottom of the panel

-Remove this screw as well and move to the very bottom of the panel
-There will be an indent where a screw thingy is located (yes that's the technical term, trust me, I once met a doctor.....)
-The screwy thingy need to line up so that it fits into the hole that it is resting on top of
_____Ever play with that toy where you put the shapes into their respective holes? yea just like that

-Use a 10mm wrench to turn it so that it lines up with the hole

-Now that all the screws and the screwy thingy have been removed/properly aligned, you can now proceed to taking off the door panel.
-I found that the best way to remove it is to start from the bottom placing one hand underneath the speaker grill, and the other in the cubby.
-Pull out and up until the lower clips release from their holdings
-Once the lower clips have released you can then work your way up to the top until all clips have been detached from the door.
-Once all clips have been detached pull the side of the panel that is furthest from the mirror straight up as this will allow the "hooked edge" at the top to pull away from the window while not bothering the plastic thing (another technical term) that is .......just look at the pictures

-Once the panel has been separated from the door, we have to go about disconnecting all of the wires from the panel
-This is what it will look like with all the wires (roughly)

-Next I will show you how they all connect/disconnect from the panel (pictures should do most of the talking)
-Door handle wire (opens door from inside)

-Side mirror controls

-Red light thing?

-Lastly the window controls

-I find that the easiest way to release this last one it to turn the panel sideways, hold it with your right hand and use your left to push the red clip down and out away from the plug (in this case sideways because the panel is turned)
-This is what the panel looks like from the opposite side (clips and holes for the previously removed screws will be circled in red while wire connections will be circled in blue)

-The rear door is going to be exactly the same process as the front except, the "match the shape with the hole" screw is going to be behind the reflector on the bottom of the door

-Instead of the 10mm wrench, use the T30 screw driver to turn the screw.

_____Now I had previously installed speakers on both front and back driver side doors so this next batch of photos is going to be from the passenger side.

-Once the panel has been removed, your door will look something like this

-Now VW decided that instead of using screws like normal people, they wanted to be special and used whatever these things are for securing their speakers to the door

_____Now you might be thinking, "Hey, it looks like there's a screw inside that little hole, and it's got a square thread"
_____That's what I thought, but NOPE, THOSE AREN'T SCREWS. THERE'S NO WAY IT WOULD'VE BEEN THAT EASY.
...
ahem
...

-I had no clue how to "properly" remove these things so I decided to go rouge
-I think I'll let the pictures explain what I mean

_____Yep, basically took a flat head and tore those puppies up. (back to the instructions though)
-Make sure to disconnect the speaker before attempting to break them away from the screw things securing them.
-Use a strong flat head screwdriver to wedge in between the speaker and the door
-Pry the plastic away from the door until the fake screw is no longer securing the speaker
-Once 2 of the fake screws have been dislodged from the plastic, you can more or less just use your hands to pull the speaker off the door; breaking the plastic around the remaining 2 fake screws

-This will leave those pesky fake screws in the door

_____Now the method I chose to use to remove these requires a bit of muscle if you don't have the proper tools (which I didn't)
_____Basically what I'm saying is there's probably a better way to do this entire next part, but the method I used got the job done so mission accomplished I guess.
-To remove these I took a flat wire cutter and just cut through the fake screws as close to the door as possible

-Now because I'm cutting them in half, the other half has a tendency of falling into the door where it can be quite a pain to get out
-To remedy this, I took some tape, and taped the portion of the fake screw inside the door to the lip of the opening

-Go ahead and remove all of the fake screws in this manner (or if you find a better one, do that, cause this method is a pain in the hand)
-Now it's time to start prepping to install the speaker

-Luckily, my speaker lines up with the holes that were used to secure the factory speaker, so I don't have to drill new ones...............kinda (explained later)
-Now it's time to secure the speakers to the door, there are multiple ways to do this, but since my speakers came with these little clips, I figured I'd just use them

-Now in order for the clips to go onto the metal and over the hole, I have to bend the metal of the door down a little, pictures will help explain what I mean

-Now that the clip will fit over the metal lip, I can go ahead and line it up with the hole........

_____ORRRRRRR THE HOLE DOESN'T REACH, THAT'S COOL TOO.

-Using a drill bit I drilled the hole to be a little larger so that the clip would then line up with the hole in the door.

