Aftermarket Speaker Kick Panels SUCK

[67ChevyRedneck]

Ok, I love the 'ole girl, so I've been very patient with the fit issues I've had with aftermarket parts. From the fenders and doors, to the bumpers and trim. I've trimmed, tweaked, ground, drilled, and fought to get that stuff to fit and for the most part, I'm happy with everything.

BUT today I got out and test fit my SEVENTY DOLLAR PLASTIC speaker kick panels on the truck. NOT ONLY do they need to be trimmed along the backside just to slide back far enough to match the door edge but the "slot" for the kick panel vent is 3/4 of an inch TOO SMALL. I mean COME ON! 3/4 of an inch? How could they be THAT off? My cab is original and currently has a bare floor. I now have to trim these expensive pieces of crap A LOT just so my vent will open What's worse is that they have a rolled edge for strength and I'm going to have to cut it all off so they will fit

I'm sure I'll tweak 'em and they'll look fine, but COME ON, for seventy bucks give me a damn piece of plastic that fits. I wouldn't have cared if the opening was a 1/2" too big as long as I didn't have to trim them

DON'T BUY THESE THINGS THEY SUCK!

There have been some great threads on how to make them yourself, but I don't have the tools at my apartment to be cutting wood to set the speakers in, let alone the ability to 'glass 'em over and put some sort of material on them.

[72 2wd Blazer]

Bummer, there used to be the plastic speaker kick panels made by Q-forms (I believe that was their name) and they were ok. The problem I heard was that they were a little thin and you had to put some fiberglass or something on the back of them to make them more stable. My friends had them on imports though, so I don't know if they even made them for the 67-72 Chevy series.

I actually would like to make some for my Blazer with fiberglass, but I have to take care of some other bugs first.

[LockDoc]

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I've always said.... "It doesn't take any more work to make stuff right than it does to make it wrong"... If they are that bad I'd like to see the truck they tested them on. Maybe it was totaled?

LockDoc

[Aarons72s]

Another atack of kick panel speakers, forgot who made the ones I installed but at least the area around the vent was good the rest sucked! They came from lmc in 03. Good luck.

[lilred67]

i bought a set from lmc and they also sucked. i sent them back.
and after finding better vendors on this board i hope to not do business with them again.......

[chadvicki]

I bought them to and now I have some $80 plastic just lying around since I refused to use them. I cut into one before realizing they sucked. I got mine at Christians Classics, however I really dont believe they are the manufactures of them. They distribute more than likely and that's it. So it's not them I find fault in really. Maybe if enough people complain about a certain mold that is being used by more than one dealer, they will make a change.

BTW the guys I dealt with at Christians are very nice people. I hold nothing against them and will buy from them in the future.

It's funny the only thing that I have gotten for my truck that installed with ease and was a very good experience were my LED's and white gauge overlays from whitegauges.com

Anyway my .02

Chad

[jimmydean]

That's why I will spend $30 and a day to build my own. That way I know they fit and it's only a matter of time.

Sorry to hear they suck, that's no good.

[Tim Christian]

Hey Chad, If you would like to send them back in the orginal box and the panels not modified. We will refund your money. The only complaint I have ever had is were the L/H speaker will rub the e-brake pedal if you do not straighten the pedal assembly up. Sorry don't make them just sell them, Tim @ Christians Classics

[cdowns]

cookie cutter monkey see monkey do off the shelf out of the box"customizers" definately not the same as old school creaative stuff the hobby was built on

[Wootdog]

Thanks for the info. I was getting ready to get some. Now I will build my own. Kerry

[70GMCer]

Just another reason I refuse to get them. I've heard too many bad things about them. I just bought a set of flat kick panels, and 70c10 and me are going to look into doing speaker mods on them in the spring.....

[weasel29gm]

It seems that alot of aftermarket is generic, '' ONE SIZE FITS ALL '' The product is made to be modified or tweaked a little. But some is pickey and every piece has to be perfect,but if their part, mod, etc needed to be tweaked thats ok. Like the old sayin' '' You get what you pay for''

[xmnfarmtruk]

Same here, guess I will either make them or look around more. Anybody tried the ones from Year One?

[kenm78]

Thanks you all saved me 80 bucks I will not buy them now. But on the other hand has anyone had any luck with the over head speaker headlinder that has the 4 speakers in it??

[70 net440]

Pioneer makes a surface mount speaker that fits under the seat for about $80.00. They are TS-X150 and sound good to me.

[chadvicki]

Tim,

I would however I already had cut the one without seeing if it would fit first. I just thought that it was a done deal and going to fit. It was the drivers side that was my problem. I had maybe 1/4" clearance before the speaker went in. My foot and the pedal would have destroyed the speaker or make it so I couldn't use the brake at all.

So I have one untouched and one cut out for a 6 1/2" hold now. When you turn them upside down and put them on a table they make great holders for screws and what not when your taking things apart.

Anyway it's cool. I'm not sweating it. I know you are not the deasigner. Thanks for the great service by the way.

Chad

[67ChevyRedneck]

Here's some pics of them "redneckedly" mocked up. This was their "best fit" position. As y 'all can see, I'm going to have to trim quite a bit around the opening for them to sit flush. First, I'll have to shave the angle piece so it will drop some so the lower edge will match the bottom of the vent, then trim the vent out. They look good, just wish they fit better.