New Car Stereo Needed!

[F-Stop Junkie]

Thanks to some salt of the earth type so keen to get his mits on my car stereo that he's happily crawl over broken glass to get it, I need a new stereo.

It's for a Ford Focus, which means various adapters to get the steering wheel controls working and power and things. I do want to keep the steering wheel controls working, MP3 CD playback would be good, iPod connectivity is nice but not essential.

Budget of about £100, though less would be good. Heard some horror stories about genuine Ford items sold second hand getting damaged in transit and would like to hear if anyone else has had a problem.

Thoughts?

Contacted a Ford main dealer, and to have the single slot CD/FM radio replaced (including VAT and fitting) £411.54!!

[BONGO]

add me to msn mate.

I got an alpine head unit, spot on for you, I had it in my focus so i'll throw in the loom so it just plugs straight in. should be £15 from halfords

You can have it for 100, it's in the for sale section at £125, but i fancy you

Johntheguru@hotmail.com

MSN and we can have a natter???

Bongo

[CurtisRider]

i think with that budget, its going to be hard to find anything from a reputable manufacturer, if i remember rightly, you need a fascia adaptor for a focus? i know with most modern fords they have rather large and gash looking headunits that take up the majority of the centre console, god knows why...so don't forget to budget for that if you haven't already done so

so far the best budget option that caters for your needs

it will need adaptors for the ipod and steering wheel controls, but at least they can be put in later when you can afford them (if money is an issue), but it is a decent headunit for the price, and we all know alpine are damn good

[JTM]

Bongos head unit is VERY much a bargain at that price, great bit of kit. Worth much more than £100, thats nothing for a head unit

[F-Stop Junkie]

I'd looked at that Alpine already, but it's buying facias, adapters, controllers, leads, all sorts... Do you still have the changer aux lead?

[CurtisRider]

I'd looked at that Alpine already, but it's buying facias, adapters, controllers, leads, all sorts... Do you still have the changer aux lead?

i have a compatible lead that uses the changer socket as an aux in and allows you to use it as a mp3 player, however you cant control the mp3 player with it, lemme know if you need it

[JTM]

I'd looked at that Alpine already, but it's buying facias, adapters, controllers, leads, all sorts... Do you still have the changer aux lead?

Huh?!

Facias, all head units are of one (or two) sizes

adapters, he just said hes including that

wtf is a controller?!

leads? what leads?

[huge]

Fascia/leads etc very reasonable price-fascia alone is usually £20

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Ford-Focus-Mondeo-Co...1QQcmdZViewItem

possible stereo £80 mp3/cd/sd card http://www.motor-world.co.uk/show_prod.php?prod_id=12338

[F-Stop Junkie]

Huh?!

Facias, all head units are of one (or two) sizes

adapters, he just said hes including that

wtf is a controller?!

leads? what leads?

Sorry, I was responding to both Bongo and pauloliver, and not being very clear.

In the Focus you need an additional surround or blanking plate as the shape of the CD player is designed to match the dash, and is not a single DIN size.

In addition to shelling out for a head unit, you then have to buy an iPod adapter (If you so wish, a non-Full Speed Ahead box is £60), adapter leads for power (£10) another adapter to run the steering wheel controls (£35), and even an adapter for the aerial socket. The head unit paul linked to ends up costing about £180+ once you've got all the adapters and fitting equipment!

[Nuke Bowel]

Fascia/leads etc very reasonable price-fascia alone is usually £20

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Ford-Focus-Mondeo-Co...1QQcmdZViewItem

This is what you want.

Best way to do it if your going to covert to a single din is to buy a plastic single din convertor then use a form of putty to tidy it up.

I know someone who could do you up a whole new center console any color you want for around £50

p.s this is a tutorial.

Made this today at work so i thought i would do a how to on the way...........

First make sure the facia plate fits correct,if not flat the edge where it meets the facica

I key the facia plate and the facia with a red scoth pad on all the edges

The flat areas are flatted with a 400 grit disc on a D.A sander

Try the facia plate again,to make sure of a nice fit,i was happy so i glue the back of the facia blank to the facia plate so they is no movement whilst filling

I clean the panel off with a de-greaser

Now ready for a skim of filler,i used ultima plastic padding filler.

Once left to dry for around 30mins,ready to sand the facia flat,using a 180 grit on a rubber block (stops any ripples) moving to a 320 then 400.

Once flat,use the de-greaser once again,if you find any pin-holes you can add a little more filler and re-do the above

Now im ready for primer

One light coat,allowed to dry for five minutes,then two wet coats,five minutes between each coat

Following a 30 minute bake,i applie a guied coat(a light coat of black aerosol over to top)

The panel is flatted with 1000 wet,until the guied coat is gone(once it is gone theywill be no imperfetions)

Again de-grease the the panel then i used a tak-rag to remove any dust particals before i start to applie the base coat

After ive applied one light coat then two wet coats then finaly a drop coat(a light coat to give it a uniform) of Ford Nimbus grey im ready to laqure.

I then applie two wet coats of laqure with 95% matting agent and bake for 30 mins.........job done!

Edited March 15, 2007 by ilukeee

[BONGO]

by the way, i got the instructions etc for mine now. ( i know it said in the for sale section that i was looking for them...)