Hey guys!! This weekend I went out and purchased a Pioneer Appradio2 to replace the factory radio! I was kind of tight for cash so I decided to do the install myself after I looked at tons of youtube vids, looking at diagrams and reading the various threads on here on other aftermarket radio installs!!! I've NEVER done anything like this before on a car, I usually just pay for the install but after posting my thoughts on a thread fellow member zengshengliu encouraged me to give it a try!!! I asked my dad to give me a hand with the project and I figured the worst that would happen is that we would not be able to do the job and then i'll shell out the money and have a professional do it! Here you go guys:
Heres a video review of the appradio2: http://youtu.be/YJW4V7U8k6E

My rouge doesn't have the subwoofer so I was able to easily snake wires through the opening. My dad drilled two holes near each corner to run the cable for the gps antenna as well as a usb cable for my phone charger the the mhl adapter to connect my GS3 to. (the drilling of the holes in that location was my dads idea! give credit where credit is due! Lol he'd kill me otherwise)




I have the iBolt dock for my GS3 so I will be mounting it directly behind the hole I drilled for the charger. I also bought some wire holders from radioshack that have double sided tape on it. I placed 2 of those behind the docked and ran a zip tie though them to hold the mhl adapter in place.






I installed an additional car charger to keep behind the radio to plug in the charger for my phone that I ran through the top grill posted above. I purchased it from radioshack http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... d=3896268# and powered it to the fusebox box using this add a fuse kit from autozone http://www.autozone.com/autozone/access ... 32416_0_0_
I used a fuse holder from the ACC section. I popped out the mirror & audio fuse. Popped it into the add a fuse kit. Popped in an additional fuse to power the additional charger ( i was missing this originally and didn't understand why the charger wasn't turning on lol! Thanks imstricken & hugo l for the detailed walk through!!) grounded it to a bolt located behind the emergency brake and tucked it away behind and under the radio.


Here is the dc accessory with a usb charger pluged in also from radioshack


I purchased the radio, the harness & the antenna adapter from best buy. they did not have the kit for the radio so I have to go to an audio shop and pick one up. My dad helped me to crimp the two harnesses together. I bought butt connectors from radioshack and he crimped each end and then wrapped it with electrical tape to be secure. The antenna came with a blue wire for power to boost better signal. At first I didn't know where to connect this too, I called up Metra tech support and found out it can be connected to the blue & white wire from the radio harness or any 12v wire which is the red wire from the harness. That is where I decided to connect it to.




I grounded the wire from the radio to the upper left hand screw of where the radio actually mounts and screws onto.

I used a simple push button switch to override and bypass the parking brake wire. I know you can use a relay but I read on the appradio forums that the relay has been hit or miss with some people after the latest firmare update from Pioneer. They said that the switch tends to be more failproof. I decided not to risk the relay and purchased this switch from radioshack. Because it has the lip/outerring I decided to take one of the empty module holders( i believe thats what they are called? ) located next to the awd button and traction control button, drill a hole wide enough for the switch and keep it there. (my idea not dads!) The drill slipped a little and scratched a bit of the module but it's not something that will be seen so I'm not too concerned. I then ran the parking brake wire from the back of the radio under the steering wheel panel to the location. I had to purchase additional electrical wire to connect it to the back of the harnesses ground and ground the switch.









I decided to connect the included cable for iphones/ipods because I have an iPad. I ran it through a hole in the upper left corner of the glove box and I keep the ipad in there. I don't have the adapter yet for my phone so when I get into the car I turn on my mobile hot spot have the ipad connect and listen to pandora from there.



When taking the panels out I had a really hard time taking out the top panel because it is screwed to the hazzard lights connector.


Because of the angle I had a really hard time getting my arm back there with a screw driver to unscrew it. The panel itself was easy to take out, but the screws were tightened extremely tight and I had to fight to get them unscrewed keeping in mind not to strip the screws.



I ran the wire for the mic for the bluetooth under the the steering wheel up through an opening there. Callers say they here me great with no issues. I mounted to mic in the middle of the steering wheel with the attached 3M tape.




And that is about it guys! I'm sorry if it is too long. But being this was my first time and i'm a noob, I know there are other noobs out there like me and I know details like this as well as pics helps a TON!!!!! Feel free to ask me any questions, leave suggestions and anything else!!

Before:


After: (I have to go snap a better one. I'll modify later)


Also heres a pic of me and my dad!

