I was thinking about putting a alpine ine-w927 hd in my non tech tl. The installer has to make custom fiberglass dashkit.
What are everyone's opinion on this. Should I get this done? Any cons? Please share your thoughts.

 

Personally I like to keep things stock, but the I flip cars every 2-3 years. If you plan on keeping the car for a long time and are not worried about mods and resale then go for it as the non-ELS sucks.

 

I don't believe it would be worth the cost and I wouldn't want anybody hacking up my dash. An aftermarket amp and speakers would improve the sound without hacking the dash up. Might hurt resale value as well.. My 2 cents.

 

I agree with both of you guys. I don't think I will get my money back if I trade it. I am not planning on trading it and I regret not spending and getting the tech pkg and now I can't upgrade. And you are right non els sucks.

 

Where there is a will there is a way. I also have a non tech and have thought about about a stereo upgrade myself. Maybe spend a few bucks and try upgrading to an aftermarket amp and speakers and see what improvements you get and go from there.

 

https://acurazine.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=294

 

I wonder if you could just buy the oem ELS version and swap them? Sell the non ELS to even out the costs.

 

Called the dealer and they won't do it...

 

I've been in the audio industry for twenty years. Just so happen to drive a TL and there is no way I can keep my stuff factory. Im the VP of a 40 store chain and lucky enough to have a pretty great master installer that works for one of my stores. So I have done an aftermarket in mine. However to get it right and to look OEM its quite the undertaking for an installer of any level. Taking a mold of the dash is a ton of time so we decided to get another oem radio and Take out the guts of the radio leaving the plastic housing. Then we have to cut to perfection and fiberglass and bondo in. Also new mounts must be made and some cutting behind the scenes is necessary. I'm sure anyone can a so so kit but in order to make it look OEM you must use use a oem radio. Also they do make a universal module that will allow for steering wheel controls to still work. Just put the new Kenwood 990 in! Check it out

 

Were there any features you lost by installing the aftermarket radio? ie usb connection in glove box, voice control, etc.

 

Well I was gonna say don't do it until I saw melrob's pic. It's still a risky venture though b/c you have no guarantee it will turn out that clean.

 

If you can do the after market install without hurting the OEM system, making it possible to reverse, I see no problem.

I did a total makeover on my 3G but did kill the OEM setup. I was hurt in my trade-in, bad even though the sound system I put in was awesome!

 

Yeah I cant buy the plastic piece they are going to cut to fab the after market radio, so finding another one is probably gonna cost alot of money. At this point I am not going to do it. The risks are too high.

Thanks for everyones response.

 

You're probably not going to get any dealer to sell you one. I meant getting online and finding a place that sells the OEM stuff. You'll have to be more creative than asking the dealer to get it done To me that would be the best way to go.

 

I think people worry too much about the OEM systems, etc. I guess being in the biz its easy for me to say that but a stereo system is a stereo system is a stereo system. The only ones we tend to stay away from is car with fiber optics like MB and BMW. Now it does get hard when companies don't make aftermarket kits. Most people think its impossible. I would say in this instance if you have the tech package then leave it alone. If not then its worth taking the risk if you have a competent installer. Just understand 99% of shops will turn you away because of how difficult it is to tool the plastic piece. Now in my mind there is no real risk if you buy a used deck on ebay. I found one for 300.00. Basically all we did was take off the factory deck from behind and then removed all the buttons from the front. Cut and molded in a dash kit. Easier said than done but not crazy hard. Just TIME consuming. From start to finish probably three days. I also have a paint shop paint then to math the OEM dash. I'm extremely picky on finish and OEM look. Most shops will try and paint something there selves. Yes you loose all the features that the oem has like the hands free, etc BUT you will get it back with the aftermarket radio. Yes you also lose the USB but you get it back with the aftermarket radio. Its going to cost a couple grand with the new unit, parts needed, and the labor but you get all the great features of an aftermarket unit. The unit I just put in actually has built in hot spot! Pretty damn cool!

 

^^^^^

How much labor cost is required to make the installed aftermarket head unit to fit and look nice in the OEM dash ?

Not everyone is skilled in trimming, tooling, molding, and painting.

It seems that labor time is the bottomless pit for this conversion.

 

Skill you must have. For just the conversion with paint is 600 to 800.00.

 

Another member managed to get an aftermarket stereo into the space by the "not an ashtray". They went through a couple iterations and in the end it looked pretty good, just not OEM. I'd link but I couldn't find the thread :/

I'll definitely end up upgrading my stereo at some point since I plan on keeping this car til it falls apart, but as others here have said a mod like this would be way more trouble than it's worth. Way cool to see that Melrob was able to do it though

 

Are there any instructions on installing GPS/DVD player in 4g TL. I searched but no results came up. I was thinking about getting the fiberglass done and installing the radio myself. Is it hard to do?

 

In my opinion you wont be able to do it yourself. This is not hard BUT not easy. There is some cutting needed behind the dash and brackets have to be made because part of the mourning plate has to be cut. Then if you want to keep the steering wheel control you have to know what wires to get and how to program them. Plus they make no wire harness for this car so you must know how to wire up the system. I changed out all the speakers and added aftermarket amps so I'm not sure if its even possible to keep the factory speakers and amps. The easiest way to do this is to also do a system. For the most bang for your buck I would recommend Infinity Kappa component up front and Kappa 6.6" coax in the back and a nice single 12" sub in a sealed box. To power I do a nice small 5ch amp for the entire system.

Sounds like you really want to do this. You just have to keep in mind that this has not been done too many times. I personally have not seen anyone other than myself. If your serious about doing this I would find a great dealer in your area and see what they say. I don't think they would attempt the kit but they could handle the rest. Or who know maybe you will get lucky and find someone willing to take on the challenge. Either way I already gave you the price if you want us to build you the kit.

 

I decided not to go with it. Maybe upgrade the speakers and go from there.

Thanks for everyone help.

 

Wow!!! That is very nice.

 

OP,

Just start with speakers (anything is better than the stock crap in the TL; even the ELS is garbage)...and install a digital sound processor of your choice. Rockford Fosgate's 360.3 is very easy to tune and will make a night and day difference to your sound system.

 

A sound system is only as good as the power and processing. My suggestion is if your leaving the radio use a nice integration processor like and LCI6 from Audiocontrol. THen but some nice speakers front and rear along with a sub and a 5 ch amp. You will be much happier than just changing the speakers. Just changing the speakers depending on the speaker will not do much for you. Again you are limited to what the OEM radio/amp puts out,