Door Panel question- what's this thing for?

[askdrtodd]

The yellow foam and textured black plastic bit, it extends into the door, curious what the function of it is? I'm hoping to use sheet metal and dynamat to seal up the door as much as possible when installing the door speakers, but this thing juts into the door cavity (where the clear plastic pocket is), and if it isn't critical I'd love to get rid of it...

 

[KingPrat]

I'm completely guessing here, but it looks like it provides a bit of stability under the armrest. Thats a fairly big expanse of plastic and it'd get dented in easily.

Either that, or sound deadening.

 

[mo_mo]

I'm completely guessing here, but it looks like it provides a bit of stability under the armrest. Thats a fairly big expanse of plastic and it'd get dented in easily.

Either that, or sound deadening.

Definitely looks like it lines up with the arm rest, so probably reinforcing it.

 

[askdrtodd]

Hm... I'd love to be able to seal the door up and to do so I'd have to cut that thing down some...

 

[4rNCMTNs]

Hmm, I've had my door panels off many times and I do not recall seeing that part. for sure it didn't cause any issue with adding the sound deadening material.

below is a picture of one of my front doors after first layer inside and out.

<img src="https://p4hn6q.by.files.1drv.com/y4mmSJlqk7j9nEmUVaD37oPoghHiHRziwlCyWWXiVT1sYipIY42MAyHrJLhbBfYjWRvA2boaDgt3-LdTvcWRCGDfiOURYEoth_iFWBSWddCET2v7pC-CksgjNgnGouEkJFupxlBLFpb-NMl-U9ePRJzgd3pMf_nQZ4zFLHlDc0jIkt_aEvjDwi1f7qcYoH0KTD2OhhTYiFOlbDIekpI_JoWBw?width=660&height=371&cropmode=none" width="660" height="371" /img>

 

[Roamer]

Agree. Believe it is reinforcing the armrest.

 

[askdrtodd]

Right but you didn't close up the openings (behind the plastic sheeting), I'm trying to seal those up, you get way better sound/response out of the woofers if you do (assuming they're running IB in the doors).

Hmm, I've had my door panels off many times and I do not recall seeing that part. for sure it didn't cause any issue with adding the sound deadening material.

below is a picture of one of my front doors after first layer inside and out.

<img src="https://p4hn6q.by.files.1drv.com/y4mmSJlqk7j9nEmUVaD37oPoghHiHRziwlCyWWXiVT1sYipIY42MAyHrJLhbBfYjWRvA2boaDgt3-LdTvcWRCGDfiOURYEoth_iFWBSWddCET2v7pC-CksgjNgnGouEkJFupxlBLFpb-NMl-U9ePRJzgd3pMf_nQZ4zFLHlDc0jIkt_aEvjDwi1f7qcYoH0KTD2OhhTYiFOlbDIekpI_JoWBw?width=660&height=371&cropmode=none" width="660" height="371" /img>

 

[Deimos]

I recently sound deadened all of my interior and didnt have to throw that piece out. I did however have to adjust my material to accommodate it since I couldn't put my panel back on without doing so.

 

[4rNCMTNs]

Right but you didn't close up the openings (behind the plastic sheeting), I'm trying to seal those up, you get way better sound/response out of the woofers if you do (assuming they're running IB in the doors).

I didn't close it up because if you do you eliminate all good access into the door. i'm willing to sacrifice the small amount of difference from not doing it. I'm bi-amping my focal front separates so there is no lack of high quality music. I'm not looking for strong base response from front speakers. do I have some yes (I think front woofers stop around 60 Hz) and it's more than satisfactory and leaps and bounds better than stock.

 

[askdrtodd]

I didn't close it up because if you do you eliminate all good access into the door. i'm willing to sacrifice the small amount of difference from not doing it. I'm bi-amping my focal front separates so there is no lack of high quality music. I'm not looking for strong base response from front speakers. do I have some yes (I think front woofers stop around 60 Hz) and it's more than satisfactory and leaps and bounds better than stock.

Agreed anything is better than stock and Focal makes great drivers, but it can be accomplished without losing access to the door, you just have to do it thoughtfully (make it easy to disassemble the panels by removing sheet metal screws and weatherstripping later). That said, I completely disagree that the difference isn't considerable sealing up the door as much as possible in terms of the response of the midbass driver. Mine are crossed up at 80hz anyway, but still I've never had a vehicle where it didn't drastically improve the woofer response when sealing the door openings up as much as possible