Improve The Quality Of Your OEM Sub For $5

[gjb89]

This is a quick cheap mod you can do to get the most out of your OEM sub-woofer. I picked this up over at the F150forums when I wasn't pleased with the way my Sony sub sounded. Adding Polyfill inside the enclosure made a great change, best part is it didn't even cost $5. I decided to try this out on the Edge this weekend and the results were great. The poly fill actually tricks the sub into thinking it's in a much larger enclosure. The driver cone responds better in a larger enclosure and smooths out the bass hit.

 

Things you will need

$5 Bag of Polyfill (I purchased a 16oz bag and used 1/6 of it)

10mm, 8mm & 7mm Sockets

Trim tool if you have one. (Harbor Freight has them for cheap)

30-45 mins

 

 

1) Remove the cover for the spare tire & the bin on the right side.

 

2) Remove the lower center trim. Held on by some trim clips, there are two on the back side too.

 

 

3) Make your way to the right side of the cargo area and slowly work way up the panel on the right side releasing the trim clips as you go up. No reason to remove the whole panel, you just need enough room to pull the enclosure out. I had my wife hold back the panel as I unbolted and removed the enclosure.

 

4) Remove 2 10mm bolts (top and left sides of enclosure) and 10mm nut (bottom side of enclosure). Then pull out the enclosure by lifting up and pulling.

 

 

5) Take out the 8 7mm screws surrounding the sub and the 8mm bolt on the bottom of the enclosure.

 

 

6) Lift up the sub and pull out the material that is inside and start stuffing the enclosure with Polyfill. Make sure to get every cavity. Do not over pack it and leave enough room for the sub fit back inside.

 

 

 

I forgot to take a picture of the enclosure filled with polyfill so I included a picture from the write up I did for my F150.

 

 

To get everything back together and back in follow the instructions in reverse order.

[ben senise]

That is an excellent idea! I did this to another car I had many years ago and the difference was night and day. I will get on this during the holidays. Thanks for sharing.

[gjb89]

I will say Ford is attempting to solve the problem. My 2013 F150 had maybe 8" of that insulation stuff and the edge has about a 18" lol. Still isn't enough though.

[chefduane]

I did that to my previous Explorer 4x XLT. Put in a new sub, stuffed the enclosure with polyfill, and lined the inside of the rear quarter panel with DynaMat. Really does make a difference. If I ever swap out the sub on the Edge, I'll do the same thing.

[gjb89]

I was surprised to find there wasn't any sound deadening material below the spare tire. Eventually i'll put some in.

[cds71]

More great info.....definitely going to do this upgrade.

[diswell]

Thanks for sharing these instructions. I followed them today on my 2013 Edge and was pleased with the results.

 

I thought I'd attach a pic of the tiny amount of stuffing that was hidden away inside my sub. I guess we now know why this Edge is the "Limited" model.

 

[sam_ding918]

Hello, it has probably been a while since you did this, but I just recently discovered it and plans to do the same thing to my edge sport. I have managed to take off the 8 screws on the subwoofer, however, I still can’t get the middle part out of the subwoofer box. It seems like there is some sort of adhesive. Is this normal? Was it easy for you to get it out? Hopefully you’ll reply, thanks in advance.

[Cree]

I was going to do the same with my 2015 sport. I have a rattle coming from the plastic sub cover and was gona poly fill too. That’s a bummer if the new ones have an attached sub so you can’t remove it from the housing. Hopefully we can figure it out, would be s good upgrade 

[dave151]

On 2/8/2019 at 10:16 PM, sam_ding918 said:

Hello, it has probably been a while since you did this, but I just recently discovered it and plans to do the same thing to my edge sport. I have managed to take off the 8 screws on the subwoofer, however, I still can’t get the middle part out of the subwoofer box. It seems like there is some sort of adhesive. Is this normal? Was it easy for you to get it out? Hopefully you’ll reply, thanks in advance.

 

Did you remove the screw in the back of the subwoofer?  If you turn it over there is a screw in the back of the enclosure that secures it to the magnet of the subwoofer.

[cptuell]

Would it also be better to replace the sub itself along with the fill or would just the fill have the same result? If replacing the sub would help even more, do you have any suggestions for a replacement sub. Reasonably priced.

 

Thanks

CPTuell

2016 Ford Edge Titanium

[Xtra]

Fantastic write-up with clear instructions and proper photos. A nice upgrade with good bang for the buck. 

[Gmandude]

I forgot about that guy. I have two really large subs and have found the rear isn’t much noise Stock. Really cool idea. I have been thinking about using it as a cheap filler for other areas as well...

[tsquale]

Just wanted to give a shout out to @gjb89 for creating this thread. Came across it the other night and did some research on sound system sites and decided to spend my $5 on some polyfill and WOW does it make a big difference in my '17 Sport. Like others have posted my sub enclosure had just a few inches of insulation in it that wasn't doing a darn thing. Quick (15 min) job to make the stock Sony system a little more impressive.

