So my sister and brother inlaw have an 01 IS300 (auto) they love, and every year for there anniversary I usually buy them something for the car, one year was a lip spoiler, next year was the smoked tails, next was the clear bra… this year I was thinking about replacing the Head unit as the cd changer stopped working years ago and they have been using a tape adapter to a cd player or IPod
So I thinking I need to find a head unit that is Ipod ready, matches the Factory Dash colors of the IS (what are they?) and CD MP3
now on installing what do I need
obviously the plastic trim ring kit (as the factory is a Double din) is there a factory amp I will have to bypass or can I just get the wire harness plug in and have plug and play?
there is a factory amp, , it is inside the dash… i belive there are wiring harnass kits avail, when i did my gf’s one we installed a 5 channel amp as well… but when i put it back in i just wired everything to “bypass” where the factory amp was… so it cam be done just fine
In my jetta with the “Bose” I had pull the wire harness from the amp and run new wire to that in the trunk that sucked… is it behind the radio in the dash… did you pull your G/F becouse the CD changer stopped working I hear that is a common problem…
what radio did you put in?
i put in a pioneer… the amp is mounted below/behind the radio… its small and has its own harnass her cd player was workign fine… the stock radio sold on ebay for 300 bux which paid for the aftermarket one and then some
do you know the color of the dash? is it red or blue or white or black or orange… I want to find somthing with the same glow color
besides the wire harness/ extra wire, electrical tape, electrical connectors, crimpers. flat and philips screw drivers, the plastic singel din converter, a case of beer. Are there any other tools I might need… they live in North Carolina, and I cant take my hole Tool box with me… (yes the jetta has a big trunk but my wifes coming so I only have a 1’x1’ for tools and cloths)
Goodluck if you’re not buying an aftermarket amp. Running the aftermarket cd player into the factory amp creates many fun noises. Check out www.my.is for more info from people. From what I hear the harness you can buy everywhere is garbage.
yep… this is what i did before i sold the car… although it had all aftermarket speakers at that point, so the impedance was normal, i do not know how the stock speakers are wiried, so running an aftermarket radio on the stock speakers may prove to be an issue, also im not 100% sure but i think i rememebr there being amps on each rear speaker… MAY want to check that out to be 100% sure… or buy your own set of 6x9’s and 6.5 in component setup to do the car right
as the cars not mine im not looking to drop 300+ into the car or I would buy a factory radio and replace there broken one…
I figure if I can jump to the output side of the amp like I did in my Bose on my jetta with a preamp after market HU I would then all I would need is the HU, the plastic trim kit and some extra wire and connectors… the factory speaks sound fine… I’m not looking to make a competition machine…
then do this… it will be pretty self explanatory once you dig into it… its pretty easy to take the car apart just start in the cubby above ther radio, there is a little pice of carpet ontop of the dash, lift that up and you will see the first two screws… after that everything pretty much explains itself