Opened up my 325i...

   I've searched around and it looks like the most popular method is to heat the aluminum with a hair drier and simply twist/pull the plastic portion out of the housing. Tools do not seem to be recommended as they can damage the aluminum.. Well, I heated one of the cups up hotter than I want to touch by hand with the hair drier and I cannot seem to get the plastic loose. Before anyone asks, I am a professional mechanic and have pretty tough, strong hands. I would perhaps like to try using me feeler gauges to get between the aluminum and the plastic, but they're at work. Any other suggestions?

  The reason I'm doing this is that the cable for the left cup has chafed and now cuts out. I want to replace the cables to the cups with the smaller size Canare Starquad.

Edit: (Changed thread title from "Can't seem to open up my 325i".. Because I did finally.)

  I got them apart. I had to use boiling water on a cookie sheet and keep the heat on for a while. It was still quite difficult. I did fin that there is a gap between the cable and the aluminum housing, so I was able to use a very small screwdriver and pry that side up a bit which really helped. The boiling process got some decent moisture into the drivers though. hopefully they're just going to dry out and be perfectly fine.

  I think while I'm in there I'll try venting two or three holes for more bass. Probably just two for now. I've had good results with spacers. My next mod will probably include some $20 hifi-man pads and and maybe some wood plates to act as a spacer and mount the pads. Open to suggestions there.

Got them rewired and trying them out with the 414 pads again (took my spacers off to work on them) and I've punched out 3 holes so far. They are much better now! I think I'm going to stop here as I can always still use some EQ. But I am impressed with this simple mod! They have a lot more authority and aren't bloated or boomy in any way.

Update:  Sealed up the cups and put my spacers back on. Wow! I think it's partly that I've been stuck with my old HD590's for a while too, which are just yucky compared to my spacered and now vented 325i. I mean, the bass was good before with the spacers but it still had that hint of a bass light phone being pushed in a direction it's not comfortable by the EQ.. Now it really steps up and has much more real feeling bass slam. I can't wait to come up with a better spacer/pad arrangement. The only problem right now is they aren't super comfortable. Still better than stock and probably comparable to the the HD414 pads put on in reverse. The stock pads are more comfortable with spacers because the driver isn't on my ear.