Hella Supertone Horn or Similar

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Joey D

Joey D

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So the horn on the Cooper is dying and needs to be replaced. Since BMW wants your first born, some myrrh, your left kidney and a $100 bill for one, I figured I'd look in the aftermarket. I know a bit about the Hella Supertones, as in they are hella loud. Anyone have any experience with them? All I got to go on is YouTubes and low quality crap doesn't really help.

What other horn options do I have? I might as well get something stupid loud cause my car is wee and people are blind on the roads here in Michigan most of the time.

I should be able to mount it right behind my front grill and while I may look like a Scooby Doo driver I think I'll be ok :lol:.
 
Are you Italian by decent? How the hell can you wear a horn out :odd:

I think i've used mine twice.
 
Its faulty build quality. But I do use it a lot, like probably 3-4 times on my way to work. I don't know it's just how I learned to drive.
 
I bet the other commuters groan and think "here comes beepy" when they see you ;)

When the horn packed in on my bike I replaced with something similar to this, only problem was it sounded like the horn from a lorry so just seemed to confuse people.
 
I always forget that I have a horn. Whenever I get stuck behind a person who isn't paying attention to the light, I always say "GO, GOOO!! Oh wait, I have a horn." But by the time I realize this, they've already gone.:(
 
It's more along the lines of people drive around with their head up their bottoms. In heavy traffic where only 3-4 cars get through a light I want to make sure the person on their mobile, eating an egg sandwich goes when the light turns green instead of waiting 10 seconds.
 
How the hell have you worn out a horn? After I crashed my Civic the horn still worked. I sold it, as a matter of fact. Somebody wanted one on a car that had it removed, so they took my 153,000 mile unit.

Buy an older Honda horn lol. They're semi-polite, reliable, common, cheap.

Will a kind-of-polite horn work in Detroit? From experience I know that big loud American horns just piss people off, especially when laid on, and that just exacerbates whatever the problem was in the first place. I much prefer a quick, polite "beep beep" as opposed to "HONK MOVE YOUR ASS". Makes me wanna get out this car and choke a bitch.

My friend had an old Civic with a newer horn, and it was hilarious every time he honked it. You were expecting a cute little Honda horn, but instead you got what sounded like a row of Suburbans with all their combined power focused into your left ear. It shook the ground, and scared children. I couldn't even honk the thing without crying laughing.
 
The horn is faulty. It's been replaced once before too, but the warranty covered that. If you go on MINI forums, a lot of people complain about the quality of the horn.

I am not an overly polite driver, but I don't rage on people like I did when I was younger. I do honk an flash my high beams all the time when I drive but I'm not obnoxious about it. It's always just a little "beep" to get someone to pay attention to the light that has just turned green. The high beams are to get people to move over who are doing 60 in the passing lane.

And as cool as a musical horn would be I think it would get my car laughed at...even more so then it does now :lol:.
 
There's a particular off-ramp I take on the way to school that leads from the highway to a surface street downtown, and it ends up in its own lane. Many people can't wrap their head around that idea. It's a good idea to slow down and look for cars, but you certainly don't need to stop or even approach stopping. So when they do that and I'm behind them I tend to rail on my horn, warning them of the impending 30 mile per hour impact if they don't get the hell out of my way.\

I don't suggest Supertones. As far as I can tell they sound god awful. I've watched couple videos now, and this one compares a stock Subie to the fadaliscious Supertone:


It's loud, yeah, but it's a very, very bad loud.
 
Well get something with some balls. When I put on my horn, it doesn't even scare people. It's more like a little "Hey, you're an asshole" reminder chirp than a warning alert.

 
:lol: this has turned infinite horn thread I see. I'll need to wait till I get home to watch the YouTubes though.
 
Either the Nathan K5LA - the Sound of Amtrak...



((Not reccommended - Train Horns are actually Illegal if hidden, and can only be blown at certain times.))

Or the Mercedes 600 horn.



((about 5:15, Jeremy sets it off.))
 
I can't run a train horn.

Honestly does anyone have any actual thoughts on horns?
 
Check with your Mini buddies, and maybe look in some older American cars, Cadillacs and Buicks, especially, ones with two or more large, long-bell horns. Buicks use multi-tone electrics which are...LOUD, and so are the two on my grandpa's '51 Chrysler Windor.

I also know that my Dad stuffed a truck air horn under the fender of his '73 VW Type I. The looks on people's faces when he blew it must've been hilarious. You don't need air tanks - they make an "On Demand" pump that blows the horn when you hit the button. Smaller air horns are loud, too, but sound like crap if they're the cheapie plastic ones.

There are some horns which you can fine-tune the tone so you can make it sound as you want it, those are good to look for, too, but, overall, it's a warning device. Even if the Supertones sound like crap, they're loud, and that's what matters.

((Option: if there just so happens to be a Mercedes 600 Grosser in the junkyard... >:3 ))
 
Ya the MINI guys put the classic Cooper horns on their cars which aren't very loud. They also love the cheap plastic air horns. So in other words they replace a crap device with something equally as crappy.

You make a good point though, the horn is a warning device so sound quality isn't exactly important just as long as it's loud. I this I'm just going to pop for the Supertones and hope I can cram them behind the grill.
 
I get that MINI horns may not be loud enough, but how is a regular horn not sufficient? Is it worth the 300% premium just to have the tuner cachet of some Supertones? I'd say just find something that's cheap and reliable. It doesn't need to be nautical grade, but most horns out there seem to be loud enough.

Maybe I don't get it; I honestly can't remember the last time I needed to use a horn. Honking 3-4 each way on your daily commute seems pretty aggressive, and my 1992 Escort was smaller in almost every direction.
 
A direct replacement horn from the MINI dealer is $130, Supertones are $59 online.

And honks are typically small beeps to get whoever is in front of me to pay attention to the light. There is one intersection I honk at someone daily for either coming into my lane or sitting there not paying attention. I also use my horn to let people know they can pull out into traffic. I realise I am more aggressive then many but I am in no way one of those guys who lay on the horn and scream "outta my way jerkass!"
 
Ask around and see if anyone with a Civic has gotten rid of their horn or something. Maybe somebody has one laying around. Or go to the dealer and see what they cost. It's not like you have to replace is with the exact part number, it's a horn, man. Electricity goes through it and it makes noise. There's a screw holding it on.
 
Do you not have the equivalent of the Highway Code rule 92 in the US?

The horn. Use only while your vehicle is moving and you need to warn other road users of your presence. Never sound your horn aggressively. You MUST NOT use your horn

* while stationary on the road
* when driving in a built up area between the hours of 11.30 pm and 7.00 am

except when another vehicle poses a danger.
Click to expand...
 
I have FIAAM horns on the Miata, and I had a set on my ancient Civic, too. They sound decent in that Italian sort of way. For the Civic I wired a switch that could select which horn you wanted, but the Miata's PO just has them wired so both the original and new horns blow at the same time. :odd:
 
@daan: Probably not, but it depends on the state you're in. Almost all highway laws are written by the individual states...some states you don't have to run a front numberplate, while some states require it. Indiana and Illinois are like this, respectively. and they share a pretty big border.
 

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