Zarniwoop
Senior Member
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2022
- Messages
- 49
- Reaction score
- 50
- Your Mercedes
- 2002 CLK 270 CDI (W209)
Just wanted to share my bargain-basement fix for broken speaker grilles. I gather they're quite common on the C209 CLK, as the seatbelt buckle eventually starts to hang down, and gets caught between the door and the seat, often punching holes in the speaker grille if the door is slammed.
I know you can buy replacements for the plastic grille, and of course replacement door cards from a breakers yard are also an option. But I didn't really want to spend about a fifth of what the car cost me on a couple of door cards so I came up with an alternative - speaker cloth.
This is literally just standard speaker cloth stretched over the entire grille segment. I made up a paper pattern for the surface of the plastic grille and then cut out a section of speaker cloth about 2cm larger on all sides. I also made a large cardboard template with a cutout slightly smaller than the face of the plastic grille. I used this to to enable me to spray a light coat of adhesive over the surface without getting it on the rest of the door card. You could also mask off with tape and paper but this would take longer. I used the kind of spray adhesive intended for paper and card - I didn't want to actually glue the cloth to the surface, just make it tacky enough that the cloth won't move around. And I sprayed at an angle so as not to get it on the speaker cone.
Then it was just a matter of positioning the cloth on to the tacky surface and carefully tucking it in around all the edges with a selection of thin tools, including a credit card and the spatula! Done, and at a total cost of a fiver.
Here are some before and after shots...
I know you can buy replacements for the plastic grille, and of course replacement door cards from a breakers yard are also an option. But I didn't really want to spend about a fifth of what the car cost me on a couple of door cards so I came up with an alternative - speaker cloth.
This is literally just standard speaker cloth stretched over the entire grille segment. I made up a paper pattern for the surface of the plastic grille and then cut out a section of speaker cloth about 2cm larger on all sides. I also made a large cardboard template with a cutout slightly smaller than the face of the plastic grille. I used this to to enable me to spray a light coat of adhesive over the surface without getting it on the rest of the door card. You could also mask off with tape and paper but this would take longer. I used the kind of spray adhesive intended for paper and card - I didn't want to actually glue the cloth to the surface, just make it tacky enough that the cloth won't move around. And I sprayed at an angle so as not to get it on the speaker cone.
Then it was just a matter of positioning the cloth on to the tacky surface and carefully tucking it in around all the edges with a selection of thin tools, including a credit card and the spatula! Done, and at a total cost of a fiver.
Here are some before and after shots...
