Celica Forums General Discussion Exterior Is it worth it? VOTE

Ok. Right now, I have 80k miles on my car, and I want to do the radio backlight LED conversion, because I have already done it with my instrument cluster. The LED's are a little over $1 each, since they are blue, and the whole job would cost me close to $50.

Is it worth it to do it, or should I just hold off and buy an aftermarket unit sometime down the line? How long are these CD players good for? Mine doesn't even skip yet, but I don't want to waste $50 if it's only gonna last me a year.



So, should I do the BLUE LED CONVERSION?

no, just get a after market headunit

Fuck, forgot to enter a poll...

might as well, until you buy your stereo

yea, i would do it before you get an aftermarket unit

^^

But $50. Isn't that kind of a lot?

I could do it red, or anyother color for that matter, and get it done for like $20 cheaper, but I think blue would look the best.


Decisions desicions.



Anyone know how reliable these units are though? Anyone start having problem with theirs around a certain mileage point?

just get an aftermarket head unit, you get more of a bling bling factor from it.

Wouldnt be able to tell ya. I only have 72k Miles and its working fine.

It all depends on what your looking for in a head unit or how you drive or want your Celica. Personally I would go the conversion because I don't care for a deck that could play MP3's, some stupid EQ/display, and a supersonic loud and clear system. For me, being a 2000 owner, I would like at least the orange display on the radio. If that cost $50 great. I own the Celica for 1 reason to drive it and drive it hard. I can't do that with a radio pumping and a huge distraction in my face. That's just me. Did that make any sense? When can I vote?

Get the aftermarket HU. That is $50 bucks more on the budget of the HU. That should give you a boost to the next level up of HU (You know how each manufacturer have a $50 dollar price diff. between each model or so)

i was gonna say if money is an issue, then wait.
if not, spend that 50 for something better for the car...
my celica wasn't completed...i had red HVAC lighting, amber radio with AC autotechnic gauges...
i didn't care

LOL

I thought there was a way to post a poll, but I can't find it.

i bought my car with 49k miles used, and the radio was fine but one day when i put my cd in it never came out, it played alittle then just stoped, and the cd function didnt work either. so i bought an aftermarket one

50 bucks dfor LED's?? Definitly not worth it, for like anothr 70 you could get a really nice head unit

aftermarket.

id rather do it to the gauges... not a fan of the orange gauges and green radio + climate controls... if you can do the gauges then i vote for that and then get a HU

Wohho, 107.5 is a sweet station. It's #1 on my stereo

Just get an aftermarket cd player.

Stock head units are aweful!

go for the after market unit...

if you are satisfied with ur head unit and sound system, then just change the leds inside. nothing will look better than stock unit in its place with blue leds matching the ac console blue lights!
btw, were you able to change the clock color also?

nah... just get an aftermarket...

my stock head unit only had 56k miles on it when i just stoped working one day

go with the blue and keep the stock unit. I have a 1 din stereo now and i hate how it breaks up the center consol. 1 din systems look like a pimple!

after market

after market!!!

looks nice, rather different. but if you plan to get another HU, don't do it...

get an after market head unit with MP3... you won't regret it !!

Spend the 50 bones cause stock radios sell better when you ditch the car and it wil add some pizazz to it

Aftermarket

No, I didn't try, but I'm sure that it can be done, unless they aren't powered by LED's but rather quartz.

But maybe quartz are powered by LEDs? Dunno, I'm not an electrical or watch expert.



The only reason I would like to keep the stock headunit and convert it is because a smaller unit would leave too much negative space on the dash, and I'm happy with the sound quality in my car now.

I don't need to be rattling any more than I already do with my gay ass hatch.

i'll be in the minority.

i vote for the $50 mod only because an aftermarket headunit would have a higher likihood of getting stolen in my opinion vs stock..

After Markt Alpine deck! those are always sweet and pimp! I always get complimented on mine

aftermarket for sure..oh yeah my stock stereo sometime don't evn play CDR disc..it's f*cked up, sometime..dont like it..

Well, I really wanted to do this mod, because nothing looks better than something you did all by yourself. So I went to digikey.com to order the LED's, and my total came to $75!

Aftermarket it is.

^^good choice bro..now all you have to do left is to figure out what brand to buy..hehe

Whoops, not so fast.


Just browsing around Digikey, and if I get the red LED's, it's only gonna cost me 10 cents per, so it's gonna cost me a little under $5.

I might as well just do it red. For five bucks, you can't really go wrong, and I think it'll look pretty cool.





Now, all I need to do is see if there is a demand on the site for a soldering guide to be made. I would break the process down so much and provide so many pics that a blind retarded chimp could learn to do it. I'll start a poll about this in another thread, but for now, let me know what you think.

i'd want a guide

Ok, just ordered my LED's from digikey. Would have costed me less than $5 for the Red conversion, but I want to do red and blue. I want to make the majority of the radio red, and the primary buttons blue. Should look pretty cool.

Ok, so far I have one person FOR the soldering guide. Let me know if you would like a guide also. I will post an official topic with a poll tomorrow, since I believe I need a moderator to make a poll for me.

that looks like it's been done neatly..but i can't live without an mp3 player with animation that moves w/ the music.

My ex had a Jetta and they look pretty nice with the Red Led's. So for 5$ you cant go wrong

Now my radio will look a little something like this...

But I don't want to do it exactly like that.

The stars indicate where the LED's go to change the color of the different buttons on the console. I bought 16 BLUE LED's, so let me know where you think I should put them, and what should be blue and what should be red.