_____Not the cleanest of "metal work" (if you can call it that), but it works so yea.

-Once all the clips are in place, It is time to go about connecting the speaker to the stock wiring.
-How exactly you want to do this is up to you, but I decided that if I ever had to go in and take the speakers out again, I wanted to be able to pull the speakers out without dealing with straight wiring.
-So, I cut out the female plug from the stock speaker holding and connected the wires from the aftermarket speaker to that (so I could just plug and play, so to speak)

_____Now, this next part I'm NOT 100% SURE OF
_____I basically used the guess and check method to see which wire was positive and which wire was negative. When I connected them both ways (to the speaker), I got sound coming out both times, so yeaaaa.
_____Currently I'm of the mindset that the wire on the right (for all the doors) is negative. That is how I have my speakers hooked up currently and they sound fine.
_____YES, I KNOW, IT TAKES 2 SECONDS TO CHECK WHICH IS WHICH WITH A DIGITAL MULTI-METER BUT I COULDN'T FIND MINE AND IT WAS FIXIN TO RAIN SO I HAD TO GET THE INSTALL FINISHED
...
sorry
...
ahem
...
pictures incoming
...

_____Anyway
_____I did a couple other things like adding some sound deadening and a foam ring around the speaker to help direct sound but these are just extra (also I'm pretty bad at dynomatting ~sound deadening~ things so don't judge :/)

-Once your speaker has been secured to the door and the proper
connections have been made you can go ahead and start reassembling your door panel
-To reassemble your door panel, simply retrace the steps used to disassemble it in a reverse order (is that phrased right? sounds like a double negative type of deal)

DOOR PANEL INFO + CLIP INFO + TWEETER INSTALL INFO

_____Here are all pictures of the door panels back sides as well as some useful info on what to do if you get a clip stuck in the door

_____*note* I originally planned to install 4 coaxial speakers in all 4 doors, however, the seller shipped the wrong kind (got 4 components instead) so he ended up just shipping me the coaxial speakers as well. Considering I didn't want the components to go to a complete waste, I decided to install them in the doors that already had housings for components (which unfortunately was the rear doors)

-Rear Driver

-Front Passenger (sorry, didn't realize camera went right side up)

-Rear Passenger

-The clips are fairly simple to remove if they get stuck in the doors IF, you understand how they work.
_____I broke 3 clips before I learned

-The clips have 2 different modes, extended and collapsed
-When collapsed the prongs will come out and secure the clip to the door panel
-When extended, the prongs are pinched and the clip will come free of the door easily
-Pictures incoming

_____WHERE TO GRIP THE CLIP WILL BE IN THE PIC AFTER THIS NEXT ONE

*note* Doctor Seuss look out

_____I decided to use the same housing that the factory tweeter used, seeing as there is already a grill/opening for the tweeter to project sound into the cabin
-First I cut the previous tweeter away from the housing

_____Thanks for your patience everyone, still 1 or 2 more sections to come, still have to write up the amp installs/running the wiring. Also want to touch on costs of an install like this along with upgrading the alternator (very pricy if I'm reading this right) and upgrading the BIG 3. Also might talk about any problems or issues that I ran into during the install, or in other words what to avoid doing while installing I.E. leaving the battery hooked up, forcing a clip to coming, leaning door panels up against car on windy days etc.....

Edit: Teaser for final look at install

Bäsemödel · Jun 25, 2016

great read! Looking forward to more!

Sandman GTI · Jun 25, 2016

Speaker removal.
Getting the VW pop rivets off.
The best way to remove that type of connector is to drill out the center.
You need to size the bit so you drill enough out but not to much.
Once you drill out the center it should come apart.
It's you car but you are a bit rough on it.
Give you credit for trying and learning.

shz702 · Jun 25, 2016

GranmasGotGame said:
_____As I browsed the internet looking for information on how to install door speakers, how to install an aftermarket head unit, how to run a wire through the fire wall, etc. I quickly realized that not many people have posted about their aftermarket audio equipment on forums or The Tube of YOU. SO after all the heart ache I have gone through I figured I'd go about making something substantial for people to go off of. Hopefully they can learn from my mistakes/experiences with this car.

