Looks good. I was wondering how something would ever be able to fit into that stereo pod. Hopefully the aftermarket makes the things that will be necessary to make the install invisible to the naked eye. Enjoy!
My new stereo installation
Hi all-
I decided that I finally had all I could take of the factory radio. After coordinating with a local car stereo installation shop, I successfully installed a new Kenwood system. It sounds great and is far FAR * FAR * F A R better than the factory unit.
I apologize for the dark photos. That's what I get for buying a cheapo camera
The XM radio 'puck' antenna is one that I bought off of ebay. It was originally intended to be used in a home installation, however, I found that it's reception performs considerably better than the small black patch antennas that come with the SVX300 receiver. Even with the nose cover put back on the car I have reception in the garage with no repeaters nearby. It was completely no-signal with the black patch antenna.
A brief comment about the factory radio. It's obviously a single-din unit based upon the pod that sticks out from the dash that its mounted in. It's a weird configuration in that both the top set of buttons and the radio at the bottom are both built together as one single unit. I decided that I would not use it again and in order to achieve my radio upgrade, it had to be cut in half. That's exactly what I did! It was an easy task, but it sure seemed creepy cutting the thing in half just to free up the bottom din hole. I left the buttons up top covered by the GPS receiver. I black-painted over them to mask them further against the pod. Unless you're looking, you can hardly notice them. It's as clean as I could make it under the circumstances. Hopefully at some point, Smart Madness or another 3rd party supplier will provide a replacement cover that will completely cover up the top half while freeing up the bottom din hole. For now, it's as good as I could make it with present resources at hand. The performance and quality is so worth killing off the factory junk. As cheap as the Kennwood head unit cost, I will leave it with the car when I trade down the road and buy new again when the time comes (which hopefully will be a good while!)..
I did not change speakers - the factory ones actually sound pretty good. I might elect to change out speakers at some point, but that's a project for another day LOL This was intense enough to last me a while.
Some pics to share if I can make the drag-n-drop work...
-Steve
I decided that I finally had all I could take of the factory radio. After coordinating with a local car stereo installation shop, I successfully installed a new Kenwood system. It sounds great and is far FAR * FAR * F A R better than the factory unit.
I apologize for the dark photos. That's what I get for buying a cheapo camera
The XM radio 'puck' antenna is one that I bought off of ebay. It was originally intended to be used in a home installation, however, I found that it's reception performs considerably better than the small black patch antennas that come with the SVX300 receiver. Even with the nose cover put back on the car I have reception in the garage with no repeaters nearby. It was completely no-signal with the black patch antenna.
A brief comment about the factory radio. It's obviously a single-din unit based upon the pod that sticks out from the dash that its mounted in. It's a weird configuration in that both the top set of buttons and the radio at the bottom are both built together as one single unit. I decided that I would not use it again and in order to achieve my radio upgrade, it had to be cut in half. That's exactly what I did! It was an easy task, but it sure seemed creepy cutting the thing in half just to free up the bottom din hole. I left the buttons up top covered by the GPS receiver. I black-painted over them to mask them further against the pod. Unless you're looking, you can hardly notice them. It's as clean as I could make it under the circumstances. Hopefully at some point, Smart Madness or another 3rd party supplier will provide a replacement cover that will completely cover up the top half while freeing up the bottom din hole. For now, it's as good as I could make it with present resources at hand. The performance and quality is so worth killing off the factory junk. As cheap as the Kennwood head unit cost, I will leave it with the car when I trade down the road and buy new again when the time comes (which hopefully will be a good while!)..
I did not change speakers - the factory ones actually sound pretty good. I might elect to change out speakers at some point, but that's a project for another day LOL This was intense enough to last me a while.
Some pics to share if I can make the drag-n-drop work...
-Steve
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It might not be ideal for aftermarket upgrades, but it is such a strange design I can't help but smile at it
Enjoy you upgraded stereo!
I agree Matt. It is a strange design. I can't say I've ever come across an OEM radio quite like this. Let's hope it's a one-off deal just for the 2016 model and Smart will revert back to a normal design in future cars.
What I did in my case will certainly not win any awards for beauty or perfection, but it does work well without having to break the bank. I would have MUCH preferred to re-install my Kenwood 2-din Nav unit back in the car but that isn't gonna happen. So for now, this is it and I'll just have to learn to live with it!
