smooth1

Yes , you can change the lights on the dash. I was actually going to look into that next week. Go to Feint lighting.com And I see your in CA. There was a guy in here awhile back offering to do dash light systems for free as a promo. I'm sure that might be over with now, but he was in CA also. Look thru the threads here and I'm sure you'll find it.

I think both. I would put up a big fight to replace it. The factory CD player isn't cheap. I've seen them on Ebay for around 300.00 used. I don't know what the real prices are exactly. I think Bartkat knows for sure. Once youv'e exhausted them and they haven't given in, then you offer them this as a way out: You'll split the cost of a "prorated" factory CD player with them. Even if you get them to couph up 100-200 bucks, you can use that to help offset the cost and go out buy a new system that you can pick out yourself. I wouldn't just let them off the hook, that's for sure.

I took the car out into the street so I could step away and get a good night view of them and yeah man, they are baddd a$$$$!!!!

:) Alright, the new headlights with halo's have been installed. I have to admit that the IS300 is by far, the hardest car I have ever seen to change headlights on. And, not to mention the fact that I noticed if the blinker light goes out, you have to go thru all the steps I did today just to put new bulbs in. After doing this I thought we might need a step by step tutorial if we don't have one. I'll check into that later. But for now, here are the pics; This is the new black headlights housings I painted after installation : And here are the headlights with the Halo's

Whoo, I just reviewed my last post and saw the pictures are FREAKIN HUGE!!!! Sorry about that. I think I forgot to change the setting on my camera back. So, here are some better ones. I'm sure glad this part of the project is behind me. Now for the install............

B) Finally!!! I just finished painting my headlights, installing the halo's and putting them back together. Here are some pics before they go on the car. I think I'm gonna install these first, then do the brakes next.

I'm sorry about a typo I just read in my post. The Audi is a 1998, not a 1989. Sorry about that. And I agree, get a 2002 or newer if you can. There are differences from the 2000-2001 than the 2002-2005.

So what come with the nav package then?

4 grand for the nav upgrade?????? That's crazy!!!!

the first thing I would do is get a car fax report on the car. Find out where the car has been getting serviced. If it was at a dealer you can call that dealer and get the real maintenance history on the car also. I just bought a 2003 IS 300 a month ago. I looked for 5 months to find the one I wanted. I had to drive the longest 290 miles I have ever driven to get it. But it was so worth it. I called the dealer the minute I saw the new listing. I had them give me the vin number and I car faxed it. Then off that report I saw the car was a 1 owner and where the registration events took place. I called the issueing dealer and got a full maintenance report on the car. I even got to talk to the tech that delt with the original owner. ( Her name was Martha and she was about 60 years old, bought the car new and leased it for 4 years. The car had 19,000 miles on it when I got it. It now has 21,800, approximately. And yeah, I plan to own this car for a long time also. The price they are asking for the 2001, is what I would say " middle of the road." It's not a steal, but I don't think they are out of line either. Maybe you could talk them into including the next maintenance in the price of the car. That would help you out alot. I have to tell you though,, the IS 300 is a great car. There are no break down issues with it. Toyota used the now fabled inline 6 that will run forever. You have to remember though, a 6 or 7 year old car isn't as old as it used to be. Now I would say the average life span of a car is around 11 years and 180,000+ miles. I sold a Audi A4 Quattro with a 120,000 miles on it for 8,500.00 and it looked and drove like new! And it was an 1989!

Also, All this came in today also: These are the steel braided brake lines that were already here: And here is a before pic of the brakes and calipers before the job, with rims already though. This will probably be the next project. when I have it all installed I will update everyone then with how it all went and after pics.

:D Okay,,,, Hyper voltage system is here and Hyper ground system is here also now. These will go in by the end of the week.

Just so you know, it's faster than a 350 Z also. 0-60 and 1/4 mile, and of course stock. My sales guy argued with me today about that as this debate crept into the office. He owns a 2006 350 Z. ( He's buying lunch tomarrow.) :whistles:

Yeah, Like I said, what does the dealer service tech know about electronics? If it was broken , then what it fixed itself? I don't think so. So I figure if it happens again, I would take it to, and I say this as an example only, but like a Best Buy or a Sound Advise, and have them clean and adjust the CD transport bay, and I would bet that would fix the problem for good.

BTW, how much are they charging for the nav / XFM upgrade for each car?

