So this weekend I finally got around to installing my supertones. I had seen good installs on previous model years but on mine I couldn’t find a place to mount them that looked good.

I did however find a piece of scrap metal laying around the garage so I fabbed up a little bracket and it worked out exactly how I wanted it to.

I had to make the middle hole a little larger so it would fit on the existing mount. There is one bolt right in the middle of the metal hood latch bracket that I just undid and slid this behind then rebolted. Unfortunately I don't have a pic of it but if you were to look at it carefully it would be the obvious choice.

I used the relay and mounted it on that bolt that goes to the front battery tie down. it seems to fit perfectly there. Also I found it convenient that the existing horn lead fits perfectly on the relay prong so there is no splicing into the stock harness. =)

These horns are a vast improvement over the stockers... now the next step is to find someone to honk at ...:devil:


http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/5127/dscn09198kn.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Backview with measure

http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/5069/dscn09219ki.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Backview with measure

http://img326.imageshack.us/img326/1005/dscn09239jv.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
The electrical tape is to just hide the metal. you could spray paint it I guess but I didn't have the time. Also the finaly wiring was completely loomed so it looked good.

http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/3879/dscn09240kt.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
FINAL PRODUCT

Find an old lady to honk at as they give the best reactions.

what did you need to do to get in there where they were mounted?

looks good, but get rid of those wire splices. those things suck, do a proper job and splice and solder it. then shrink wrap it. :D
Shane

what did you need to do to get in there where they were mounted?

I removed all the grill inserts because I didn't know what to expect... you really only need to remove the center one at a minimum but in order to take out the second horn and run the wires over to the battery side you're gonna have to take out the drivers



looks good, but get rid of those wire splices. those things suck, do a proper job and splice and solder it. then shrink wrap it. :D
Shane

Man I love those wire splice thingys... they got wraped and put into the loom. I thought about splicing and soldering but I was in a hurry so I threw some on. Plus if for some reason I need to seperate them( can't think of one) they'll be easy to get apart. My other splices in the harness were spliced and heatwraped.


i'm really pleased how this came out there were no splices into the existing harness.

looks good, but get rid of those wire splices. those things suck, do a proper job and splice and solder it. then shrink wrap it. :D
Shane

I'm not a lover of those wire splices either but soldering automotive electrics isn't a good idea. Auto wire is flexible to resist vibration. It get's its flexibility by having stranded conductors. when you solder, you join all the strands making the wire solid. It then fatigue fails at the point where the solder ends as this is a stress point.
I found this out the hard way some years back when I rewired my complete car to my own wiring pattern. Everything worked great to start with. After about a year, faults began arriving due to broken wires by the soldered connectors. Lesson learned. These days I use crimps and only solder when absolutely necessary. If I do solder, I try to incorporate a strain relief mounting on the wire and keep the solder penetration to a minimum.

/\ Good tip. I never thought about that.

AHHHH that's what Subaru wanted us to put in the big hole in the middle. :D


looks good. I've been wanting to do a Supertone install for a long time, I just don't have the room for it. :(


Find an old lady to honk at as they give the best reactions.


:lol: :lol:

I'm not a lover of those wire splices either but soldering automotive electrics isn't a good idea. Auto wire is flexible to resist vibration. It get's its flexibility by having stranded conductors. when you solder, you join all the strands making the wire solid. It then fatigue fails at the point where the solder ends as this is a stress point.
I found this out the hard way some years back when I rewired my complete car to my own wiring pattern. Everything worked great to start with. After about a year, faults began arriving due to broken wires by the soldered connectors. Lesson learned. These days I use crimps and only solder when absolutely necessary. If I do solder, I try to incorporate a strain relief mounting on the wire and keep the solder penetration to a minimum.

... same reason you don't solder wires on aircraft. proper crimps are mechanically more reliable, believe it or not. the key is PROPER crimps.

... same reason you don't solder wires on aircraft. proper crimps are mechanically more reliable, believe it or not. the key is PROPER crimps.

yup. you get the right crip tool and do it right, and you'll never have a problem.

