hihi410

First you need this:

Then you buy:
Grom ipod + bluetooth dongle.

I will skip pictures on how to take out the center console, vent and head unit because you can find it on the forum. (just remember to disconnect all the wires from the center console, ash tray, upper vents before you fully remove the unit.)

1. Remove the shift ****, the two side panels, center console, ash tray and the upper vent.


2. Remove the middle connector on the back of the head unit then plug in the grom unit


3. Turn the car on and make sure ipod and bluetooth works. Your ipod becomes cd and cd player will display mp3 if you have mp3 disc. Next, pair your bluetooth and should be able to stream music and make/receive calls with in car speakers. (will do a review at the end.)

4. We took apart the dome lights to place the bluetooth mic through the OEM housing. Ran the wires and tug under the head liner, through passenger side A-pillar (just tug, did not remove the pillar cover) and into the cabin air filter area.

hihi410

5. Here with side panels removed and air filter removed. We used wire hanger to pull the wires from the cabin air filter through to the head unit.






** wire by hanger**




6. Once all the wires are connected and once again tested, we zip tied th extra cords to the OEM stereo wires. 3M taped the grom unit on top of the cd player and 3M taped the bluetooth dongle on the top of the unit.




Bluetooth dongle:

hihi410

Once all done then just put all the parts back and enjoy. I chose a more detail route as there are no mic, wires or any signs of unit installed. The total time was about 2 hours but it was our first time. Here are the after pictures.

Ipod connector in the glove box with enough slack to reach vents.




Mic is inside the left vent hidden:


Will follow up with a review later. Ran out of time today.

uttam24

iTrader: (2)

nice diy ... i will be waiting for the review

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Great DIY. Love the first pic hah!!

hihi410

Review:

Ipod - sounds fantastic, better than bluetooth streaming and radio, on par with CD/Mp3's, but I found one flaw, during down time (meaning pause or no music playing, I was able to hear a slight high itch noise but as soon as music resumes, its gone. Didn't really bother me much. CD1 allows you to control through ipod, CD2-6 allows ipod play automatically through your play list. Steering control works for ipod volume and skipping songs or long press to move onto different playlist.

Bluetooth - able to connect and stream music from my HTC incredible without any hiccup. Stream quality is similiar to Aux(slightly louder), lower volume than ipod. Streaming quality also based on the quality of your music, my paid subscription sounded a lot better than pandora.

Phone quality - clear on both end, but it's a bit quiet so you may need to turn the volume higher when making or receiving calls. The ipod or bluetooth streaming is auto muted when calls received then resumes when call ends.

BT connection - it's strong and auto connect on multiple times when I entered the car, but did had to manual connect a few time as well.

Overall - I am happy with my purchase and price, installation wasn't bad at all, I didn't need a lot of features like Vaistech since I don't have a nav unit so Grom's basic was sufficient for me. For $150 I was able to get ipod play, charge ( my 4th gen itouch), some control and great audio quality plus bluetooth streaming and bluetooth phone.

Con's - Just the high pitch like I mentioned, but fades within 10 seconds if there are no activity from ipod.

Feel free to ask me questions, I will do what I can to help. But keep in mind, I am no expert lol.

JoeXus1

iTrader: (7)

hey bro is there any txt display when any song was playing?

hihi410

Yes, playlist name, artist and song name can be displayed by using the "text" button on the radio unit.

hihi410

Additional info: Had more time today to play with the bluetooth, when phone nav is activated along with music streaming, music will silent when nav is giving directions then resumes when completed. I retract my previous statement, BT Audio stream is actually more on par with CD quality, volume is better than aux connection and no hissing sound at all.

I found that ipod only showed signs of minor hissing when the car is running and no music is playing, other than that I don't really have any complaints.

GilIS250

iTrader: (10)

hihi410, Awesome DIY ... I will try get mine soon... will keep this in my favorites till then... xD

hihi410

No problem, haven't done a DIY for a while. You will like it and installation was a lot easier than I anticipated

GilIS250

iTrader: (10)

bro just ordered mine ... I even got the express delivery option see if I can get it before the end of the week and install it this weekend (those are my high hopes ) ... Will be using the DIY for guidance... Though I plan on having the iPod cable come from the arm rest instead of the glove box.

hihi410

GL with install, only thing you will have to do is drill a hole big enough to fit the cable through the arm rest. All the cables are long enough so you won't have any issue with reaching places.

pm me if you have any questions.

GilIS250

iTrader: (10)

Hey bro, I just installed my kit... the process was kind of complicated for me as I hated removing the center console and head unit... Not looking forward to do that again. Everything works great... have not tried the bluetooth fully yet, only played a couple of songs while I was still trying to figure out how I was going to get the iPod cable thru the arm rest... will post pictures later of the arm rest mod.

hihi410

Nice! You will like bluetooth streaming, just make sure its coming from a good quality source