Everytime they do this just burns my a$$!!! Look, track times are not all car. The TL has better stock brakes. That's what made it faster. And it's about how the driver relates to that car. If you feel more confident on the brakes going into a corner with a certian set up then you will go faster. They did that comparison under stock settings. Every race car driver will tell you that "set up" is everything. The car itself is secondary. So when you drive to work with the revs kept up around 5000 rpm, trail braking the corners as you leave the apex passing that mini van full of soccer moms, than maybe the TL will show it's slight advantage because it has better brakes. But not in acceleration, and out right cornering.In most cases, real world drivers don't even know what trail braking is. So that track comparison is not the whole story. Track comparisons put brakes, steering feedback, suspension, acceleration, and driver in one catagory and " the winner is,,". But if you can set up the car and do it the way it should have been done, then I'm sure the results would have been very different. By the way, I'm not an Acura hater. I have owned many Honda's. Most notably a CBR 1000 RR. I think that Honda has some of the finest motors and best fit and finishes. But in this case, Toyota has the upper hand with the IS model. I almost think that the TLS is more in the ES class. Of between those 2, I think the TLS is a better handling car.

If I were you I would post the same question on the Acura board and see what the feedback looks like. My opinion?; Acura TL is 70% Luxury, and 30% sport. Turn in is slow, the motor doesn't produce torque or HP until way to high in revs resulting in an almost apologetic acceleration. IS300 is 55% luxury and 45% sport. Turn in is great with a bit of understeer, inline 6 is just the best as far as smaller engine performance, especially as you wave to the TL as you blow by them, and continue to pull away. Feed back and feel are where it should be for a car like this. The only thing I think the IS line is missing is a long history to evolve from. So if you like luxury, then TL, if you like performance with luxury, IS.

How much more power will you have? And BTW, Brembo only makes a front brake kit, nothing for the rear, Greddy is nice, but both are in the stratosphere for cost.

Hey there smooth1, I am new to the board and have enjoyed your updates and pics. Question on the speakers. It was my believe that the stock speakers are Bose. I have been very impressed by the sound and haven't messed with replacing the amp because I heard the speakers run at 1 ohm and regular amps wouldn't power them properly. Is this true or false. .. Also your cd player. Whats the cost and what retailers can you buy it from. Thanks Regarding the manufacture of equipment there is something that needs to be addressedfirst. Bose, is not a quality speaker manufacturer. They just have a great marketing department. They employ what is called " Acoutsic focusing Technology." They have done alot of research on focusing a sound stage through channeling acoustic waves as "ambient sound" giving it a much fuller sound. That is what Bose does. They themselves are not a speaker manufacturer. they are a speaker cabinet designer that employs there technology. In fact,85% of so called speaker manufacturers don't actually build the drivers themselves. They purchase them from an outside source. Now I am talking about popular home stereo names. You would be surprised by the names on that list. Bose, M&K, Infinity, Sony, Yamaha, Boston Acoustics, JBL, Klipsch,( they used to but not any more.), Altec Lansing, Athena, MTX, ect. ect. So, regarding Bose, go to a store that carries Bose and try to remove the grill covers. In most cases you can't, and when you can or do, you allways see the same paper cone with either foam surrounds or on thier really cheap line, ribbed paper surrounds. EVERY HIGH END TRUE AUDIOPHILE SPEAKER atleast employs butyl rubber surrounds and some variation of polypropeline cone, with vented voice coils in design. When you go to the audio department, how many after market speakers do you see with paper cones and surrounds? Other than the blister packed " OEM replacement" line at your local automotive store? The reason you're getting good sound is because they used 6x9's on the rear deck, and component 6 1/2 door speakers with seperate tweeters. ( By the way, they don't even use a crossover. They use an inline resistor between the 2 speakers that limits the wattage fed to the tweeter.) In any case, round speakers sound better than oval, and when you seperate the tweeter and use a descent rear bass, your going to get descent sound no matter what. I have heard some impressive 4 channel 20 watt systems. Remember that high wattage doesn't translate to better sound. What your ear hears determines better sound. Everyone is different. What sounds good to one mey be to tinny to the next, or to bassy, or not enough mid range punch. If your happy with the sound you have then stay with it. I wasn't. I like alot of different styles of music from Jazz to techno, to hip hop, to hard rock. I love it when the snare drum pops and the bass is deep and tight. And when you turn it up, the low frequencies don't bother the high ones. I have never checked into the stock impedence load for the system as I knew I was going to replace the whole thing anyway. It is possible that it runs on a 1 ohm load, but that only changes the wattage requirements and the efficiency to convert power to motion. I know that the head unit is a Pioneer unit. Pioneer provides the internals and user interface, Toyota makes the housing and fitting. The head unit I have retails for around a grand. I bought it at wholesale from a contact I have in the trade. I think Sound Advice carries the unit, but like I said, it's a brand new model and it may be a short time before it starts to show up everywhere. I was in the electronics business for quite a few years so I guess I have an advantage there. Plus I love this stuff.!!!! If you really are interested and want details about the install and so fourth or just want advice then you can private message me and I'll be more than happy to help. BTW, the sound tuning is going great! I am going to get a servo correction unit for the sub, that should help the bass become more accurate, and I'm now starting to really like where the sound is going. Shouldn't be too much longer and everything will be set.

