Rivian 500hz Horn Upgrade -- Installed Pics & Video Sound Clip

[CTRedCanyon]

Alright, the much awaited summary is here:


Step 1: Turn steering wheel to full-right lock to provide clearance between tire and wheel liner. Remove seven TP20 screws that secure the passenger side wheel liner. You don't have to remove all of these, but I found that removing all of them now makes it much easier to align the wheel well liner before reinstalling.

Important notes:

• These screws are TP20 (Torx PLUS) and not normal Torx screws. Make sure you have a TP20 tool and not a regular T20 tool. Even while using the correct TP20 socket, they're incredibly easy to slip/round if you're not careful.
• Make a note of the wheel well liner position before you begin. The wheel well liner tucks up underneath the fender trim all the way around the wheel. When you start manipulating it out of your way in the next few steps, it may pop out from behind the fender trim in other places.

Step 2: Observe stock horn location, and unplug stock horn. The stock plug is in fact a Deutsch connector, and the Y-splitter linked previously in this thread works perfectly. In my install, I found it best to relocate the stock horn, and install the aftermarket HELLA 500hz in its place. Fun fact: the stock horn is a HELLA 400hz horn.

Step 3: Plan out your installation. If you have a horn with a Deutsch connector preinstalled, you may be able to mount it using the provided bracket to one of the many mounting points available in this area. Originally, I tried to attach the aftermarket HELLA bracket to the end of the stock horn bracket, but this did not provide enough clearance between the two horns, and also fouled on the wheel well liner itself when reinstalling. I decided to move the stock horn up and to the right from the stock bracket, mounting to a small hole already drilled in the metal subframe/bracket holding everything here together. I then soldered and shrink wrapped my Y-splitter to the new horn, leaving the other end as a Deutsch connector to plug into the stock horn.

Step 4: Securely fasten your aftermarket horn in place. I used blue Loctite to make sure it wouldn't unscrew itself due to NVH, and I recommend doing the same for these metal-on-metal fasteners.

Important notes:

• Make sure you position both horns such that they won't collect water. The bell of these horns is a perfectly shaped funnel. Avoid potential issues by positioning the bell level or below so that water doesn't collect inside. When I first opened up the wheel well liner last night, there was a considerable amount of water inside from recent rains and wet weather driving.
• Securely fasten down your cable lengths with zipties or similar fasteners, and trim them appropriately. There seems to be an exposed gear in the area that I didn't investigate too much, but definitely want to make sure your cables and zipties avoid. Consider how the cables may move while you drive the vehicle, and be sure to fasten them down appropriately to avoid issues.

Step 5: Ensure all plugs and fasteners are snug, then reinstall the wheel well liner. Make sure to position the wheel well liner underneath the fender trim all the way around the side. Do not overtighten the TP20 screws. Some of them appear to screw into plastic, and will easily strip the threads.

Important notes:

• Adjust the position of the wheel well liner before tightening the TP20 screws. It may take a little work to get it just right.
• Use the lower trim piece to align up to the wheel well liner while tightening the 4 lower screws that secure it. I've highlighted the lower trim piece in blue below.

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Original post:

Upgraded the Rivian horn today. Way better! Worth the effort. Made a little video detailing what I did if anyone else was looking to upgrade theirs.

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[Dark-Fx]

500 mhz? That's just a little outside of my range of hearing.

 

[CTRedCanyon]

500hz*** haha typo my fault

 

[teak360]

Thanks for this, I used my horn today when the car in the next lane started drifting into my lane. It sounded lame. Really lame.
What horn did you buy? It sound good.

 

[CTRedCanyon]

In case the video of the sound doesn't work for anyone else, here's a link

Horn sound test short clip

I bought this horn

HELLA 007424011 Red Trumpet High-Tone Horn with Bracket, 12 V, 500 Hz (Universal Fit) https://a.co/d/cKdtlLp

I think it's the right tone alongside the stock one Rivian left in. It basically replaces the one they removed to cut costs. Such a shame when they do these little things that probably save them only a couple of dollars, but are so annoying as owners.

 

[Steve A.]

Upgraded the Rivian horn today. Way better! Worth the effort. Made a little video detailing what I did if anyone else was looking to upgrade theirs.

Thanks for documenting the process, but if I'm going to go through the trouble, it's going to be for a semi-truck horn or maybe even a train whistle. ;-) Surprised no one has posted one of those upgrades yet. ;-)

 

[Iamuwere]

So I just replaced both horns with a Hella horn 400 hz pair mounted to the front left fender liner.

I left the original horn in place, just disconnected.

To simplify the wiring to both horns, I used this premade y-harness that had the correct Deutsch connector to the original Rivian connector. I cut the two Deutch ends off back up a little ways so I can use them for a lighting project and then just put spade terminals on to match the horns. Simple and no wire splicing necessary.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09HQFVG92/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s01?ie=UTF8&th=1

 

[Kdblondie]

Does anyone know of someplace in the Bay Area (SF or Peninsula) that would install the horn?

 

[WSea]

Upgraded the Rivian horn today. Way better! Worth the effort. Made a little video detailing what I did if anyone else was looking to upgrade theirs.

Sounds great! Seems much more appropriate for our vehicles

 

[RayzorBEV]

Nice sound! This horn is a semi truckers special; when you sound it, you will get your message across ?

 

[Tr4ckD4ys]

I don’t know… it sounds kind of weird… like there’s a time delay in one horn kicking in versus the other. You can tell it’s two…

 

[Nuclianba]

Nice, I did a horn upgrade as well (and also made a tragic portrait mode mistake in my video documenting it!) and its way better now. Easy too! Would highly recommend you find a place to actually mount it tho, understand its shoved in there and "wedged" but it will move, it may not fall out, but you don't want it bouncing around and rubbing etc, just generally not a great idea.

 

[CTRedCanyon]

I don’t know… it sounds kind of weird… like there’s a time delay in one horn kicking in versus the other. You can tell it’s two…

You can tell it's two horns if I told you, maybe... there's two separate sounds playing at the same time because they are different frequencies (400hz and 500hz). But to anyone else I might actually honk at, they would have no idea. It gives exactly the "hey A*%!&hole" message I was intending when I pressed the horn lol

 

[EV-by-the-Sea]

So I just replaced both horns with a Hella horn 400 hz pair mounted to the front left fender liner.

I left the original horn in place, just disconnected.

To simplify the wiring to both horns, I used this premade y-harness that had the correct Deutsch connector to the original Rivian connector. I cut the two Deutch ends off back up a little ways so I can use them for a lighting project and then just put spade terminals on to match the horns. Simple and no wire splicing necessary.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09HQFVG92/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s01?ie=UTF8&th=1

So, could one, in theory, use this harness you linked to connect to the OEM (Rivian) connector going to the OEM horn, then use one side of the split to connect back to the OEM horn, then use the other side of the split for an aftermarket horn (likely needing to cut the connector off and adapting to the aftermarket horn connection - i.e. spade terminals)?

Thanks!

 

[Iamuwere]

Exactly.

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