Refoaming Subwoofers

From another's ignorance comes my new toys!
First, a little story. Back around Christmas, I was helping my cousin haul some trash to the dump when we happened upon a subwoofer cabinet someone had just thrown away. Now, to be sure, the six 12" (six 12 inch subs! in a vehicle?) subs appeared to be done for, especially when we go there. One had been removed and the other five had thorough foam deterioration. few surround materials short of butyl rubber can withstand the intense humidity and heat of the oppressive southern climate. I just mentioned humidity? Yeah, it had also been raining for about an hour by the time I found them, so all the cones were holding water like dog bowls!
Well, anyone who knows me knows I've a reputation as a dumpster diver, so it comes as no surprise that I fished the massive cabinet, which was worthless due to size and water damage, out of the bin and brought i home. I let the speakers dry for about a week while I found a generic refoam kit from Parts Express.


Yup, it really comes in a pizza box, medium I think. They are reasonably priced for what you get: glue, applicators, voice coil shims, dust caps and four foam surrounds of two different sizes. These surrounds are supposed to fit different cone and basket designs, so I assume they intended for you to choose one or the other, but I had five woofers and refused to spend anymore then the $25 I already had so I made the other pair work. I did this by inverting the surround. That's it and it worked like a charm. Actually, I kinda like the look of the inverted surrounds a little better.
The instructions are simple and easy to use. Remove the old foam from the cone and under the gasket (which you should be careful not to damage, though I really don't know what purpose it serves. No one rear mounts speakers much these days and if I did, I would most certainly not trust those type gaskets to seal completely. I used some rubbing alcohol to get the last of the old glue off. I then took a razor blade and carefully pried out the old dust cap. Easy enough. The shims they give you are just little pieces of plastic to be wedged between the voice coil and magnet. These make sure you retain an even spacing in your magnet gap so your new surround doesn't make the cone rub. Then apply the glue and let it set. I wished I had pictures of the process. Perhaps in the future, but for now you'll have to take my word for it all.
The surround takes a little persistence to get to stay in place, but isn't hard. We then let it dry over night before removing the shims and replacing the dust cap. Repeat three times. I ended up throwing the fifth woofer away as I didn't have anymore surrounds for it ad the woofer I feel I did the best job of repairing...ended up being the likely culprit that got him and his whole family tossed in that dumpster. The woofer rattled around something fierce when connected to a amp and frequency generator. Whether this was an already present defect or a mistake made by me, I can't say.

Next post should be on the eventual home of these woofers. Maybe not. I like surprises.