I set out on Sunday to fix a speaker in my car that had been buzzing. I expected that I would find a wire that wasn’t well-attached or that I’d have to solder a weak point, but first I had to get to it.

When I installed a 3.5mm jack in my stereo, I was angered to find that to get to it, I had to remove most of the dash. While I’m sure they didn’t have end-user customization in mind when they designed the 1992 Toyota Corolla, it would be nice to have these things accessible. When we did the same on my friend’s car, we were able to pop a piece off and access the stereo there and then. The same with the truck we used to have. Why does it have to be so buried?

The speaker was a similar, if worse, story. Bolts that were almost impossible to access, large pieces that must be removed in unison. Parts to unscrew that, in order to access them, you’d have to remove the piece they attach. Who makes a car like that?

I appreciate the durability, though. This particular car has just under 240,000 miles on it, and if you need further evidence, check out the Top Gear episode where they try to destroy an old Toyota truck.

Two hours and countless f-bombs after starting to try to get to this speaker, I find it and bring in half my dashboard into the house. Break out the speaker to find that it’s completely eviscerated. Four inches, and all of 15 Watts RMS. Nice.

Browsed around online, but found mostly expensive and powerful speakers, so I head to Checker. Nothing. Target - nope, and Sears doesn’t do car audio anymore. They suggest RadioShack. Nada.

Someone at Checker said he got his (essentially the same speaker) at Walmart. I had been avoiding this, but lacking any other alternative… They’ve got only one pair of speakers that will work, and I’m going to have to do some time with the tin-snips. I get back, get it installed, and I have to admit, they sound a lot better than the old ones.

On a last note, it turns out that parts that are hard to get out are even harder to put back in.