Well, this week my Hyper ground system and my MR voltage system should be here. So I will install that next and finish all the sound tuning. After that will be the brakes project. All the parts are still coming in, so once they are all here I will do that from start to finish. Along the way I will finish painting the new headlights, installing the halo's and putting those on the car. ( That is a major time project there!) and I also want to tint down the tailights. Almost black them out. What are you using to tint the tails ? Painting the headlights ? I am tinting the tailights with auto clear bra's tint kit for tailghts. It's a film tint. It's only temporary until I decide what I really want to do back there. As for the head lights, I have opened them up and taped off the actual chrome part that surrounds the bulb, the rest though I am painting black, and then installing the halo's around both highbeam and lowbeam. Then I'll put the lens back on and install them.

Well, this week my Hyper ground system and my MR voltage system should be here. So I will install that next and finish all the sound tuning. After that will be the brakes project. All the parts are still coming in, so once they are all here I will do that from start to finish. Along the way I will finish painting the new headlights, installing the halo's and putting those on the car. ( That is a major time project there!) and I also want to tint down the tailights. Almost black them out.

As far as the sound goes, I have alot of sound tuning to do yet. I am still playing with all the high pass filters, digital sound imaging, and EQ settings. But even withall those not dialed in, the sound is wwwwaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyy nice!!!!!! Mid-bass is soooo much nicer and of course the sub gets the lows thumpin!!! the texture of the music is soo much richer!!!! By the way, I don't know if any of you have actually seen the amp that they use from the factory,,I will spare you the pics. It's the size of a sandwich with cooling fins on it!! The door speakers atleast aren't that cheap paper cone with paper surrounds. Although the 6x9's in back are. I knew they were though cause I could see them from inside the trunk. I could also see how small the magnets were, so I figured the stock system, although sounded better than most stock systems I have heard was seriously anemic. So after the close of this project, my conclusion here is " Way awsomely happy with the results!!!"

What I really think is cool, is that I can connect my 30 gig ipod directly to the pioneer. The ipod sits in the glove box and I can use the pioneer to navigate my ipod and play all my music via playlists, or by groups, albums or whatever. I can even watch a movie that is downloaded on the ipod on the pioneer screen! So, what this means is that I don't even need a CD player any more. Between Sirrius sat, and my ipod, I have more music than I could ever even carry before at my fingertips! This new Pioneer is awsome!!!!!! It also has 2 A/V inputs so I can hook up a back up camera, and also have a playstation or Xbox plugged in.

And here is the sub system. Here I cut a hole in the carpet mat on the floor of the trunk. The big round hole that the plastic cover makes over the spare tire is the mold I used to make a fiberglass box that fits exactly in there. Then I used a 1" thick particle board to do all the heavy mount work and to anchor the speaker in. I covered it in charcoal vinyl to look good. I ordered some stainless steel mesh that I will make a grill cover for so the speaker won't get damaged when I use the trunk. B)

Okay everyone. I had a busy weekend. I have finally started to get a few the projects that I have been lining up for the car done. This weekend was " interior audio revamp" project. I took out the stock 6-disc changer and replaced it with the new Din Pioneer AVIC-A3. Full touch screen Navigation, DVD player, ipod diect connect controller, with 2 A/V inputs and Sirrus Sat. ready. I replaced all the factory speakers with Polk Audio Momo Competition speakers, 10" triple voice coil JL Audio sub, 2 Alpine V-power amps, and Monster cables throughout.