I'd like that on my 06 wagon but would be worried about blocking too much of the radiator's air-flow.

Any idea as to whether it will have any impact (it gets really hot here in DC area in the summer :eek: )?

honk at girls in skirts, i heard it blows them right off :)

I'm not a lover of those wire splices either but soldering automotive electrics isn't a good idea. Auto wire is flexible to resist vibration. It get's its flexibility by having stranded conductors. when you solder, you join all the strands making the wire solid. It then fatigue fails at the point where the solder ends as this is a stress point.
I found this out the hard way some years back when I rewired my complete car to my own wiring pattern. Everything worked great to start with. After about a year, faults began arriving due to broken wires by the soldered connectors. Lesson learned. These days I use crimps and only solder when absolutely necessary. If I do solder, I try to incorporate a strain relief mounting on the wire and keep the solder penetration to a minimum.

That's a great post, Jon. I'll heed that next time I am tempted to get ambitious with my soldering iron.

... same reason you don't solder wires on aircraft. proper crimps are mechanically more reliable, believe it or not. the key is PROPER crimps.

i will agree with this complatly. The only issue is that 99% of people dont have the proper cimpers :D

Shane

How about some pics from a few feet away. I'm debating whether to mount mine there or behind the other grill pieces farther from center.

for the support you used, you might consider switching to aluminum (you can get suitable parts at Home Depot or Lowes) as the galvanized material will rust with time. Nice install, though!

for the support you used, you might consider switching to aluminum (you can get suitable parts at Home Depot or Lowes) as the galvanized material will rust with time. Nice install, though!


God call I probably could have done a beeter job had I been somewhat prepared. That metal is from a garage door repair we did awhile back and had some extra laying around.

I'll see if i can get some pics from a few feet away up sometime soon

AHHHH that's what Subaru wanted us to put in the big hole in the middle. :D


You don't need to drill any holes you just undo one bolt and then slide the bracket behind it and put the bolt back

Can we get a pick from far away?

I'll try to get a couple tomorrow.

Well people asked for pics from further away so I snapped these tonight. Sorry the light isn't the greatest.

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/8231/dscn09349et.jpg



http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/6270/dscn09353ag.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/2432/dscn09368tw.jpg

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/1518/dscn09370tg.jpg



http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/9213/dscn09387cd.jpg


(http://imageshack.us)

Not to thread hijack, but you can get the same install without the bracket. I used the brackets that come with the Supertones and used two available bolts to mount mine. One is the origianl horn and the other is a bolt holding the wiring harness on.

Results below.

http://s03.imagehost.org/0813/hella.jpg

I tried that but I couldn't get them to look right. Didn't the little "holder" for the hood release cable get in the way of the bracket for the driver's side horn.

I thought I would be able to just mount them up like everyone else seems to do but it didn't work out for me

nice i think i want to get a pair

I had to bend part of the metal to get the left horn to look right. I think it's probably easier to do what you did, but I didn't have any scrap metal on hand. If I was planning ahead, I would go your route and create that bracket. I just wanted to let people know you can pull it off without the extra piece. :)

That's cool I wanted to do it with no bracket either but I just happened to have that scrap laying around and figured it would be "easier". I guess my laziness paid off. Good call on the bending, I figured it might bind up the hood cable somehow.


I had to bend part of the metal to get the left horn to look right. I think it's probably easier to do what you did, but I didn't have any scrap metal on hand. If I was planning ahead, I would go your route and create that bracket. I just wanted to let people know you can pull it off without the extra piece. :)

call me a squid... but i cant get the grill off... is there some technique or magic touch?? do i need to sweet talk it some first or what.

you gotta reach in behind and push the little "barbs" out and pull like a summabitch. The middle comes out pretty easy but the sides will put up a fight. You don't need to remove the passanger side one for this install but you might have to remove the driver. Doing so will give you easier access to the little pass-through under the headlamp to the battery. Also the stock horn lead is near and you can just connect that to the relay.

