I just picked up the truck today and it is fabulous! As expected I do regret not ponying up for the factory nav unit for not one but now two reasons:

1. Nice built in nav.
2. I can't believe how small the LCD display on the rear view mirror is for the rear view camera!

I hesitate to be the first guy here to go with the Metra sync harness. I'm hoping someone else is braver than me. I also have ot say that the LCD in the picture of Metra's kit does not look nice to me at all. The factory display for sync fits in with the interior of the truck which is black / silver. The Metra LCD seems to be white! It might look nicer with a good installation I suppose.

A few things I don't understand which I am hoping guys like Sundevil might have some insight into:

- Does the Sync system tie in not only the phone and voice activated control of the devices - usb etc, but also the basic volume, scan and media switch (FM to SAT to ..) functions on the steering wheel?

- Why should it be hard to order the factory Nav system as an aftermarket part, get the factory dash kit for the Nav and just plug that system in?

 

I talked to a local audio HiFi guy today and pointed out that I had the Ford SYNC and was looking for a way to add a Nav aftermarket and a larger LCD for my rear view camera.

His opinion, as others here have said, is that I would be best off with an aftermarket HU that has all the NAV functions built in and I will be able to use the LCD that comes with it for the rear view camera. He believed that I could have the video output on the aftermarket HU in addition to the small one on the rear view mirror - if I wanted to keep the one on the rear view mirror for some reason.

Right away he said that he found a bus adapter from Metra for the SYNC and while he had never put one in before for a Ford SYNC believed it should work and would do some research to look into it.

Seems like a good guy to work with on this so I am going to await his research.

I am hoping that I can use the Metra harness but without the LCD. I cannot tell if the existing display is part of the stock HU or not - it seems to me that it cannot be but I won't be able to tell without taking apart the dash. I find the look of the Metra LCD to be a pretty ugly white.

The other alternative is for me to get someone to run power to the left of the steering wheel - up on the dashboard and mount a Garmin Nuvi or other decent portable unit there. It would be out of the way completely and I would consider it clean so long as I didn't have a cable to muck with. I would have to live with the tiny LCD on the mirror or find another place and install just an LCD screen as a replacement. Don't think I can replace the mirror with one that has a larger LCD as it also has the microphone for SYNC.

 

Im pretty sure that LCD is there to display what exactly the sync is controlling. Agreed, it is fugly, but i believe with proper installation it could be made to look good. I know on the 04-08 trucks there is a panel towards the bottom of the dash that could be cut to flush mount that display so that only the screen is visible.

As far as hardwiring your GPS...its as simple as sodering wire leads to the positive and negative terminals on the cig plug and taping into a switched power source. We charge $50 for it at work if its not something you wanna do yourself.

Metra makes a good product. Ive had good luck with their GM, Toyota, and Chrysler interfaces for the Onstar/Bose/Infinity/JBL systems that they use in their cars.

 

Tell the dealership to shove it where the sun dont shine. We deal with that crap all the time...a failed rear end caused by a deck install. Your right, dealer techs are trained to blame whatever the issue is on any piece of aftermarket equipment installed. If you call them out on it and ask them how/why, 99% of the time the answer is "I dont know". heres a some info for you...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnuson-Moss_Warranty_Act

 

Sync will fully function with aftermarket Nav unit. My OEM radio was plain single disk CD player in 2009 Lariat with wood trim. I have now installed a $1000 Pioneer Z110bt that maintains the complete sync setup, including the OEM display that used to show radio functions along with sync functions. Now the display just shows sync and temperature info. No special tricks required. Merely purchased a $180 PAC MS-FRD1 wiring harness and a $90 PAC SWI-PS steering wheel control interface and a $27 Metra 955822b. I threw away the black dash bezel that came with the kit (no wood kits available) and merely modified my original wood bezel by cutting out the space for NAV to fit. It was very easy mod with dremel plastic cutting wheel. It looks totally stock. Sterring wheel controls work perfectly for sync and for the Z110, sync works same as it always did. One benefit is I can now simultaneoulsy have one of my phones connected to the sync bluetooth and my other phone connected to the Pioneer bluetooth. The install took about an hour to wire up the MS-FRD1 and about 90 minutes to modify the OEM dash bezel with a minor additional mod of the mounting braket to get the NAV to come out the right amount to meet with OEM bezel. Both the Sync and the Pioneer have fully functioning voice activated control of all major Pinoeer NAV functions and the Pioneer & Sync audio functions.

 

So how does it avoid a conflict or is this an issue? Which bluetooth works better, sync or pioneer? How about adding a hard drive full of music (have one with my existing sync), can you do that and will it index?
I know, so many questions...
Are there map updates yet for the z110?

 

Pics, I have a feeling this doesn't look good.
Prove me wrong

 

Pics???

 

I ordered mine with the Nav so I wouldn't have to face this issue, but has anyone used a hydrographics company to skin out one of the dash kits to look like the factory woodgrain?

 

I went through the same thing. I put in a Kenwood 7140 with Ipod cable and backup camera and ASWI JACK for steering wheel controls.

I bought the SYNC adapter but haven't used it since install. I think it was AFSI-02. It says 08 Fucus but it worked in the 09 Explorer. I would say you pretty much lose SYNC. I use the Ipod cable so I can watch videos and have better direct control through the stereo. To use SYNC with Ipod you have to use the aux 1/8" input on the stereo etc, it is cheesy. Plus now I am stuck listening to vehicle report reminders because I cannot turn it off through the Kenwood stereo. I can hit the SYNC button and hear SYNC but it does not have a SYNC menu in the head unit like factory.

If I had it to do over again I would buy a factory nav unit off eBay, have the dealer program it and run a lock pick on it. The Bluetooth phone on the Kenwood is poor. People cannot hear me well on it. I thought being designed by Parrot it would be great...

All the other features of the Kenwood rock as far as DVD, NAV, Ipod and stereo, Sirius etc...

 

I just saw GC6's post, do you have to mount that LCD to use the system? That sounds like a much better kit that the AXXESS AFSI-02. I lost most of my SYNC functions...

 

I think you can do much better with an after market system. Losing SYNC won't be a big deal as it will be replaced by another system. Things will be different but much the same. The trick is getting an after market system that looks nearly as good or better than what the OEM system would look like. Many after market systems can look rather garish.

 

From what I can tell, most of the functions provided by SYNC are provided by the higher end aftermarket NAV/DVD head units.

I was excited about SYNC until I spent some time in two of my close friends trucks with complete aftermarket stereo systems. The Ford stereo doesn't even come close. Combine the tremendously better sound quality of an aftermarket system with the fact that it'll do darn near everything SYNC will do and it's a no-brainer for me.

Oh, and my passengers will be able to watch DVD's on road trips (without disabling the GPS).

 

I think my 8120 looks ok in my FX4. I don`t have sync but my headunit does most of the functions anyway.




Stay away from the Metra dash kit. It has a frame for the headunit and looks terrible.

 

Hi,

What did you use to paint your dash that gloss black?

Thanks

Kimo