BTW, the controls on the steering wheel do not work since the upgrade. An adapter is required, and I understand that one is available but I didn't pursue it past curiosity. I personally have no use for those controls. I like to turn knobs instead of punching buttons
-Steve
What I did in my case will certainly not win any awards for beauty or perfection, but it does work well without having to break the bank. I would have MUCH preferred to re-install my Kenwood 2-din Nav unit back in the car but that isn't gonna happen. So for now, this is it and I'll just have to learn to live with it!
BTW, the controls on the steering wheel do not work since the upgrade. An adapter is required, and I understand that one is available but I didn't pursue it past curiosity. I personally have no use for those controls. I like to turn knobs instead of punching buttons
-Steve
I'm hoping that Smart Madness or another 3rd party provider will eventually offer a replacement bezel. I absolutely agree that hands down the #1 issue with trying to "hide" the upper set of keys is the cutout of the upper part of the bezel itself. FWIW, the bezel is a custom job provided by the same company that built the hideous OEM radio, Visteon. Never heard of them and wished I hadn't. If we could be offered a black bezel that directly replaces the OEM one with the top part untouched, it would be a perfect matchup.
To ElementalDragon: The bezel simply pulls off from BEHIND the silver stripline. Both the black front and the silver part are one piece. The hole on the bottom left could be used in conjunction with a screwdriver to help assist in removal, however, I found that picking a corner to start with and then gently (but firmly) pull towards you and the bezel will come off with little fanfare. I have removed mine several times already (with more removals coming in the near future). As long as you pull directly out and not at an angle, the tabs will not break off. As with all this plastic stuff, it's scary at first as it sounds like it's ripping into shreds but so far at least with mine it has been a relatively easy procedure. My main complaint once I take the bezel off is that there isn't a lot of room to work and the factory didn't provide much wire to work with either. The white plastic plugs on the back of the radio are totally foreign in appearance. As much as I dislike removing OEM plugs, I whacked them off and worked with bare wiring. Since the radio was cut in half, I sure wasn't going back!
-Steve
To ElementalDragon: The bezel simply pulls off from BEHIND the silver stripline. Both the black front and the silver part are one piece. The hole on the bottom left could be used in conjunction with a screwdriver to help assist in removal, however, I found that picking a corner to start with and then gently (but firmly) pull towards you and the bezel will come off with little fanfare. I have removed mine several times already (with more removals coming in the near future). As long as you pull directly out and not at an angle, the tabs will not break off. As with all this plastic stuff, it's scary at first as it sounds like it's ripping into shreds but so far at least with mine it has been a relatively easy procedure. My main complaint once I take the bezel off is that there isn't a lot of room to work and the factory didn't provide much wire to work with either. The white plastic plugs on the back of the radio are totally foreign in appearance. As much as I dislike removing OEM plugs, I whacked them off and worked with bare wiring. Since the radio was cut in half, I sure wasn't going back!
-Steve
All-
I decided to re-work my pod as I wasn't happy with the way I had originally built it. First and foremost, that cell phone cradle is a worthless piece of junk. Even if it was used to hold a phone, it has way too much vibration and play when driving. My poor GPS receiver had half its guts shaken out of it! I decided to ditch that awful thing, shorten up the mount and do it right. I went on ebay and purchased a 17mm Garmin ball mount. You'll see in the pictures below how much cleaner it is, and it mounts flush to the pod frame. Second, I visited Lowes and picked up a thin piece of wood along with appropriate hardware. I cut the wood to completely cover up the top row of now-dead buttons. The paint I used is a flat black even though the picture tends to make it look glossy. I think my camera tends to over-emphasize things like that. In person it looks "flat" against the wood grain. I thought long and hard about the power cable. I could have run it inside the pod and then fed it out somewhere and cleaned it up, however, I decided to leave the power cable outside as I do use it in other vehicles. Yeah, I'm cheap. I could easily buy another cable and do it proper, but, it's me and this is what I wanted. Others I'm sure would prefer to hide all cables as much as possible, and it can easily be accomplished if desired.
To me this looks much better than before and the GPS unit is far more stable on the pod. Again, it won't win beauty contest awards but it works for ME and I'm happy.
-Steve
I decided to re-work my pod as I wasn't happy with the way I had originally built it. First and foremost, that cell phone cradle is a worthless piece of junk. Even if it was used to hold a phone, it has way too much vibration and play when driving. My poor GPS receiver had half its guts shaken out of it! I decided to ditch that awful thing, shorten up the mount and do it right. I went on ebay and purchased a 17mm Garmin ball mount. You'll see in the pictures below how much cleaner it is, and it mounts flush to the pod frame. Second, I visited Lowes and picked up a thin piece of wood along with appropriate hardware. I cut the wood to completely cover up the top row of now-dead buttons. The paint I used is a flat black even though the picture tends to make it look glossy. I think my camera tends to over-emphasize things like that. In person it looks "flat" against the wood grain. I thought long and hard about the power cable. I could have run it inside the pod and then fed it out somewhere and cleaned it up, however, I decided to leave the power cable outside as I do use it in other vehicles. Yeah, I'm cheap. I could easily buy another cable and do it proper, but, it's me and this is what I wanted. Others I'm sure would prefer to hide all cables as much as possible, and it can easily be accomplished if desired.