Hey, if its not too much trouble do you think that you can take and post some pictures of the wiring job. Wires coming from the horn into the relay, wiring of the relay with the stock horn wire labelled, and basically what you did. I have seen the install on scoobymods but it isnt clear and I suck at electronics compared to installations of mechanical components.

sure I'll see what I can do tonight

How hard are they to wire in?

Look what the powdercoat fairy brought....

http://members.cox.net/couchflambeau/powdercoat.jpg


That's the only thing I'd change about the Hellas is the red grill, I sandblasted mine and had em recoated in black so they didn't stick out so much behind the grill....

Just a thing to consider..... ;)

you gotta reach in behind and push the little "barbs" out and pull like a summabitch. The middle comes out pretty easy but the sides will put up a fight. You don't need to remove the passanger side one for this install but you might have to remove the driver. Doing so will give you easier access to the little pass-through under the headlamp to the battery. Also the stock horn lead is near and you can just connect that to the relay.

alright thanks! i shall try again. hopefully i can post up pictures of them on my car, but for now this will have to do...

and to the haters of red :D i think it looks badass.

http://img354.imageshack.us/img354/8356/img01094gr.jpg

Look what the powdercoat fairy brought....

http://members.cox.net/couchflambeau/powdercoat.jpg


That's the only thing I'd change about the Hellas is the red grill, I sandblasted mine and had em recoated in black so they didn't stick out so much behind the grill....

Just a thing to consider..... ;)


Looks sharp, I thought I'd be decorative and have them match my car (nice coincedence)!

Sorry to bring this thread back from the dead...

Quick question: if I'm only planning to replace my stock horns with the Hellas and I plan on using the stock relay (i.e. no need to wire in the supplied relay), would I still need to pick up 14ga electrical wire? I just want to make sure I have everything needed before I start dismantling my car. Thanks!

Yes, you need wire to run a ground to the horns. Your stock horns have the ground built into the mounting point, but the hellas have a + and - connector that needs to be wired up.

When I did mine I just taped the stock horn wire in place, and wired from the other lead on the horn to the bolt that holds the hood latch in place, and screwed it down.

sow hen are you go all the way and put 4 of them up front?

http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/wetoddimage.wtdr/wMTEwNjI4MjZzNDEzZGZkMzF5NTQx.jpg
http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/wetoddimage.wtdr/wMTIwMjAyODZzNDEzZGZkMzF5NTQx.jpg

Was it easy to take off the covers and paint them black?

ya, several screws and it pops right off. make sure not to kill the gasket that is under them though, its rather thin.

When you put them back together make sure to pay close attention. The magnet in the middle can't touch the sides of the base. You won't have this problem if you don't separate the 2 horn peices and just pull off the grill.

Hella Supertone install on 2006 grill without custom bracket:

2x M8-1.25x40 flange bolts
2x Galvanized 1/4" flat washers
4x Galvanized 3/8" hex nuts

Used the existing hood latch bolt holes, M8-1.25 bolts seemed to do the trick. Take the 40 length bolt and slide the Hella-supplied bracket w/ attached horn on. Then slide 1 washer and 2 hex nuts on (nuts used as spacers here) in order to clear the latch mechanism on the driver side; same for passenger side for symmetry. Ratchet bolts on until horn gets in the way, finish with open wrench. Can align spacer nuts together to look symmetrical.

Thank you Andy (LPoolSuby) for the help (those grill inserts were a PITA to remove).

Sorry for the blurry close-up pics, I'll try to get some better ones up. And that visible stock horn is getting deleted when I wire these suckers up. As for the wiring, I still need to check specs of stock horn relay and wire gauge to figure out if I'm going to run bigger wire and Hella-supplied relay or stay with stock electrics.

http://www.2o1.net/STI/20061226-STI-01.jpghttp://www.2o1.net/STI/20061226-STI-02.jpghttp://www.2o1.net/STI/20061226-STI-03.jpghttp://www.2o1.net/STI/20061226-STI-04.jpg

I think it was defently worth the quick drive over too the local hardware store, I'll have to get myself a set, and then maybe get an sti, other than the blury pics that looks pretty good jon

Andy

OK, blurry pics replaced with better ones..

so, the Hella mounts should be good to use then?

so, the Hella mounts should be good to use then?

