Comand - APS - Phone retrofit?

[mfox]

I have a 2005 A Class with Comand - APS it has no phone pre-wire but I would like to do this - Can I get a bluetooth system to work with the comand. If so is it reasonaby easy to fit? Could I do it myself.:D

[sym]

Hi & Welcome.

You can retrofit phone pre-wire, however would involve quite a bit of dismantling of the interior, I suspect ... normally specified / fitted at the factory or as a dealer after-fit, so unless you are good at taking cars apart without damaging them and putting them back together again, its a job I would leave to the dealer - the cluster will also need to be re-coded to ensure that the phone displays in the dash, and the steering wheel buttons work, which you would need to get the dealer to do anyway.

There is a bluetooth module which will plug & play with the phone pre-wire kit currently / soon to be available, but limited to a small selection of phones, and as yet unproven, given the price tag, I'd opt for a cradle solution to work with your current phone, as there are a large number of cradles available that will give much wider compatibility and are interchangeable with the phone pre-wire (UHI) kit - so if you change phones, you can change just the cradle, rather than the entire kit.

Hope that helps - there's a fair bit of discussion here on the bluetooth module - try a search.

S.

[richard]

Just in case you are in the mood to do this yourself .. if you look on www.mercupgrades.com at my COMAND retrofit for A class, i decided to install the proper GPS aerial on the roof, so had to run GPS cable down the whole car and therefore did most of the dismanteling you require

On the A class, the phone electronics is under the left hand front seat and the phone aerial cables go down that side as-well, so you'd have to dismantle that side. The major issue is getting wires to the fusebox, which means taking out right hand side seat aswell.

Also, dealers have problem coding the cluster, they have to tell MB central FDOK system that phone has been added, then they get a new SCN code for the cluster which they use to program it - it contains details of all the options on the car needed for the cluster

The official advice is you must change the front 2 seat bolts if you undo them, so buy some spares..

Cheers

Richard

[mfox]

Thanks, I have had a look at your retrofit - appears too complex for me I was quoted £1100 to have it done now I can see why! Any ideas for next-best solutions?