Great job. Nice team effort with your father. Sometimes it's a pain in the butt to do these write-ups and post all the pictures. Thanks for the detail. I am sure somebody in the forum will find this information useful. Again high kudos!

I think you both did an awesome job. Also quality time is always a plus. Radio looks great. Also good idea to use your phones hot spot to use iPad and Pandora. Slick.

Amazing write-up! Thank you guys a lot for this. any reviews on the radio it self? I have always liked the idea of it. Big thanks to pops too for helping out.

Congrats idelgado782! Nice write up! That did not look easy. For having never done anything like that before you did a great job!

Just read a quick review on the Appradio 2 and it says, "The Pioneer AppRadio gives in-dash access to dozens of Android and iOS apps via its 7-inch capacitive touch screen"

Does that mean you can install the Torque app on it and display it there?? That would be sweet

Thank you so much guys! Appreciate the love!!! darylzero you can install the dashcomman app and I know that is similar to it. Also depending on the phone (if android) you can have total mirroring from the phone to the screen. Thats how I will be using it, i'm just waiting on the cable to connect from my phone to the hdmi input of the appradio. So technically you'd be able to display the torque app that way. once i get the cable i'll do a video review and post on youtube and come back here to add the direct link to it!

idelgado782 wrote:Thank you so much guys! Appreciate the love!!! darylzero you can install the dashcomman app and I know that is similar to it. Also depending on the phone (if android) you can have total mirroring from the phone to the screen. Thats how I will be using it, i'm just waiting on the cable to connect from my phone to the hdmi input of the appradio. So technically you'd be able to display the torque app that way. once i get the cable i'll do a video review and post on youtube and come back here to add the direct link to it!

You can mirror the phone?, that is pretty cool! Yeah Android all the way!
Using a mini HDMI would be nice also.

It didn't say on the pioneer site if it plays HD radio, does it? HD radio sounds great.

darylzero wrote:

idelgado782 wrote:Thank you so much guys! Appreciate the love!!! darylzero you can install the dashcomman app and I know that is similar to it. Also depending on the phone (if android) you can have total mirroring from the phone to the screen. Thats how I will be using it, i'm just waiting on the cable to connect from my phone to the hdmi input of the appradio. So technically you'd be able to display the torque app that way. once i get the cable i'll do a video review and post on youtube and come back here to add the direct link to it!

You can mirror the phone?, that is pretty cool! Yeah Android all the way!
Using a mini HDMI would be nice also.

It didn't say on the pioneer site if it plays HD radio, does it? HD radio sounds great.

No Unfortunately it doesn't play HD radio, I didn't really need that feature as I use Spotify, Pandora & my own tunes!

Nice radio! I installed Avic-Z140BH (f***** expensive) back in march but it doesn't mirror the phone (currently using galaxy note) but that radio doesn't really worth it. And just a quick question...why didn't you bypass the unit instead of installing an extra button? I'm pretty sure it is a similar idea of moving mute wire in the connector and grounding parking wire.

PS: I ADDED THIS WRITE-UP TO THE LIST:
post3302273.html#p3302273

Leo2005 wrote:Nice radio! I installed Avic-Z140BH (f***** expensive) back in march but it doesn't mirror the phone (currently using galaxy note) but that radio doesn't really worth it. And just a quick question...why didn't you bypass the unit instead of installing an extra button? I'm pretty sure it is a similar idea of moving mute wire in the connector and grounding parking wire.

I decided to use the switch as opposed to the button because I heard that after a firmware update from pioneer some members over at the appradio forums were having problems with the relay. I read around and the consensus I came to was that using a switch was always the safest way to bypass the parking brake wire.

imstricken I know you wanted to know my thoughts on the radio, which I wasn't really able to provide since I was just tethering my ipad to it while I waited to receive the adapter for my GS3. With the iPad the functionality was limited to pandora and the apps that are supported by pioneer. I recevied the adapter and purchased an app called arliberator. This allows full mirroring from your phone to the appradio, as well as using the appradio to control the screens. So all I do is plug in my phone, open up the app and boom i'm able to use all of the apps on my phone through the radio. I subscribe to spotify so that's how I listen to music in the car. I'm going to run out to the car in a bit and do the video now so you guys can check out the unit fully functioning! Thanks again for the support guys!!

I updated the first post with a video review of the appradio2 and how I use it with my phone. Check it out guys tell me what you think!!

awesome video. done perfectly.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJW4V7U8k6E[/youtube]