'Hella' yes!!!:D

'Hella' yes!!!:D


not even going to bother commenting on that.....


So you installed the supertones without even hooking them up yet???

Your going to have to take the grill out all over again in order to run the wires~~~!!!!

not even going to bother commenting on that.....


So you installed the supertones without even hooking them up yet???

Your going to have to take the grill out all over again in order to run the wires~~~!!!!

I connected the electrics once the weather cleared a couple weeks after the horn install (this is a rather old thread :p). It's easy to pull the center grille out once you've broken half the tabs off in previous removal attempts..

With the following in mind:
- horns collectively draw a maximum of 6 (Hella's confusing specs, maybe 12?) ADC (at a conservative 12VDC)
- horn leads are a relatively short throw from the main distribution and are certainly thicker than the minimum requirement of 22 (maybe 20?) AWG gauge
- horn duty cycle is in the single digits, if that (even considering occasional alarm usage)

I used the stock horn electrics for power supply. I had to extend both stock horn leads between 6" and 12" and I used THHN stranded (14 AWG I think) wire and flat heat-shrink quick-connectors. I made ground leads with the same wire and quick-connectors and bolted them to the less visible stock horn bracket location using a heat-shrink ring terminal.

Horns are relatively quiet. Unless you're within ~5deg of the Subaru cross hairs, then they're absolutely deafening. Interference is noticeable to an observer ahead while they vary their distance from the horns. If the observer is a tractor-trailer on the freeway about to cut you off, the interference will certainly work in your favor (but at a stand still, beat frequency is definitely not discernible at 200Hz)

I would recommend these horns to all Subaru owners. Safety first!

just found this thread. i tried for about an hour to get these to work and i had such a problem. i have a 07.
i put the one wire that went to the original horn onto the new hella, and then tried to ground it and i couldnt. it would not work. i even tried grounding itto the battery, but no luck.

http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/2276/hellawiringoh7.jpg

I really like the placement. Good work.

damn, i liked installing it on the honda better :(

I just installed my horns. The installation was easy enough and they look great, but I was hoping they'd be louder. I want some horns that are ridiculously loud. Anybody know of some louder than the hellas?

search for train horns on here... no seriously search for it.

that looks really good especially how the horns match the car

Here's min installed didn't like them both being in the middle like everyone else so heres what I did.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v611/slocivic/DSC02249.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v611/slocivic/DSC02247.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v611/slocivic/DSC02246.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v611/slocivic/DSC02248.jpg
Had to remove this piece from each side. All I can see that its for is to make the front a little more clean because it hides 2 bolts on each side. (might help direct air slightly). To remove them there are 3 screws on the top of each piece and then there is a clip on the bottom. Once you get them apart just put the screws back in because thats what holds your outer trim piece on.

After removing them you will find a bolt on each side that is holding part of the radiator (i think) you can't miss them because the are in the exact same place on either side.

i tried installin my supertones tonight on my 06 wrx.. i used this diagram http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/2276/hellawiringoh7.jpg and it didnt work out.. is that diagram wrong?:confused:

I would like to know if it is wrong as well since I was planning on following it.

anyone? im about to try to re-install them again right now.. is that diagram right? + what wires from the stock horn? do i just use one of the horn wires? or connect them both to 1 wire and run it to the relay?..... thanks__ grrr i hate electrical!!:mad: :furious:

anyone? im about to try to re-install them again right now.. is that diagram right? + what wires from the stock horn? do i just use one of the horn wires? or connect them both to 1 wire and run it to the relay?..... thanks__ grrr i hate electrical!!:mad: :furious:

Did you get them to work?

anyone? im about to try to re-install them again right now.. is that diagram right? + what wires from the stock horn? do i just use one of the horn wires? or connect them both to 1 wire and run it to the relay?..... thanks__ grrr i hate electrical!!:mad: :furious:

Run one wire from each horn to ground (the screw/bolt you use to hold them in place, provided it's on the metal).

