Horn Upgrade --- DIY

Yeah, gotta love those logarithmic scales. I take their measured dBs with a big grain of salt though.

 

I think this is racist. Amazon has always had stellar support no matter where they are from.

I also think it's crappy to say that showing a fellow PC'er (me) how to do something like install the horn is a hassle. Everyone here is helping each other all the time.

 

Wow, I guess there were some hard feelings about telling you I decided to get some horns locally instead of having to send you the funds to purchase the horns from Amazon. Then have you order the horns, and receive them from Amazon in time to bring them with you to Hawaii, meet at an arranged public place (which you would have to catch a city bus to, since you wouldn't have a car), then I would have to install these horns in your presence (most likely in the blazing hot Hawaiian sun) so you would feel comfortable with the procedure, despite the fact that the OP posted a very thorough installation guide (with pictures) detailing every step of the way.

I'd like to clear up a few things.

First, I certainly didn't intend my post to be racist, it's interesting how you assumed it was. What I meant was that I didn't expect a customer service rep that was located halfway around the world to be able to change the shipping policy on an item I wanted that had some kind of shipping restriction that made no sense whatsoever. In fact, I did send an email inquiry to Amazon asking if they would do that. All I got was a canned type response about how certain items had shipping restrictions and that they are sorry that they couldn't be of further assistance in this matter. Blah, blah, blah.

Second, what you and I discussed in our private messages, should stay exactly that, private. That is the reason why I took our discussion to private message, as it was no longer relevant to the OP's thread anymore.

I can see why you choose your forum name now, it seems to suit you. :loco:

P.S. I installed the horns today. It took me 15 minutes following the OP's guide exactly as outlined. No need to loosen the front bumper, etc. The horns work and sound great.

 

That's inappropriate.

You come here asking for help, but when ASKED to help, you don't. Nothing private about that

 

After a close run in with a SUV on the highway, I too upgarded the horns to Fiamm El Grande's 2-pack. $19.99 at Amazon.com. Thanks to the OP and all others that contributed to this post.The install went perfectly and took all of 20 minutes.

Some notes on El Grandes:
- No jumper wires needed
- The drivers side wire length was spot on.
- The passenger side required that I cut one plastic wire loom retainer to gain a bit more length
- I rotated the outlet of the horns to aim out the upper grille rather than straight down. Seems louder that way
- I left the red covers in place (they are removable). You can't see the red from the outside of the car
- The chrome outlet grills I did remove as they were visible through the upper grille
- Great MOD and at 20 bucks, extremely affordable and cost effective

 

Thanks everyone for this Horn Thread!!!f

Bought my Prius two weeks ago and replacing the oem horns with the Fiamm Freeway Blasters (72112 - F Low Tone and 72102 E High Tone) last night. Definitely Plug in Play.

Ok.... the good is these sound great! And, they plug in and play. No problem.

But, it did take me about 45 minutes to do the job and removing the front bumper would make this much, much easier. I wish I had just done that from the start. I did coat the connectors with dielectric grease, but didn't shrink tube them.

I think I will remove the front bumper this weekend and put shrink tubing over the connections to protect them. Or cover with RTV. Also this would give me access to the VPNS which I've already grown tired of hearing.

Anyway, the horns sound great. Very inexpensive (bought mine from Amazon with free shipping).

Many thanks to all that contributed to this thread!

 

I must have missed this earlier in the thread, but is there a specific need to coat these contacts? Do I need to go back in and do this?

 

Hi Calbear,

It's probably just me, but the male connector on the oem horn was covered completely by the oem female connector. On the Fiamm's the male connector still had a good bit of exposure. Also the ground connectors and a portion of the wire are completely exposed which I didn't like.

I just didn't have enough clearance to fiddle around with this last night. I'll tackle it this weekend. Supposedly the bumper only takes 10 minutes to remove. We'll see.

 

I used the approach of loosening the upper facia by removing just the top screws and also taking out the Toyota emblem. Found that was enough to get in there pretty easily with one hand from the top and one through the emblem hole. You can try that first to see if it's enough access for you.

 

I installed air horns and it was easier to hook everything up with the whole front end removed.
Also, If I remember correctly, I have no access through the emblem because of the Dynamic Cruise Control.

Alan

 

Ah, one of you "advanced" people.

 

Long story, but free upgrade to the Advanced Package.

 

What the heck does that mean? Are you implying that the ATP has better horns?

Anyone with a Gen III model four or five with ATP that has done this replacement?

 

No, he just stated that the front emblem on a vehicle with ATP has the DCC integrated in it.

 

Thank you! That is exactly right.
The local dealership screwed up and gave us the ATP for free...
Here is the post if you care to read it...
We had the same horns and yes I did upgrade...You can find pictures of my install within this thread (page 6 post #51).


Alan

 

Cool. Congrats on the upgrade. Not quite free when you consider the stress you had from that situation.



iPad ?

 

That's for sure.

 

i finally got horny with the prius

during the winter one of the horns was cutting out and since they are laughable at best i decided i needed something louder for safety's sake.

i have used these horns on the last two Subaru's i had.

i didn't need to take off the bumper nor the emblem.

i took off the top plastic shroud, removed the top bumper popits and bolts.

then just pulled back the top of the bumper just enough to get my arm in.

removed the existing horns with the mounting plates, one bolt each.

then used all the new hardware for the horns and bolted them back where the originals were.




now it sounds like a big nice person buick

 

Thanks for your tutorial, I followed it to the tee. I was able to purchase the horns from Amazon, have the correct tools pulled before I opened the hood. The only problem I encountered was dealing with the fact that my hands must be larger than yours. Going in from above, to the right of the latch was a hand scraper, that of course isn't your fault, maybe I'll come back in another life with smaller paws. My car now has a Big Boy horn and hopefully I'll be heard when people switch lanes without warning. (Funny thing is, the horn is probably my least used feature until I drive to Chicago via Milwaukee.)
Many thanks,
Tony Renier

 

Just completed the replacement with the FIAMM Hi & Lo tone Freeway Blasters. I didn't remove the front bumper or the front emblem --- just removed the bolts / fasteners and gently pulled the front fascia away while having my hand/arm going in from on top. The first one was a little more difficult because I wasn't sure how to remove the factory horn from the bracket, so I removed the horn along with the bracket. BTW, that is a 10mm nut. The one securing the factory horn to the bracket is 14mm. I didn't use the FIAMM bracket and just kept the factory brackets. I kept the bracket on for the second install and just removed the 14mm nut. That was a lot easier.

For those that want to install the FIAMM horns, I recommend connecting the ground to the upper pin, leaving the lower pin for the factory connector (+) from the car. Trying to do this the other way around, at least on the driver's side, puts lots of stress on the wire harness because there isn't a lot of length to spare. Moving that to the lower connector was much better, allowing the horn opening to be pointed directly down, with the bottom being parallel to the grill slats. I do have DRCC so perhaps that wiring was also involved, creating the reach issue.

The sound is much improved and I am no longer embarrassed by the laughable sound from the factory horns. From what I remember, my 2004 had better horns than did the 2012.