I made some speaker upgrades to the front doors recently, and decided that the rear speakers need to go to. Took the passenger side rear door panel off yesterday, but didnt have time to do anything else. Get out to the truck this morning(it rained last night) and theres a bunch of water dripping down the inside of the door skin and the plastic barrier that ford installs on the big hole in the door. I haven't looked at the other doors yet, and am now very hesitant to install my new speakers in the wet door. Is there any chance that not having the inner door panel on somehow lets more water into the inside of the door, or is this another trip to Ford?

 

If the water is inside the door, that is perfectly normal. It runs down the glass, down the inside of the door, and out the weep holes in the bottom. IF the water is on the panel side of the door, outside of the Ford plastic vapor barrier, and getting into your cabin, then you have a problem.

You can install a foam baffle to protect your speaker from getting wet and deteriorating/rusting. Just cut the bottom out of the baffles so it acts as an umbrella instead of a crappy foam enclosure. Imagine the baffle as just a 3/4 cup protecting the top half and redirecting the water away from the speaker like an umbrella (just cut a chunk out of the bottom of the baffle).

https://www.parts-express.com/Search...itesearch=true

 

This much moisture is normal?

 

It is only on the inside though. Nothing on the cab side of the vapor barrier

 

Yep. It is just rain water. The side windows run up and down between two fuzzy pieces which are not waterproof at all. Roll down your window and stick your finger in where the window goes and you will see what I mean by the not waterproof fuzz.

Just make sure the little weep holes aren't plugged at the bottom of the door and that will all dry out naturally. Sometimes crud plugs the holes if you like to get your truck super dirty.

The only time you have real trouble is if the side or top rubber window stripping is worn, or that plastic seal gives way, and it starts leaking inside your cab.

 

The plastic seal won't go anywhere once I dynamat the doors. I just didn't want to install speakers, dynamat, then find out that I actually have a problem. Thanks for the info, I'll order those foam baffles as well

 

The foam baffles can actually help some sub-par door speakers gain some midbass. They should be highpassed anyway.

 

I'm installing Focal Access 6.5" components up front and coax in the back. Speaker quality is not the issue, i just want to preserve them. I was also thinking about keeping the baffle intact instead of cutting it per Kanadian-Kaos recommendation. If you leave it in tact, I'd think you have the best chance of keeping moisture out because you are keeping it isolated from the inside "wet" part of the door. Now it is sitting in the same environment i am.

 

Install the components without the foam baffle and leave the panels off. Play some music.
Reinstall the components with the foam baffle and leave the panels off. Play the same music.

You may find that the foam baffles actually degrade mid bass rather than improve it as they act as weird sealed enclosures. Whereas with a small hole cut out of the bottom they will act simply as "umbrellas" and the speakers will sound the same as when installed without baffles (running infinite baffle in the doors).

But true, a fully intact baffle offers 100% protection from the elements. Where I live, it does not rain much, so my situation is a little different. I always use them either way as they are cheap effective protection.

 

I worry about cutting a hole in the baffle and ending up with condensation being trapped in there. When the bottom part of the door is wet, and it gets warm out, the evaporating water is going to come up through the hole, get trapped inside the baffle, condense on the top inner portion, and rain into the speaker(at least thats my theory).