i hate bullying, but i also hate gays so i'm torn (i'm totally kidding)

hey kids,

how easy is it to install an after-market care stereo?

my cousin mose wrote:hey kids,

how easy is it to install an after-market care stereo?

Depends on the car, but it's kind of a pain in the ass, usually you'll have to remove somewhere between most and all of your dashboard and instrument panel and then get various mounting brackets and wiring mounts. I prefer doing it myself, but be prepared to spend the better part of your day working on it.

there's four guys trying to drill a hole on Fairmount Ave. pretty sure they have no clue what they're doing or why

jesus, i really wrote care instead of car didn't i?

thanks bill. i know i could probably just pay best buy an extra $75 to install, but i'm kind of interested in taking this on as a project. i've been getting into doing things more DIY lately.

i think i'm gonna take the plunge!

I've had much worse looking sun burns than the one I'm sporting right now (only slightly noticeable), but it hurts like hell. Kept waking up in the middle of the night every time I moved.

Houshphandzadeh wrote:there's four guys trying to drill a hole on Fairmount Ave. pretty sure they have no clue what they're doing or why

prolly trying a DIY car stereo install

Yeah, go ahead and do it. I like doing it myself, that way you know where everything is in there so if you want to add a component later, you'll know exactly what you need to do. Its all pretty easy, google will tell you how to take your car apart as well as what brackets and harnesses you'll need. Once you do the basics you can get to fun stuff. I split the wire going to the cigarette lighter and ran line under the carpet of the car and got another cigarette lighter adapter and put it under the passenger seat in the back. That way we can plug my sons portable DVD player in, in the back without threading wires all through the car. I put an aux input wire in the glove compartment that way I can plug my iPod in through there and it's hidden. There's actually quite a bit of free space under the dashboard that you can use if you get adventurous.

DIY is just like sex, it's a fun alternative if you can't find someone to do it for you for free.

If the installers at your best buy are anything like the nimrods I worked with you're probably much better off doing it yourself.

Bill McNeal wrote:Yeah, go ahead and do it. I like doing it myself, that way you know where everything is in there so if you want to add a component later, you'll know exactly what you need to do. Its all pretty easy, google will tell you how to take your car apart as well as what brackets and harnesses you'll need. Once you do the basics you can get to fun stuff. I split the wire going to the cigarette lighter and ran line under the carpet of the car and got another cigarette lighter adapter and put it under the passenger seat in the back. That way we can plug my sons portable DVD player in, in the back without threading wires all through the car. I put an aux input wire in the glove compartment that way I can plug my iPod in through there and it's hidden. There's actually quite a bit of free space under the dashboard that you can use if you get adventurous.

DIY is just like sex, it's a fun alternative if you can't find someone to do it for you for free.

awesome. do you have an opinion on whether its better to crimp wires versus soldering them? not even sure if i'll need to do one or the other but found mention of it on the internets during my research

I've always crimped, I know soldering them is better, but when I lived in the condo, there wasn't any way for me to run a cord out to my car and I was going to buy a battery operated iron for an occasional piece of work. I did that back in like '06 or '07 and it still works perfectly. So I'd say go ahead and crimp it. If you are installing an amp or doing some hard core upgrades, then soldering is probably your best bet, but if you are looking to out a better cd player in the daddy mobile, then you'll be fine crimping.

I am a converted fan of the heat-melt soldering connectors. You push each wire into the connector, then heat with a heat gun until the solder melts. My life contains considerable heartache from crimps coming loose.

If you're comfortable soldering and you have the stuff, I'd just go ahead and solder.

Bill McNeal wrote:I've always crimped, I know soldering them is better, but when I lived in the condo, there wasn't any way for me to run a cord out to my car and I was going to buy a battery operated iron for an occasional piece of work. I did that back in like '06 or '07 and it still works perfectly. So I'd say go ahead and crimp it. If you are installing an amp or doing some hard core upgrades, then soldering is probably your best bet, but if you are looking to out a better cd player in the daddy mobile, then you'll be fine crimping.

thanks for all the advice. i'm a total n00b so i'd rather not enter the world of soldering if i don't have to. i bought an '05 ford f150 last fall that i'd like to upgrade the stereo so i can run my xm, ipod, etc all through one unit versus the current gheri-riggage i've got going right now.

i'm real excited. talking myself down from buying all the shit right now on my phone and picking up the order on my way home from work. best buy credit card is a helluva drug

TenuredVulture wrote:If you're comfortable soldering and you have the stuff, I'd just go ahead and solder.

yeah thanks. my problem is that i don't so if i can get away from doing that i'd like to

Bill McNeal wrote:

my cousin mose wrote:hey kids,

how easy is it to install an after-market care stereo?

Depends on the car, but it's kind of a pain in the ass, usually you'll have to remove somewhere between most and all of your dashboard and instrument panel and then get various mounting brackets and wiring mounts. I prefer doing it myself, but be prepared to spend the better part of your day working on it.

In addition, it depends on what kind of audio is OEM for the car. For most, it's just a matter of getting the correct wiring harness (that plugs direct into the car's harness) and dash kit (so it mounts right and looks pretty). For others, it can be a little more complex. My Mustang has a Mach 460 system with 3 power amps as factory OEM. To properly integrate the aftermarket touchscreen head unit I installed a few years ago, I had to do a little extra work... solder a 5v limiter to the amp switch wire (these OEM power amps need a 5v signal to turn on, most stereos send a 12v signal which would give a pop sound thru the speakers when the amps turn on). I also had to get the correct harness kit that had the additional power amp harness.

So do some internet research as to what's OEM for your car. If a typical system (most cases), it should be rather easy and the bigger pain would be taking the dash apart (as Bill sez). If a special or high-end OEM system, you're still likely better off doing it yourself as, quite frankly, most installers like Best Buy will probably install it wrong anyway.

same alma mater. same vehicle. it's me and the mose.

my cousin mose wrote:

Bill McNeal wrote:Yeah, go ahead and do it. I like doing it myself, that way you know where everything is in there so if you want to add a component later, you'll know exactly what you need to do. Its all pretty easy, google will tell you how to take your car apart as well as what brackets and harnesses you'll need. Once you do the basics you can get to fun stuff. I split the wire going to the cigarette lighter and ran line under the carpet of the car and got another cigarette lighter adapter and put it under the passenger seat in the back. That way we can plug my sons portable DVD player in, in the back without threading wires all through the car. I put an aux input wire in the glove compartment that way I can plug my iPod in through there and it's hidden. There's actually quite a bit of free space under the dashboard that you can use if you get adventurous.

DIY is just like sex, it's a fun alternative if you can't find someone to do it for you for free.

awesome. do you have an opinion on whether its better to crimp wires versus soldering them? not even sure if i'll need to do one or the other but found mention of it on the internets during my research

You can buy polarized connector blocks and essentially make it like a harness plug (you'd need the corresponding male and female connector blocks of course). If you solder, heatshrink around the solder points.

ReadingPhilly wrote:same alma mater. same vehicle. it's me and the mose.

gimme a high five!

thanks PiP

virtual high five given!