To me this looks much better than before and the GPS unit is far more stable on the pod. Again, it won't win beauty contest awards but it works for ME and I'm happy.
-Steve
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Darn it, the pictures didn't upload. I'll try again.
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Just host them on photobucket or tinypics and post the url here, it will convert them to
Interesting, I tried it today and it works. Dunno. Maybe the site was having issues yesterday.
Again, please keep in mind about the shiny look. The camera makes things look considerably more glossy than it is as I used all flat paint. It looks nicer in person with several compliments. GPS is a Garmin 2555LMT. Receiver is a Kenwood KDC-X998.
Again, please keep in mind about the shiny look. The camera makes things look considerably more glossy than it is as I used all flat paint. It looks nicer in person with several compliments. GPS is a Garmin 2555LMT. Receiver is a Kenwood KDC-X998.
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I suppose I'm one of the last remaining dinosaurs on the planet that doesn't own a smart phone. I very grudgingly own a flip phone and I would rather not even have that. To me, it would be way too inconvenient having to remove a device such as a smart phone from the cradle each time I get in and out of the car. What I have with the Garmin GPS is dedicated solely for on-the-road mapping. I leave in place all the time with the option of easily pulling it out and stowing it away if necessary for security. The unit is powered through the 12 volt switch and it works like a charm.
Once I pulled the factory radio out, I found that there were no low level outputs on the back of the unit for external amps. This factory thing is made by Visteon, some really bad Asian made product. It uses proprietary plugs on the back that no one anywhere is going to support unless manufactured by a supplier such as Molex and only if a special bulk order is made. The plugs also use varying sizes of pins, it's a really BIG mess! It didn't take me long to simply whack those things off and in the can they went. USB playback on that Visteon was beyond abysmal. Not only was the display erratic and poorly readable with USB files, it simply refused to playback most of what I had on my thumb drive. It seemed to be limited to the number of files it would read. The Kenwood unit on the other hand plays it all effortlessly. No HD radio on the Visteon, got it on the Kenwood. No XM radio on the Visteon, got it on the Kenwood. No CD player support on the Visteon, got it on the Kenwood. There is simply no comparison. Bottom line is that Smart totally blew it on this Visteon junk. For those who can tolerate it and enjoy it, well, to each his own. I know there are some out in Smart-Land who feel like I do. My fabricated approach may not be perfect but it's far more fun and MUCH more enjoyable.
Oh, and as for the steering wheel controls, I believe adapters are available to make the buttons, at least the up and down buttons work but I'm not bothering with it. Personal preference is to adjust the volume knob on the radio as opposed to steering wheel controls. I may eventually get around to installing an adapter, just because..
-Steve
Once I pulled the factory radio out, I found that there were no low level outputs on the back of the unit for external amps. This factory thing is made by Visteon, some really bad Asian made product. It uses proprietary plugs on the back that no one anywhere is going to support unless manufactured by a supplier such as Molex and only if a special bulk order is made. The plugs also use varying sizes of pins, it's a really BIG mess! It didn't take me long to simply whack those things off and in the can they went. USB playback on that Visteon was beyond abysmal. Not only was the display erratic and poorly readable with USB files, it simply refused to playback most of what I had on my thumb drive. It seemed to be limited to the number of files it would read. The Kenwood unit on the other hand plays it all effortlessly. No HD radio on the Visteon, got it on the Kenwood. No XM radio on the Visteon, got it on the Kenwood. No CD player support on the Visteon, got it on the Kenwood. There is simply no comparison. Bottom line is that Smart totally blew it on this Visteon junk. For those who can tolerate it and enjoy it, well, to each his own. I know there are some out in Smart-Land who feel like I do. My fabricated approach may not be perfect but it's far more fun and MUCH more enjoyable.
Oh, and as for the steering wheel controls, I believe adapters are available to make the buttons, at least the up and down buttons work but I'm not bothering with it. Personal preference is to adjust the volume knob on the radio as opposed to steering wheel controls. I may eventually get around to installing an adapter, just because..
-Steve
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