Anyone install radar yet?
 

I saw some posts in the A4 forum to install a radar to the mirror mount. I tried it and failed miserably, got the mirror off, but couldn't for the life of me get the middle plastic section off without feeling like it was about to break (not good on a 2 week old car).

I then thought "I'll just install to the fuse panel like my last car," and after finding it under the dead pedal, realized that my old add-a-fuse wouldn't fit in the deep fuse panel area to plug into any of the empty slots.

Has anybody installed their own, or had a professional do it and know the best way (without breaking anything : )

I used the Valentine saavy which plugs into the diagnostic port to power my uniden R1. I also got the 7 dollar 3m mount from eBay to attach it directly to the windshield (no suction cups for me) as high up as I can get it close to the headliner as possible and right ABOVE the mirror. I ran the cable up the pillar which took all of 5 mins using a trim tool. The whole install took 10 minutes tops.

Personally I think the mirror mounts look like crap, especially in our cars as the mirror is rather low. You might as well advertise to cops and everyone else you have a detector, but to each his own. I wanted stealth and run dark.

You can't see mine from outside the car unless you look really hard and are looking for it. I have never taken it down.

​​​​​​I have owned about 10 V1 detectors and won't go back anytime soon. Love the R1 and R3. Uniden support is top notch.

Thanks for the reply, but I'm actually looking for power options, not actually attaching the radar to the mirror. I do agree it does come down to low on the mirror for me to want to go that route. The diagnostic port option is interesting, never seen that before, but not sure I want to commit it for that purpose as I am thinking about using it for other purposes.

It's really not that tough with trim tools to take the middle plastic off above the mirror, and it's the easiest place to tap into for power once it's off. I'm sure a stereo install place could do this for you if you're still skittish. My write up and others give info on where the clips are and how the two closest to the headliner are pretty tough, and it actually feels like you're about to break the plastic when you apply the right amount of force for the clips to release.

Never felt comfortable with the mirror mount so routed my wire to the driver's side fuse panel, it's unfortunate because every available fuse port is power on always. I'd have to route to the dead pedal fuse panel to get switched off/on, but didn't have enough wire/time to get that going.

I used a mirror tap to connect to the wiring harness for the mirror. The middle trim piece also gave me fits, but finally pried hard on it and it came loose with no problems. I used the Blendmount mirror mount (and mirror tap) and Valentine from my Porsche Cayman and worked fine. I understand the view that the radar detector is too low hanging from the mirror, but it doesn't bother me there and I wasn't interested in suction cup mounting or visor mounting

did u literally just pull down as hard as you could?

I'm looking to hard wire my V1. Can you guys share some photos of exactly where & how you're mounting your RD's.

Thanks.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/zcom-media/...S5/s5sbv1l.jpg

Getting the trims off for the mirror isn't that terrible, but it certainly feels a little like you might snap a clip or two. Start at the back where the larger trim meets the headliner and pull downwards with your finger tips. Then unclip one side at a time until it releases. The smaller trim down lower you squeeze the sides where it clips into the actual mirror base and rotate towards you. It's actually a bit of a pain to away from the mirror but pushing the mirror down and to one side helps. Once inside you will see an 8 pin plug and there is a solid yellow wire (accessory power) and a brown wire next to it (ground). You will want to use those wires to power up a radar detector or camera, etc.

I also pulled the upper light/sunroof control setup down so I could tuck the V1 adapter and extra cord in that area. That takes some serious prying to release and the main clip is up front that goes into the roof. I slid the yellow and brown wires out of the plug with a pick and made a small adapter that fed power to the V1 adapter and then passed the power/ground back to the plug for the mirror, but you could tap off those wires after removing some of the tape.

Cheers!

Clean install! Exactly what i want. If only you were located in SoCal, I'd let you work on mine.