[Cookiemonster117]

Curious to try this out. Are they any upgradeable plug and play subs?

 

[enigma-2]

5 hours ago, Cookiemonster117 said:

Curious to try this out. Are they any upgradeable plug and play subs?

 

Can't answer if this is an upgrade or not. But it's from a reputable vendor and they offer a lot of instruction guides on subwoofers you can read.

 

https://www.crutchfield.com/g_530/Custom-Subwoofer-Boxes.html

[NorthroadCreations]

I want to try this, but the pictures don't seem to be showing up anymore. Anyone know if there are some photos somewhere else, or a video?

[tsquale]

9 hours ago, NorthroadCreations said:

I want to try this, but the pictures don't seem to be showing up anymore. Anyone know if there are some photos somewhere else, or a video?

 

All of the photos are showing up for me currently? They appear to be a photobucket hosted item. Maybe try a different web browser?

[onyxbfly]

On 9/21/2021 at 9:25 AM, Cookiemonster117 said:

Curious to try this out. Are they any upgradeable plug and play subs?

 

 

There are 0 plug and play subs available for the Edge. Every aftermarket sub requires an external amplifier.

You would need something like this:

 

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_541APSFD21/PAC-APSUB-FD21-AmpPRO-SUB-Wiring-Interface.html

 

And a separate amp.

[NorthroadCreations]

Thanks Tsquale, it shows them on my phone using Safari, but not on my work computer using Chrome. I can work with that!

Edited September 24, 2021 by NorthroadCreations

[txaggie]

Great description of what to do.  I did this tonight on my 2019 ST.  There was NO fabric/stuffing of any kind in the sub enclosure.  I put about a full bag of poly in it.  I think it made a huge difference in the sound coming from the sub.  While I had everything out, I went ahead and coated the bottom under the spare and under the styrofoam bins on the sides with a dynamat type coating.

 

Edited October 15, 2021 by txaggie

[McToberson]

Just followed this guide and did my 2021 ST. They don’t use a grill on the sub. The side interior panel is the grill. 4 torx screws around the sub and adhesive. Just slowly pry with a trim tool. Sub attached to the car with 2 10mm bolts and one 10mm nut on a long stud. Use a deep socket. There was zero stuffing of any kind inside the enclosure. Cheap paper sub with a surprisingly heavier than expected magnet. There is a small external amp leading to the sub with 4 wires.. I’m guessing you could swap the sub with an aftermarket if you could figure out the wiring, ohms and how many watts the amp puts out? Aside from the differences in the enclosure, the guide was spot on. Bass hits like a real sub now. Deep, full and surprisingly powerful ?

[ben senise]

4 hours ago, McToberson said:

Just followed this guide and did my 2021 ST. They don’t use a grill on the sub. The side interior panel is the grill. 4 torx screws around the sub and adhesive. Just slowly pry with a trim tool. Sub attached to the car with 2 10mm bolts and one 10mm nut on a long stud. Use a deep socket. There was zero stuffing of any kind inside the enclosure. Cheap paper sub with a surprisingly heavier than expected magnet. There is a small external amp leading to the sub with 4 wires.. I’m guessing you could swap the sub with an aftermarket if you could figure out the wiring, ohms and how many watts the amp puts out? Aside from the differences in the enclosure, the guide was spot on. Bass hits like a real sub now. Deep, full and surprisingly powerful ?

 

i think you have convinced me that i should do that to my 2020 ST!

[txaggie]

22 hours ago, ben senise said:

 

i think you have convinced me that i should do that to my 2020 ST!

 

Great result with minimal effort.  Made a huge difference in the overall quality of the sub sound.

[McToberson]

On 10/15/2021 at 12:09 AM, txaggie said:

Great description of what to do.  I did this tonight on my 2019 ST.  There was NO fabric/stuffing of any kind in the sub enclosure.  I put about a full bag of poly in it.  I think it made a huge difference in the sound coming from the sub.  While I had everything out, I went ahead and coated the bottom under the spare and under the styrofoam bins on the sides with a dynamat type coating.

 

Do you have the B&O sub? Most people have said they used 1/6-1/4 of a 16oz bag of fill.  For my 2021, I ended up using 3/4 of a bag.  I didn't force any in; just added enough where I had a little resistance when pressing on the stuffing.  Where I'm confused is how much we should be adding.  Should the polyfill fill the box, but have zero density, or should there be some density and resistance?  Some pages say you should be using 1-1.5lbs of polyfill per cubic foot..  I've searched the net for the dimensions of the factory sub box but no dice.  I guess I'm taking the enclosure back out again and calculating the cubic volume... ugh.. I hate being an overthinker.  Why am I even thinking about this if it sounded good after install?  Well, it sounded great after install, while sitting in my driveway, but once I got out on the highway the next day, It didn't sound as good as it did after install, especially at higher volumes.  I feel like I may have added too much.