Help! my explore keeps beating me up!

[leenjen]

my ceiling started trying to hit me in the head. the whole thing bounces when i listen to music now. the dome light shakes and rattles like crazy. how do i keep the domelight in place? i cant really squirt that spray foam in there. i even thought about removing the dome light, but i need it at night. the rear one just isn't bright enough to light up the whole interior.

so, how do i fix a bouncing domelight?

thanks.

 

[jimbo74]

take off the cover and tighten down the screws

 

[EliteConcept]

that won't work
the rattling is due to the plastic covering over the dome light.
i haven't found anything to fix that,
good luck let me know if u find any thing

 

[JTang]

In addition to the stress of 4 15s , the Explorer tends to get stress lines along the top. You can usually see these on the top of the car along the rain gutter areas. It'll look like a small, long crack all the way down the area, so altogether, it's not too strong anyway. I don't think you can stop the rattling, the best thing just minimizing the stress on the plastic dome before it cracks. Perhaps a bit of silicone to dampen the rattling and reduce stress on the lens?

 

[undertow999]

you can go to a car audio place and there is stuff called dynomat i believe. It is an insulated mat that they place in your door pannels and could probablly put in between your ceiling and the body. Not sure how much it is, but i know it helps a bunch.

 

[leenjen]

thanks guys. i'll look at it tomorrw. i had to watch my daughter all day today, so i didnt get a chance to check it out.

it didn't become this loose until the other day. my wife's brother wanted to listen to his new D12 cd in my explorer (he has a crappy 95 beretta with a factory system). track 19 was the culprit. that song has some REAL deep bass. we turned it up to 3/4 volume (which is too loud to sit inside) and it was knocking stuff over inside his grandmothers house (we were in the driveway).

i hope there is some way to fix it. i didn't notice any loose screws, so they probably broke.

 

[JTang]

with 4 15s, are they straight up? Just wondering which direction would create max force to affect stuff outside the car. Were the windows open? I had 2 12s, and even that rattled the moonroof which I hated.

 

[leenjen]

they are firing up. i have them in two seperate enclosures that i built, so i can take 1 out if i need more room and still have two 15s. each chamber has about 2.5cuft of airspace. the old box was a large 4 chamber box, but i couldn't take it out very easily. and if i did, i had no subs. the old box was ported and hit a lot harder. i didnt port these yet. i just took off the carpet because i want to do vinyl instead. when i do that, i'll port them.

i have to have them firing upward, because that is how i designed the system, but rear facing gets the highest db's in the front seat.

 

[leenjen]

well, looks like i have to take my ceiling down. it's going to fall anyway. the edges that were under the plastic trim are now out. i need to glue it so it will stay in place. silicone will probably work best since it's flexable, that way the vibrations wont bother it. i have to take the roof rack off, or that will fall off too (or cause unwanted damage to the roof). as far as the dome light goes, i don't have a F@#^ing clue. there are 3 main pieces of plastic that the dome light consists of. even without it bouncing anymore, it will still rattle like crazy. i can silicone the outer clear plastic, but the shiny middle part still rattles. oh well, thanks for all your help everyone.
Dead Link Removed

 

[mobot]

OMG!!!

Your system must sound awesome. A good part of me wishes I had your problem with the ceiling falling in.

I hope you get everything squared away.

Thanks

 

[Nate46290]

i have the same problem in my explorer. But it dosn't move as much as yours becuase i only have 2 12's. Damn bro you car must be loud as a mother. But if you find a solution please tell me about it. I would like to here it.

 

[Brian's98XLT]

I just fifnished a 98 explorer at work with 4 Kicker solo 15 and 2 Rockford Bd1000s. The whole truck was covered in Stinger Roadkill sound Damping materail. The roof had 2 layers of pro and each door was done with one can of Spray on the outer skin and a sheet of pro on the inner skin. The floor had a layer of pro and Carpet pad with a lead layer between 2foam layers. The truck still had a few rattles from the plastic panels and those will be next to attack after the summer. I use a construction adhesive when I need to hold up head liner. I ran into a problem when it would get real hot out that the silicon would let loose. I have removed head linner light from cars were they rattled to much for the customer. The secert to still getting light in the front of the truck is to get a rear view mirror out of a GM that has lights in it and replacing you current mirror with it.