Run the other wire from each horn to the relay. How you do this doesn't matter, you can run from Horn 1 to Horn 2 and then to the relay, or from each horn back. Whatever works easier with your mounting locations.

One wire on the relay goes to ground, the other goes to power (make sure to use a fuse ~10/15 amps).

At this point if you touch the last unconnected pin on the relay to power the horns should go off. Then splice into the wire that goes to the stock horn, and run it to this pin. Boom - now when you push the horn on your call both your stock horns and the hellas will sound.

I can edit and add the #'s on the relay in a bit if it's needed, or provide more details.

Jay

i also tried running the wire to the stock horn to the hella, and grounding the other side to the back of the bracket and it didn't work. what gives!?

Here are mine:

http://img71.imageshack.us/img71/7158/img2791jp3.th.jpg (http://img71.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2791jp3.jpg)

i also tried running the wire to the stock horn to the hella, and grounding the other side to the back of the bracket and it didn't work. what gives!?

connect the stock ones back in and see if they still work. Maybe the ground isn't actually touching a good metal surface.

I've found that the stock horn female connector will attach directly to the relay without having to spice or cut into it.

connect the stock ones back in and see if they still work. Maybe the ground isn't actually touching a good metal surface.
yes, they still work. but the stock ones use one wire, while the hellas use two.

yes, they still work. but the stock ones use one wire, while the hellas use two.
Sort-of - The stock ones use 2 wires, just one is connected to the outer housing which is bolted to the metal car (aka: circuit ground).

So you can do the same trick with the hellas, connect one prong to the metal car frame, and the other the same as the stock horns.

hmmm, id like to see a picture of that, i dont see how it would work lol why cant they just use two wires like normal people :P

I did like slo06sti, but didn't have to remove the side ducts. I love the way they "peek" out from the grill. :banana:

Also, here's a audio/video for my stock vs. Hella's: http://youtube.com/watch?v=wFe9njz5NeY

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a81/chainsawgrease/Subaru%20WRX/DSC09827Small.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a81/chainsawgrease/Subaru%20WRX/DSC09832Small.jpg

I did like slo06sti, but didn't have to remove the side ducts. I love the way they "peek" out from the grill. :banana:

Also, here's a audio/video for my stock vs. Hella's: http://youtube.com/watch?v=wFe9njz5NeY

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a81/chainsawgrease/Subaru%20WRX/DSC09827Small.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a81/chainsawgrease/Subaru%20WRX/DSC09832Small.jpg

How'd you mount them like this? I like it.

idk if it helps really but fords got their own lil solder joint we were taught that helps with this kind of problem if done right because the only rigid spot due to solder is the center.. it was fun to learn, anytime ya got the solder resin down in the wire insulation (this is why theyre stiff afterwards) we'd have to start over :) haha its like you strip one side around an inch-inch.5 or so then the other piece i wanna say like hlafinch shorter then you put em side by side so the ends are at the same level that are stripped then you solder justttt then end/tip basically and then you bend the wires to where theyd be flat and straight and then you do your heat shrink around it.

I'm not a lover of those wire splices either but soldering automotive electrics isn't a good idea. Auto wire is flexible to resist vibration. It get's its flexibility by having stranded conductors. when you solder, you join all the strands making the wire solid. It then fatigue fails at the point where the solder ends as this is a stress point.
I found this out the hard way some years back when I rewired my complete car to my own wiring pattern. Everything worked great to start with. After about a year, faults began arriving due to broken wires by the soldered connectors. Lesson learned. These days I use crimps and only solder when absolutely necessary. If I do solder, I try to incorporate a strain relief mounting on the wire and keep the solder penetration to a minimum.