Any DIY guides on replacing the horn?

timothyjay

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Please let us know how that goes, and your DIY guide :) Would love to replace it with that as well. Heard a sample of it and it sounds great!

Wolo Maxisounds. Was going to go with the Hella Sharptones but they sound a little too high for my taste.
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micha3lwin

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Well the weather forecast for this weekend is expected to be 6 inches of rain.. #apartmentlife

I'm still going to attempt to replace the horn tomorrow so hang tight for my DIY guys!
 

micha3lwin

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Hey guys,

So I attempted to change the horn today. First step is to take off the front bumper and you can find the steps in the PDF I attached.

Once you take it off you will see the wimpy horn on the passenger side
Honda Civic 10th gen Any DIY guides on replacing the horn? 2qtdce9


To uninstall the horn, you'll have to remove part of the intercooler piping to access the bolt which is size 13
Honda Civic 10th gen Any DIY guides on replacing the horn? 28kj5ax


Undo the horn itself by depressing the latch on the connector
Honda Civic 10th gen Any DIY guides on replacing the horn? xlh5pu


SO here is where I ran into an issue. I purchased the College Hills Honda 1 to 2 Horn conversion kit which can be found here, but the 2016 Civic does NOT support the adaptor that comes with the kit. The wiring from the Wolo Maxisounds also do not support the stock adaptor. Here is what the stock adaptor looks like.
Honda Civic 10th gen Any DIY guides on replacing the horn? 2628dxh


I think to do an actual 1 to 2 horn conversion, you would have to splice some wire and relay it to the battery with a ground, which I do not have supplies for at the moment. I'm also getting ready to move to Germany so this horn will have to stay for the time being. Here are some specs on the stock horn that can be found on the back side of it.
Honda Civic 10th gen Any DIY guides on replacing the horn? nn2zae


If any of you end up taking this project further, please let me know. I hate this horn so much that I may attempt to replace it before I ship it to Germany..
 

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CANMAN

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I will have my bumper off next week to do some wiring and HID's, will take a look at it. I had Hellas on previous SI's and we should be able to just split off the stock connection, crimp two connectors onto the wires and wire up whatever horn you want. It's 12 volts in and a ground wire, that's it....
 

leftword

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After reading the forum, I reached out to College Hill Honda to see if they had any info on the new connector/splitter and switching out the horn. This is what they said:

We did the research a few weeks back and unfortunately the results are not good. Honda decided to change the horn connector on the 16 Civic (hopefully not because of us) and we don't have a splitter or horn that is adaptable. Worse than that, as you already know there is not much room available to install something bigger. If you really want a different horn the best option would be to splice into the factory wiring. If Honda continues to change the connectors on newer models we will look into having special upgrade horns produced.

I did read in another very helpful thread from someone who took their bumper off (http://www.civicx.com/threads/has-anyone-replaced-the-horrible-horn-yet.1270/page-3) , that the location for the horn DOES have a spot for a Hi and Lo but that there is only ONE connector.

I'm nervous about splicing the wiring, but this horn is KILLING me. Anyone taken a shot at it or split wiring like this before?
 

CANMAN

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After reading the forum, I reached out to College Hill Honda to see if they had any info on the new connector/splitter and switching out the horn. This is what they said:

We did the research a few weeks back and unfortunately the results are not good. Honda decided to change the horn connector on the 16 Civic (hopefully not because of us) and we don't have a splitter or horn that is adaptable. Worse than that, as you already know there is not much room available to install something bigger. If you really want a different horn the best option would be to splice into the factory wiring. If Honda continues to change the connectors on newer models we will look into having special upgrade horns produced.

I did read in another very helpful thread from someone who took their bumper off (http://www.civicx.com/threads/has-anyone-replaced-the-horrible-horn-yet.1270/page-3) , that the location for the horn DOES have a spot for a Hi and Lo but that there is only ONE connector.

I'm nervous about splicing the wiring, but this horn is KILLING me. Anyone taken a shot at it or split wiring like this before?
It's not really a big deal at all man. Two wires, a positive and a negative/ground. Curt of the connector, crimp on two weatherproof female terminals, and connect them to the new horn and mount it. Hellas for example are pretty thin, and I am sure we could get creative and figure out a mounting solution.....
 

