Aftermarket stereo installation

[tee4]

Has anyone had a chance to install an aftermarket radio in a Smart Pure ?
They come pre-wired but most likely only for the Smart radio. Share your secrets and tricks, please

[mismart]

Check e-bay and search on: smart fortwo.

Some one is selling replacement face plates that fit the smart dash but have a rectanguler (sp?) opening to fit a standard aftermarket radio.

[Gortok]

yeah, that's a DoubleDin facia or faceplate.
I think the question was more on wiring the power and speakers...

[tee4]

It was more about the wiring.
I have determined that you need to remove the lower button console by prying it upwards on each end. It can hang loose. Then you need to remove a screw in the center of the opening that holds the top cover in place. Once this screw is out you can gently pry the top dash cover off its plastic snaps. This allows you to remove the cover that is in place of the radio. Inside are at least two harness and the antenna, along with the harness that goes to the jack in the glove box [no pun intended]. I am curious how you wire in an aftermarket unit. I see a company in England is selling harness adapters, but I am not sure how that works.
54 miles and the gas gauge just dropped one click

[MarkB]

Is there anyone who has seen the harness connector behind the radio? Does it look like this?:



If so, that's what they use in many Mercedes. It's a Metra harness model 70-1784. They also have one with RCA's, it's model 70-1786.

[tee4]

I have looked at the harness and I do not believe it looks like the one pictured.
Can't be sure cause I have eaten since then.
I also got some info from SmartRUS about face plates and they say that all the wires needed should come with any stereo you buy an should not be a problem to hook up.
The manual says to have the dealer install any after maarket radio to avoid damage to the "system".
Kind of defeats the purpose of ordering the radio delete option.

[tee4]

So I bit the bullit and bought a stereo at Best Buy. I cut a single DIN sized hole in the blank cover that comes with the Pure and mounted the DIN bracket that comes with the stereo. I wanted to retain the handy little pocket below the radio. You can buy these things already made up.
The first alert is that the blank panel is curved and the DIN bracket is not. I decided it was not a big deal. The second alert is that you need to obtain an antenna converter to be able to hook up your aftermarket radio to the Euro style antenna on the car. Best Buy had this but I had to ask about it. The last thing is the wire hook up. The two plugs from the car have speakers on one and power on the other. I found the green and orange wires on the speaker plug [8 wire plug] were for the speakers in the doors.
On the other plug I found 12v constant, 12 volt @key on, and ground. That did it. It ain't no piano but I got tunes.

[rimiller]

Did you look into simply upgrading the speakers in the doors? Do you know how to remove those door speakers? Do you have to take the entire door panel off and then remove the speakers, or can you pop the speaker grills off and then remove the speakers?

[WCOCHRAN]

I BOUTH A FACEPLATE FROM PASSION AUTOMOTIVE IN THE UK. TOTAL WITH SHIPPING WAS $60.00. I had it in about one week. They have double and single din models. Their email address is: passionauto@hotmail.co.uk.

[bmx43]

Originally Posted by rimiller

Did you look into simply upgrading the speakers in the doors? Do you know how to remove those door speakers? Do you have to take the entire door panel off and then remove the speakers, or can you pop the speaker grills off and then remove the speakers?

car stereos are about wattage. you can install the best speaker in the world but if you don't increase the power to it, it will still sound like crap.