High-end Vehicles
Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Car Audio
Forum Discription: Car Stereos, Amplifiers, Crossovers, Processors, Speakers, Subwoofers, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=57254
Printed Date: April 27, 2024 at 7:24 PM
Topic: High-end Vehicles
Posted By: xone
Subject: High-end Vehicles
Date Posted: June 07, 2005 at 9:27 PM
Can somebody please explain to me the difference between vehicles like Mercades, lexus, BMW, etc... and normal vehicles as far as replacing head-units go? Ive never worked on highend cars like those before because i've heard you can really damage them, why is that?
Replies:
Posted By: shiftmx11
Date Posted: June 08, 2005 at 5:55 AM
i hate working highend cars or about anything that is europe.there are a few reson for this. 1. like bmw and mercades (most) have factory amps that have to be bypass most of the time PS you really dont know untill you get the radio out. 2. (most) of the top of the line german cars dont have a normal dash that has a radio that sides out of the dash. the dash is mold around the radio so no dash kit is normaly made for these dashes.3.wiring digrams and kits hard to come by. the online database we have at work only tells you that brown is ground thats it. 4 if you brake the dash, parts are hard to come by in the states. the germen companys like to hide sreaws everywhere and make dashes out of wood. 5 last and most of all the people who own the car can be a pain to deal with becuase its the BABY.
Posted By: soundmasta
Date Posted: June 08, 2005 at 8:13 AM
couldn't have said it better. the big thing is hunting for all of the screws. the panels are so tight that somtimes you can't tell if it's clipped on or screwed. the best way to work on these things is slowly untill you get to know the cars well enough to know what to expect from each of them.
Posted By: Alpine Guy
Date Posted: June 08, 2005 at 9:17 AM
Yeah, there built so whell, and perfectly there hard to take apart and put together. If you have a cavalier in one bay and a Jetta in another you will definately tell the difference since the cavalier panels, you just touch them and they fall off so an install takes minutes, , the jetta you need to have a high iq of figureing out puzzles to get the car apart since they use extreemly high engineered idea's to put panels in place with as little screws as possible.
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2003 Chevy Avalanche,Eclipse CD7000,Morel Elate 5,Adire Extremis,Alpine PDX-4.150, 15" TC-3000, 2 Alpine PDX-1.1000, 470Amp HO Alt.
Posted By: kgerry
Date Posted: June 08, 2005 at 9:38 AM
you just have to go slow and be gentle... thats the key..... i've always worked on and owned Benzs and Bimmers so i dont see the real problem, but i do remember that the mid-eighties Saabs were a S.O.B to work on for some reason.... seems to me all the panels overlapped so that even the sight of a "gaudy" screw was hidden..... the trick, like i said is to go slow and make sure not to be rammy.... just be gentle...... remember, the part you break may cost more than you are making that month..... ------------- Kevin Gerry
Certified Electronics Technician
MECP First Class Installer
Owner/Installer
Classic Car Audio
since 1979
Posted By: thepencil
Date Posted: June 08, 2005 at 10:14 AM
xone] wrote:
Can somebody please explain to me the difference between vehicles like Mercades, lexus, BMW, etc... and normal vehicles as far as replacing head-units go? Ive never worked on highend cars like those before because i've heard you can really damage them, why is that?
Very little other than the fact that some will have a challenging factory amp to work with. The painful experience I have with these car is trying to put in a few RCA patch cord to the head unit without hurting yourself. Lastly, the echo of gentle and slow is no doubt so true when working on these car. ------------- Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. 
Posted By: speedwayaudio1
Date Posted: June 08, 2005 at 12:22 PM
The differance is about $40,000. ------------- Big Dave
Posted By: xone
Date Posted: June 08, 2005 at 9:34 PM
yea, ive taken the radio pannels out of a BMW but it alreday had a hard wired stereo in it. The pannels im prety sure in time ill figure out ive never broken a pannel before (knock on wood) but the thing that gets to me is the actual wirring of the vehicle. Like wirring a new aftermarket radio into one of these vehicles. Ive heard stories about data cables and all that but nobody ever gives me a good explanation about it.
Posted By: kgerry
Date Posted: June 09, 2005 at 9:40 AM
ask a specific question and i'm sure someone here will be able to give you the answer you seek.....
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Kevin Gerry
Certified Electronics Technician
MECP First Class Installer
Owner/Installer
Classic Car Audio
since 1979
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