Sorry dude but your search skills must suck. Plenty of guys on this forum are running aftermarket setups and I've learned everything from those guys. I am running an alpine ilx-007 with a dash kit that keeps oem infotainment functionality, upgraded coaxle speakers in all 4 doors, a 4 channel amp, and a mono amp powering a 10 inch sub in the hatch. I learned how to install all of that stuff from this forum and youtube. Good job on the write up though, looks crazy loud

GranmasGotGame · Jun 25, 2016

shz702 said:
Sorry dude but your search skills must suck. Plenty of guys on this forum are running aftermarket setups and I've learned everything from those guys. I am running an alpine ilx-007 with a dash kit that keeps oem infotainment functionality, upgraded coaxle speakers in all 4 doors, a 4 channel amp, and a mono amp powering a 10 inch sub in the hatch. I learned how to install all of that stuff from this forum and youtube.

..............well sh*t. My search skills probably do suck then XD

Sandman GTI said:
Speaker removal.
Getting the VW pop rivets off.
The best way to remove that type of connector is to drill out the center.
You need to size the bit so you drill enough out but not to much.
Once you drill out the center it should come apart.

Thanks for the info. When I first got one off it didn't look like it could easily be drilled off but I guess I was wrong.

I'll make an edit in the end with any proper methods/advice anyone has to offer.

lucyfek · Jun 25, 2016

Your writeup explains why it takes me forever to take on some more complex problems. Basically, unless I had no choice I'd do it right or rather put it off instead of hacking my way to instant gratification (unless I really did not care for the object, and cars are just too expensive to mess up, plus it better run when I need to get somewhere).
You've definitely got it done but at the cost of irreversible and rough modifications (it WAS brand new car). To your credit, some will find attached pictures and description handy (for what to do and what to avoid). Sandman already spoke of rivets (trivial). I'd add that leaving unsecured battery (bracket did not fit) might be asking for trouble.

BTW, so goes the hatch (with them subs

.

I'm not all that satisfied with the sound in my 15TSI (subjectively it's worse than stock radio/cd in my 02 zx3) but I'm in hurry either and I'll probably limit myself to just replacing speakers (and adding some sound deadening onto door). How much improvement - if any - should I expect (while keeping stock head unit)?

If installing the sub myself would the following work - I run the extensions from rear speakers to the back (mine is 2 door so no problem with this) where I'd mount connectors (L/R channel) to removable amp powered from the 12V "lighter" socket in the hatch (I'm not sure what's the power rating there but no extreme requirements for me). Basically the setup would resemble home theater setup without dedicated sub out on the receiver (where the sub splices in between both L and R speaker to amplify all the low frequency signal). Minimal mess and easy to recover all the space (when needed).

shz702 · Jun 25, 2016

lucyfek said:
You've definitely got it done but at the cost of irreversible and rough modifications (it WAS brand new car).

Well to his defense the only thing I've seen (so far) that is irreversible is the way he destroyed the oem speakers to get them out. The two brackets he removed behind the dash is necessary to get an aftermarket HU in there but does not effect putting the stock screen back in. They really serve no purpose, they are very soft plastic and don't effect anything once removed. Not sure why they are even there.

If installing the sub myself would the following work - I run the extensions from rear speakers to the back (mine is 2 door so no problem with this) where I'd mount connectors (L/R channel) to removable amp powered from the 12V "lighter" socket in the hatch (I'm not sure what's the power rating there but no extreme requirements for me). Basically the setup would resemble home theater setup without dedicated sub out on the receiver (where the sub splices in between both L and R speaker to amplify all the low frequency signal). Minimal mess and easy to recover all the space (when needed).

