speaker sizing issues

[318iSdaniel]

hello everybody, hopefully someone here can shed some light on the issue i am having.

on my old e30, a 325e, i replaced the 4 speakers with 5.25in speakers with no issues.  i figured that i wouldnt have any problems with my 318is, but i do.  i bought 4 5.25in JL audio coax speakers, and they are BARELY too small to fit properly.  if i get one screw through one corner, the other 3 corners do not reach the holes to have the screw go through.  the speakers i was removing didnt fit either, with only one screw holding them in.

i originally thought this was just an issue in the rear deck, because when i went to install the speakers in the front, the speakers i was removing fit properly and looked like 5.25in speakers.  but it turns out that the front is also slightly too large.  

it is pretty clear that there hasn't been any custom work done, so what could be the issue here? has anyone else had this problem?  unfortunately i bought the speakers online a few months ago so i cant return them and will have to sell them on ebay (or here i suppose).

would there be any reason why my car would have 6 inch speakers instead?

thanks in advance for any insights you may have.

[monko141]

For some reason the only 5.25 speakers that fit are the ones where the speaker frames have an elongated hole.  What I ended up doing is using some 6.5 to 5.25 speaker adapter plates in the front and in the rear I under mounted the speakers and used the speaker mounting clips as nuts for sheet metal screws.

[ducatipaso]

hi to a fellow M42 driving, Dachshund loving fellow Portlander

[gearheadE30]

Try slotting the holes in the speaker frame.

[318iSdaniel]

Try slotting the holes in the speaker frame.

the distance of the holes in the car are beyond the metal frame around the speakers (barely), so there isnt really any way of modifying the speakers.  i guess i was just seeing if anyone had OE speakers that were a slightly different size.  after all the speakers i removed from the front do fit, but im pretty sure those are 5.25inchers also.  maybe i will just upgrade to 6.5's.

[318iSdaniel]

hi to a fellow M42 driving, Dachshund loving fellow Portlander

hello to you too!  there are quite a few of us E30ers in portland.