Are radio wire harnessess important?

I need to know how you guys feel about cutting off the original factory harness of a car's stock radio, instead of installing a metra or some other type of harness in place. Is this important or it just doesn't matter? At our shop I've had problems with customers who don't like us cutting stuff off but for some reason we have to do it since we don't carry a lot of this essential hardware. (That's how I feel) any feedback is appreciated.

dont' cut original wires i've seen cars not work because someone fooled with it and even after bringing the car to the dealership and finally selling it back to them they couln't fix the problem and ended up loosing money on the car...harness are cheapl, could be a liability for your company too..

furthermore, you dont have to cut the vehicles harness clip off just because you dont have the harness in stock. You can simple tag into the wires you need behind the clip so that if they ever want to put the factory radio back in, the factory harness is still availble

I'm with Viper anytime I need to hardwire a car I never cut off the factory harnesses. Just splice and tap into the wires so that the factory plug is still there. Not to mention easier and faster IMO..

I agree with you guys, but at the same time I've always thought that "tapping" or "tagging" into the wiring is the most unsecure connection even if you use t-taps or some other connector that allows you to tag into wires since mobile installations are subject to all types of vibrations and in time that connection fails or becomes intermittent. (I've had some bad experiences) We want an installation that's going to last at least 10 years not 1. I always try not to tap or tag into the wiring, I'm a strong believer that soldering and/or using butt connectors is the way to go, but every installer has its own way to do things. I posted this message to show the guys here at the store that harnessess are very important like you guys mentioned it saves you the hassle of  dealing with car dealers because you cut their hardware,warranty problems etc...

You can still tag into the wires and solder if you wish. A method that works well without the hassle of solder is what i call the poke, twist, and tape. Strip back a little of the insulation, poke a hole using a pick tool into the copper, and then insert the stripped wire that you need to connect to the wire. Wrap the wire that you are connecting tightly around the copper of the wire that you are taging into and then tape it with 3M Super 33+ electrical tape. Either way, this method or soldering is much more durable than a butt connector. Crimp caps would be a better alternative to butt connectors....they dont look as sleek but ive never seen a wire pull out of a crimp cap wheras I have seem them come out of a butt connector

Hmm again I'm with Viper I use the good old poke, twist, and tape method he described on almost all of my installs. It's a solid connection and there's no chance of it vibrating loose. Many companies are suggesting this exact type of connection in their installation manuals. I can only recall 1 job that I checked and the problem turned out to be a bad connection. They used the same method except when they stripped the insulation from the wire it stripped in the middle but the insulation never broke free all the way around so the connection wasn't real great. Resulting in an intermittant problem. Although admittingly I would like to get into the habit of soldering more often. An electric soldering iron is out of the question since I'm usually on the road even though I carry 2 in my box. Can anybody recommend a GOOD butane one? Anything from snap on?

A guy from code alarm came down to the shop about a year ago to show us a new car alarm, and he taught me the poke, twist and tape. I implement that technique except I add two ties on the connection (as an extra precaution) I use it on car security mostly since cutting off the switch wiring  could be tricky since they are heavy gauge wires and using butt connectors is not always secure as they get loose. So yeah, for that situation I use that technique it works pretty good.

Snap on carries a nice Blue Point butane soldering iron. The kit with multiple tips is around $120 - a little pricey but well worth the investment