DIY Horn Upgrade LX/EX/EX-L

TiberiusJim

Member
16
19
SF Bay Area
Vehicle Model
Civic EX-L
Body Style
Sedan
Hi guys, I figured my first post would be an informative one. I just got done replacing my sad meep-meep stock horn with something a little better. I picked up this horn for $10 and free shipping from CHH. I wasn't entirely sure if this would all work so I figured that was a small price to pay for a better sound.

It turned out to be a very simple process. Pop the hood and then remove the 8 plastic rivets from the black plastic panel covering the radiator. There are then two Allen bolts holding it on, and the grille has tabs that slot into it as well. It's very straight forward how to remove the panel from those, and the panel pulls off by pulling it towards you.

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This reveals the stock horn, nice and easy to get to on the left. Unhook the connector (there's a small tab you must hold down then pull) and use a 12mm socket to remove the bolt.

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It's a simple process of bolting the new horn on and plugging it in. I did have to apply some pressure to the mounting bracket to angle the new horn down a bit since it is a lot larger than stock.

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Keep in mind that you do need to bolt everything back in place for the horn to work, as I believe this is how it is grounded. I tried testing it by simply plugging it in and it didn't work. So don't think your horn doesn't work because it didn't work before finishing the install.

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Once it's nice and tight, pop your plastic cover back on the reverse way you removed it, going from the grille tabs, then the Allen bolts and finally the plastic rivets.

Here's a sound comparison between the two.
View: https://youtu.be/ttk-qmnVZXg


I am presenting this as a basic and general DIY for horn replacement, and not specifically this particular model. While it's a deeper tone than the stock, I'm not entirely happy with it. When I really laid on it to test after I did the video, it didn't have a nice steady tone but actually warbled a bit and sounded a bit...sick. While this was a good way to get rid of the stock squeaky horn, I'll be on the lookout for something even beefier. I may look into a dual horn setup and use CCH's splitter adapter. If anyone has done this or has any other ideas of what horn to use, I'm all ears. :)
 
Thanks! I actually reached out to College Hills and they let me know that the poor sound I'm experiencing is likely a sign of an incomplete ground and that a solution to this is to reuse the stock horn's brackets instead of the one that comes with the horn. If this turns out to be true I'll add that info to my write up.
 
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