I love getting the best value for things. I like all the cool bells and whistles of these new units but I like just having the basics with a few frills. I love Pioneer for the price, the sound quality, features, and the product quality. I usually end up buying a Pioneer CD player through either Best Buy or Wal-Mart. I have bought about 15 CD players over the last 8 years for my three vehicles and friends vehicles for whom I was installing a head unit. The original one is just over 7 years old, still sounds great. I paid $255 for my latest Pioneer at Wal-Mart. It has the crazy LCD display with the different backgrounds, remote, and MP3 playing ability, and it cost about $30 cheaper than Best Buy. This is the most features I've ever bought in a head unit for myself. I never pay someone else to do it when I can do it myself. 95% of the time I get my install kit at Wal-Mart(Scosche brand , about $12) along with a wiring harness (Scosche, about $7). If in the event that they don't have what I need I usually end up having to spend like $20+ for the kit and $20 for the harness at Best Buy or Circuit City. Don't even ask what the installer shops charge. Personally I would stay away from the motorized face units, as it is just one more thing to go wrong. If you decide on new speakers, Best Buy and Circuit City are the cheapest for speaker interconnects though speakers are a decision left up to your ear. It's the same idea as the harness for the Stereo, so you don't have to end up cutting into factory wiring.
As for installation, you should get a box of at least 30 blue solderless butt connectors(14-16 gauge wire) at about $6. You should also have wire strippers, a pair of needle nose pliers, and a set of small diagonal cutters. I also like having Zip ties and electrical tape to make the wiring harness real neat and tidy. Installing a stereo is about as easy as walking these days. The dash bezel should unclip and you disconnect your headlight switch and any other buttons. Your tilt steering wheel should be in fully down and the shift lever put into first with the parking brake on. This is so you can remove the bezel and access the stereo. My stereo just unclipped from the dash and unplugged from the back, no screws involved. You just match up wiring colors of the stereo harness to the interface harness, crimp, and zip tie together. Then its just a matter of installing the head unit with the install kit, and then routing the harness behind the unit when your ready. If you have a dash with the CD player just below the A/C controls, you can remove the CD player and get a plastic "pocket" that would have gone there if the truck came with Tape deck. Go to the Parts guys at the dealer and ask to see if they can find you one($18). We did this to my friends 97 tahoe. I had the pocket already in my 96 Z71, and he wanted one. I don't know how many differences there are between your 99 and our 96,97's, however. Hope this helps, any more questions, just ask.
www.installdr.com may also provide some answers. -Chris
08-19-2004, 05:12 PM
