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Replacing a car stereo -- DIY or go pro? [message #80454]

Thu, 11 September 2014 18:41

iLoveiPod
Messages: 210
Registered: April 2012

Master

How hard is it to replace a car stereo? I have never done this before so I don't know if I should try to tackle it myself or if I should save it for the professionals.

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Re: Replacing a car stereo -- DIY or go pro? [message #80467 is a reply to message #80454]

Fri, 12 September 2014 16:53

Lizard
Messages: 15
Registered: September 2014

Chancellor

I have never done it myself, either. I have never tried to learn. I usually just save it for the professionals, but if you have the patience to learn to do it on your own, then I say go for it.

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Re: Replacing a car stereo -- DIY or go pro? [message #80470 is a reply to message #80454]

Fri, 12 September 2014 22:01

iLoveiPod
Messages: 210
Registered: April 2012

Master

I just wonder how much prior knowledge of electrical wiring is needed to keep the job from being a major pain in the rear! I also wonder if my stereo is one of those that you would have to pull the entire dash off to mess with. If it's one of those cases where you have to take the car halfway apart to do anything, I'd probably be better off to just pay someone else to do it...

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Re: Replacing a car stereo -- DIY or go pro? [message #80497 is a reply to message #80470]

Tue, 16 September 2014 14:54

Shane
Messages: 1117
Registered: May 2009

Illuminati (3rd Degree)

Depends on the car, but I've always bought my new head units from Crutchfield and got the install kits with it. Pretty simple in all of my cases and they come with the plug adapters to plug directly into the factory wiring.

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Re: Replacing a car stereo -- DIY or go pro? [message #80580 is a reply to message #80454]

Sat, 27 September 2014 05:16

audiophile88
Messages: 30
Registered: September 2014
Location: USA

Baron

You can save a pretty penny by doing this yourself. Try looking it up on YouTube; that should give you at least a general idea of what you're in for.

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Re: Replacing a car stereo -- DIY or go pro? [message #80586 is a reply to message #80497]

Mon, 29 September 2014 09:20

Nymeria
Messages: 508
Registered: April 2011

Illuminati (1st Degree)

Shane wrote on Tue, 16 September 2014 14:54

I think this is pretty solid advice. Look online for people with your car model who have changed the stereo and see if you can do what Shane did.

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Re: Replacing a car stereo -- DIY or go pro? [message #80723 is a reply to message #80454]

Thu, 16 October 2014 10:25

AFreed52
Messages: 10
Registered: September 2014
Location: New York

Chancellor

Obviously, you can save plenty by doing it yourself, but the problem is that most people don't know what they're doing. Then, it just becomes a waste of their time, and might be more expensive for a trained installer to fix.

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Re: Replacing a car stereo -- DIY or go pro? [message #80733 is a reply to message #80723]

Mon, 20 October 2014 18:57

Pioneer
Messages: 105
Registered: January 2014

Viscount

AFreed52 wrote on Thu, 16 October 2014 10:25

This is along the lines of my concern. Sure, you can save all of the labor costs by doing a repair yourself, but if you don't know what you're doing, you could wind up making the problem worse rather than better. I think a lot of it depends on what's wrong with the stereo, how much has to be replaced, etc. If all you're doing is switching out the CD player, unhooking a couple of wires, and then hooking a couple of new wires up, no big deal. If you need to re-run the wires, though, that could be getting kind of complicated.

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Re: Replacing a car stereo -- DIY or go pro? [message #81856 is a reply to message #80454]

Wed, 30 December 2015 10:13

Lizah
Messages: 141
Registered: December 2015

Master

It all depends. If you get all the right equipment and know a little bit about electronics then I would say to do it yourself. My husband has always been the one to install the stereos in our vehicles and they make all the wiring harnesses pretty easy now. If you don't know what you need then I would consult a professional. You don't want to end up cutting the wrong wires and messing it up completely.

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