CANMAN

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Alright guys, after having done some research I just ordered the Hella Sharptone kit. Although the stock horn is not "rated" much less in decibels then an aftermarket horn, I can tell you from personally having Hella Supertones in my previous SI that they are much louder. I went with the Sharptone kit this time because I like the sound more. Check out the video I posted below for a comparison. I drive to D.C. everyday, and needless to say DMV traffic and vast quantity of idiots on the roads here = large amounts of horn usage.

I will be out of town next week, but plan to jump into multiple installs when I come, will take some pics and do a write up. I am planning on making a custom bracket to mount them once I get the bumper off for HID install and can determine placement and how much usable space we have back there. Something somewhere will certainly work, and a small piece of 1 inch aluminum angle is pretty flexible and can be easily constructed into a custom bracket.

Stay tuned!
 


SethK

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Yeah, umm.. Just yesterday, I HAD to use my horn to wake up some unaware driver that was about to hit me and it felt more like I was riding a moped than driving a car. I ended up having to throw my car into reverse to avoid being hit on the side as that driver still had no clue I was there after blowing the meep meep! I'm definitely changing this horn for one of these:

http://wolo-mfg.com/horns/air-horns/model-419-bad-boy.html
Sound Clip: http://wolo-mfg.com/media/wysiwyg/sound/replacement_horns/419.wav
or
http://wolo-mfg.com/horns/electric-replacement-horns/model-320-2t-maxi-sound.html
Sound Clip: http://wolo-mfg.com/media/wysiwyg/sound/replacement_horns/320-2t.mp3
 

CANMAN

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Hey guys, I know there a lot of people chatting about changing out the horns and I wanted to update everyone on my plan. My horns just arrived today, however I am out of town til Weds. I will be pulling my bumper to install multiple items on Thursday, will take pics for a write up, and have that, and maybe a sound clip ready to post up at work on Friday.

For anyone contemplating in the meanwhile, I am 99.9% sure we will be fine without an additional relay. The Honda horn harness has a relay already in it which should handle the power. In previous Hondas I never had an issue. My plan is to make a short harness from the positive wire in the factory harness, split into two for the Hellas, and then just mount them and run two grounds and it should work just fine. I just have to see how much space is behind this bumper and where I am going to mount things up.

I also purchased stainless steel hardware to replace the black screws and nuts that hold the cages on the Hellas. The factory hardware on those horns will rust after 2 winters and swapping it out will assure u never have to pull them off for maintanence once installed. Few more days....
 

Nightvader

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Have you guys found out a way to just connect the horn without gutting any wires? I usually keep everything stock so i have no clue on how to change horns nor anything about wires.
 

CANMAN

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Drumroll please................... Just kidding. Just finished 2 outta my 3 installs today, and although I don't have time for the full write up, I will be posting a full write up tomorrow while at work. I have posted a teaser pic below of my Hella Sharptone setup and where I mounted them below. Let me just say A: Apartment living and working on a car sucks B: The 10th gen is hands down the biggest pain in the ass Honda I have ever worked on. To get the front bumper off is a labor intensive process, and working space is so tight. It would have certainly helped if I had a helper today, and thus the install took a lot longer then I had planned, or previous installs have taken. If anyone is looking to order and do this ASAP I would say stick with the Hella Supertones and not the Sharptones. Thats just my initial impression. I have had both, and I think I prefer the sound of the Supertones installed over the Sharptones I just installed. Difficulty install for this job I would say is an 8 or 9/10 depending on your patience and wiring abilities. As far as people asking about using the stock connector and keeping everything stock, if you want to swap the horn for anything other then a Honda factory horn you're going to need to man up and be willing to cut the factory connector :) It's not the end of the world, but is a bit nerve racking because the gauge wire Honda used for the factory horn is very very thin. Stay tuned for a full write up tomorrow!

Honda Civic 10th gen Any DIY guides on replacing the horn? image_zpshhbbk1ln
 

Pearl

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Canman, thank you for your insights. I can relate to the frustration of working on a car in an apartment complex, especially when it involves removing the entire front bumper cover! I hope the condo cops aren't on your behind for trying to provide us with relevant info!

Anyway, I too have been recently tackling the ultra-wimpy, RoadRunner horn, so much so that as an average consumer, I decided to join a Civic forum and tackle this head on, no matter the cost. It turns out the cost is minimal but the labor is intensive. Well, not so much removing the hundred thousand clips but making sure not to break delicate fasteners of which I've already broken three. I hope when I reassemble everything, the front bumper cover will fit as before.
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