You need to read Chid's thread on how to add an amp/subwoofer to the oem head unit. Tells you everything you need to know.

http://www.golfmk7.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6977

GranmasGotGame · Jun 26, 2016

PART 3 AMP/SUBWOOFER STUFF + EXTRAS

AMP / SUB INSTALL

_____So I originally had a hard time finding a way to run my wires through the fire wall but it turns out I'M JUST STRAIGHT BLIND BECAUSE I WAS LITERALLY STARING AT IT THE ENTIRE TIME
_____Anyway instruction time

-Start by popping your hood and disconnecting the battery. Disconnect both terminals as you will need to take the battery out of the tray in order to run the wires
-There will be either a grommet or a piece of cloth that is covering the hole (in my case it was cloth)
-There will be a triangular piece of insulation that can be lifted up to reveal the location of the hole in the firewall

-Now we can work on pulling apart the trim in the bottom sides of the car
-Pull out the plastic panel on the side of the dash

-Next pull out the piece of trim that connects to the rubber on the door

_____Now, I don't have the perfect pictures to show this next part, but I'll try to explain it as best as possible

-Pull up on the trim that covers the hood release lever trim (picture to explain)

-Once the trim is pulled up and away from the hood lever trim it's time to start removing the hood lever trim
-Pull on the lever and start pulling the trim away from the door
-Pull the trim down so that the lever slides through the hole in the top of the trim

-Once the hood lever trim is out, start pulling the long side trim piece out, there are 4 clips in the front portion and 4 clips on the rear portion, they all pull up and out

-In order to remove the rear portion, you will have to pull the back seats up and away from the metal

-Remove the seat from the slot that allows it to pass through the trim

-Once the front and rear portions have been disconnected and the seat belt has been removed from the slot, bend the front and rear portions of the trim inwards so that they release the 2 outside clips that connect to the seat belt column

-Once the 2 outer clips have been released you can pull it down and out (towards the opposite side of the car) releasing the trim entirely.
-Now that we have a clear path to run our power wire, start running it from the battery to the hatch

_____I found that by pulling up on the sitting portion of the seat and pulling the seat back down at the same time, you get more room to maneuver your wire under the seat and into the hatch

-Now that we've fed the wire through to the hatch, we have to go about finding a ground.
-Originally, I used a small piece of metal that one of the plastic pieces (that holds the false floor) connected to, and it worked fine for my 4 channel

-However, since I am going to be connecting a 0 GA wire, I this will not work for me anymore.
-So I did some searching and found a nice little hole where a screw can be placed to form a ground

-I went up to Home Depot and grabbed a bunch of screws and eventually found one that fit
-Screw I used is an M7 machine screw (Questionable size though, explained later)

*****SCREW SIZE EDIT*****
-When I finally got around to testing everything (meaning I had to screw in my ground), as I got close to completely screwing it down, it would become snug and then seemingly strip and become lose again
-I'm not sure if it's simply the quality of the screw, or if it is the wrong size (I also tried an M8-1.25 but it seemed to big)
-It currently is working with a snug connection, however it is not as tight as I would like it to be, so I plan on going back in to change out the screw for a more secure one, whatever size/type that may be
***************************

-Once you have a screw that fits, go ahead and sand down the metal so you have a more solid connection

-Now we need to run the RCA's / 9 wire through the trim and up into the the dash
-Follow the same procedure on the passenger side of the vehicle, running the wire up and underneath the fabric insulation that is underneath the passenger side glove box
-There will be 2 screws that can be unscrewed with your hand to release the fabric from the glove box

-Make all of the necessary connections to the head unit as well as the amplifier(s)

-Put the battery back in into it's tray and reconnect the terminals

-Go ahead and test your system to make sure everything works
-If everything works, Go ahead and clean everything up doing whatever wire management you see fit
-Finished product will look something like this

-EDIT: Wiring is a little messy right now, but will be fixed later

_____Alright, so I will go into detail on a HO alternator / Upgrading the big 3 along with putting up a couple more pictures, quick demo of the subs and anything else I can think of later, as it's time to go to work.

lucyfek · Jul 4, 2016

shz702 said:
You need to read Chid's thread on how to add an amp/subwoofer to the oem head unit. Tells you everything you need to know.

http://www.golfmk7.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6977

Thanks for the link

broadbean · Jan 10, 2017

Fantastic effort!

(Not Quite) Complete Car Audio Installation (2016 Golf TSI 1.8L)

GranmasGotGame

New member

Nyulak

Ready to race!

160dB

Passed Driver's Ed

GranmasGotGame

New member

Bäsemödel

Go Kart Champion

Sandman GTI

Drag Race Newbie

shz702

Ready to race!

GranmasGotGame

New member

lucyfek

Ready to race!

shz702

Ready to race!

GranmasGotGame

New member

lucyfek

Ready to race!

broadbean

Passed Driver's Ed