Factory Horn Replacement

[hendric5]

For absolutely no good reason, I decided to replace the horns on my 2008 Altima Coupe. I purchased PIAA Deep Bass Tone horns. The kit contains a 400 Hz and 330 Hz horn. My questions are these: 1) is there a single horn or dual horns as it comes stock; 2) where are the horns mounted; 3) is there extensive part/piece/panel removal to get to the stock horn location? I hope this is all worth it, just for a bit more deep sounding horn. Thanks in advance for anyone's help and assistance!

[JCJPark]

I also decided to replace my stock horns, I chose the Hella Supertones and the installation was fairly easy.
1. There are two stock horns, one high pitch, one low pitch, just like the replacements
2. They are located under the drivers side headlights
3. You only need to remove the front bumper to gain access, if you want to just plug in the new ones and mount them in the stock location, you can and it is very easy to do so, but I, being the OCD guy I am, decided that I needed one on the left and one on the right side and I also used a 12Volt relay switch to make it even more complicated. My horn kit came with extra installation parts to use as an option but I can't speak for your product. Best bet is to take off the bumper first and see if it can be installed in the stock location before making any permanent steps. Good luck

[justeller]

need-help-with-horn-location-t585462.html

I don't know if that will help or not

[hendric5]

Thanks for the info, guidance and diagram. Now the next big question - how the heck do I remove the front bumper? Is it easier that it sounds?

[justeller]

http://www.nicoclub.com/archives/altima ... moval.html

It's not that bad. I've had mine off three times now. If it gets hung up, make sure you figure out why. Don't just Heman it.

[KMiller]

If you follow justeller's horn-location link, you'll see I found the horns where JCPark indicated, not where the FSM diagram says they're located in the bottom center area. I was able to access the stock horns without removing the bumper by unfastening the plastic inner fender & under shields, but I have small hands. I considered several types, including the twin Hella's, but decided to go with a Stebel Nautilus Motorcycle Air Horn. It's rated @ 139db, 530hz @ 12v & that's plenty loud if it's wired correctly. I'm old head-old school & went with the chrome to complement my polished aluminum billet grille it sits directly behind. The plain black is $20 cheaper. I also considered fabricating my own wiring, but decided to spend another $20 on a Universal Plug & Play Wiring Harness, & it was well worth it. It's a complete kit including relay, connectors & fuse, with clear instructions. Following them, I only had to unplug the wire from 1 horn (the one on the battery side), & plug it in. The remaining passenger-side horn beeps only when the door-lock fob is pressed. The A/M horn needs to be in parallel with the remaining OEM one, not in series or they'll not draw current properly, honk together & sound like a dying duck. http://s354.photobucket.com/user/KenZmi ... c.jpg.html Good luck!

[KMiller]

Here's some shots I just took from under the hood.(my engine cover is in the paint shop getting body-color)
http://s354.photobucket.com/user/KenZmi ... pg.htmlo=2 http://s354.photobucket.com/user/KenZmi ... g.html?o=1
http://s354.photobucket.com/user/KenZmi ... g.html?o=0

[KMiller]

EDIT: fixed your pic links for you. -Sano

[JCJPark]

With the state my front bumper is in, I can safely say I have my front bumper off my car every other weekend to make sure nothing else broke off during the week. It's easy and after the first few times, it just becomes muscle memory and is very easy to remove. An aftermarket horn change was actually my first mod as the second owner of my car and it is pretty easy to do, try not to over think it. Just be careful not to break anything and you can always go back to stock.

[hendric5]

If you follow justeller's horn-location link, you'll see I found the horns where JCPark indicated, not where the FSM diagram says they're located in the bottom center area. I was able to access the stock horns without removing the bumper by unfastening the plastic inner fender & under shields, but I have small hands. I considered several types, including the twin Hella's, but decided to go with a Stebel Nautilus Motorcycle Air Horn. It's rated @ 139db, 530hz @ 12v & that's plenty loud if it's wired correctly. I'm old head-old school & went with the chrome to complement my polished aluminum billet grille it sits directly behind. The plain black is $20 cheaper. I also considered fabricating my own wiring, but decided to spend another $20 on a Universal Plug & Play Wiring Harness, & it was well worth it. It's a complete kit including relay, connectors & fuse, with clear instructions. Following them, I only had to unplug the wire from 1 horn (the one on the battery side), & plug it in. The remaining passenger-side horn beeps only when the door-lock fob is pressed. The A/M horn needs to be in parallel with the remaining OEM one, not in series or they'll not draw current properly, honk together & sound like a dying duck. http://s354.photobucket.com/user/KenZmi ... c.jpg.html Good luck!

KMiller, can you provide details or a link on the Plug-n-Play Harness? I just figured I'd simply be disconnecting 2 wires on each horn and reconnecting on the new horns. I've never done this project, and I'm often quite wrong in my assumptions. Thanks for the info and pics by the way. Very helpful.

[KMiller]

You could just swap the stock horns for your new PIAA's & they'd work, but without a separate relay, they won't produce the sound they're really capable of. I bought the pre-made harness because it wasn't much difference in price between buying a relay, fuse, wire & connectors separately. If someone has these lying around, they could just view the install instructions on this link.http://www.amazon.com/Universal-Plug-n- ... 8257097734