New Ride w/ Mods - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

kgmallory · 01-15-2011, 06:49 PM

Here's my new to me 2009 Toyota certified Camry. I bought it last week with 8800 miles. It's a plain jane LE, but I didnt' waste time doing mods.

Last night I added the Eagle Eye LED taillights in clear and black. I was thinking they were smoked, then when I got them realized I ordered the wrong ones. Rather then send them back, I decided to hang on to them and install them. With the black frame and black car, I think they look really good; not as ricer-ish as I expected.

About an hour ago, I finished installing a Kenwood DNX 6160 DVD/Navigation with bluetooth and all the bells and whistles. We did the same system for my girlfriend's 09 Scion TC she bought last month, and I really like it. We'll be adding back-up cameras to both systems as soon as I get around to ordering some cams.

FedEx dropped of my OEM style fog lights today, but I haven't had time to get them in. I'll probably get them in next week.

The TO-DO list for now is just down to getting new wheels and rims, but that is waiting until Spring.

On the dealer lot:

LED Taillights:

Kenwood

I'm going to add a picture of the taillights with the car off when I have better daylight.

Any thoughts, opinions, or suggestions?

gabypr · 01-15-2011, 06:54 PM

Welcome to tn. Nice to hear you are modding your ride. The taillights looks cool, very bright wit the leds. Im working to install 2010 tailights *cross fingers* cuz they look better than the ones i have. The fog lights are a must, they add luxury to the car and look more complete, thats a nice purchase. I dont have a nav system but your looks very complete and tons of functions.

Hope to see more pics of your ride and mods. Good luck and welcome aboard private

BlackCam09 · 01-15-2011, 07:16 PM

Welcome to TN and i see you jump on the mod list fast. Your car almost looks like mine, check out my car domain link. haha

LOV · 01-15-2011, 09:43 PM

Welcome a board and congrats on your new Camry.

Redline_Me · 01-15-2011, 10:12 PM

heyy i got the same HU.

***heartdisease*** · 01-15-2011, 10:38 PM

looking good love to see the rims when they are on, always nice to see what people do with black Camrys.
Why not go with led fogs too, I did

Hey did you have to do something to get the steering wheel controls to work? I have been itching to put in a new HU. That is nicer looking trim around the new HU also, that come with the Kenwood? Redline do you have the same trim? Do you have an override for the vid functions?

ElCamryno · 01-16-2011, 12:50 AM

Looks like you did a damn good job. The HU looks stock since you didn't mess with the panel around the HU. Well done....keep it up.

kgmallory · 01-16-2011, 01:25 AM

Thanks for the compliments and warm welcomes.

Since this will be a long term car for me, and with it's low miles, should last me forever, I figured I'd better get to modding it early so I have plenty of time to enjoy it.

I'm kind of shopping for rims, but haven't really decided on much yet. Probably going with 18's. Not a big fan of chrome or black, so will probably just do alloy or maybe gunmetal.

Quote:

Originally Posted by heartdisease

looking good love to see the rims when they are on, always nice to see what people do with black Camrys.
Why not go with led fogs too, I did

Hey did you have to do something to get the steering wheel controls to work? I have been itching to put in a new HU. That is nicer looking trim around the new HU also, that come with the Kenwood? Redline do you have the same trim? Do you have an override for the vid functions?

I guess it's too late to do fog LED's, unless I put LED's lamps in these housings...but I'll probably just leave it as is.

As for the steering wheel controls, I had to by the Axxess universal controller. It's a little tricky to install, but it works very well. We used the exact same setup in the TC, and it works great in both cars. The trim kit is the Metra kit for the Camry's. It looks really good; the paint is almost a dead match, and it's practically impossible to notice the difference unless you look really close and have ideal lighting.

The Kenwood requires a ground bypass for video (DVD & Ipod) functions, something we did not do on the Scion (but will when I do the back-up cams). I also learned that the system limits phone options unless the parking brake is activated (or bypassed). You can only do missed calls and presets, as well as answer calls with the brake disengaged. But with it on or bypassed, you can get full call logs, full phone book, and direct dial. I just connected the park brake wire into the ground bunch and it works great.

I debated going with an OE looking device on ebay, but was concerned about getting junk and not having a return policy. This isn't as pretty, but it functions great and sounds awesome. Plus, there is no learning curve for my girlfriend since she has the exact same system.

All in all, I'm happy with the system. Love the car. Can't wait to get the foggies in and new rims as soon as that white $#(! all over the ground goes away.

Pawel062 · 01-16-2011, 02:21 PM

Those tails really don't look that bad. Car is coming along nicely. Should add a drop to the list too. Check out what some other people have and check the classifieds too. Theres plenty of sites with nice rims. Make sure to research before buying something. Don't go to those local rim shops n just get something. Much better deals out there. Me and a few others made that mistake.

kgmallory · 01-18-2011, 10:02 AM

Here are some better photos of the LED taillights turned off, and in better natural lighting. The more I look at them, the better they look. Hopefully fogs will go in this week sometime, if I can find a garage to use.

MJZ · 01-18-2011, 03:02 PM

Yea those black LED tails actually look really good... they actually look OEM because Lexus is doing this for all their new cars it seems (clear tails with one piece of red reflector). Since your car is black, the black doesn't stick out but if you had a different color car, it may not look quite right.

AKM83 · 01-18-2011, 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kgmallory

Here are some better photos of the LED taillights turned off, and in better natural lighting. The more I look at them, the better they look. Hopefully fogs will go in this week sometime, if I can find a garage to use.

Hey, thanks for posting these. I was interested in seeing how these looked beyond the recycled/crappy eBay pics.

BlackCam09 · 01-18-2011, 03:21 PM

Are you planning to install a system or anything like that? I currently have these eagle eyes tail light installed since May 2010 and i don't know if my system is to blame or what but my LED tails are starting to leak and get water in them...it sucks. It goes away though but if i go to the car wash or it rains it does it again. lol So i might install the OEM back since i never had a problem with those and i had my system installed ever since i first got my car.

***Musicmansell*** · 01-19-2011, 10:11 PM

Now I am torn...I was trying to decide between these or the smoked ones and I had decided to go with smoked, but those black ones look nice, what do you think would look better on my Grey camry?

MJZ · 01-19-2011, 10:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Musicmansell

Now I am torn...I was trying to decide between these or the smoked ones and I had decided to go with smoked, but those black ones look nice, what do you think would look better on my Grey camry?

Smoked definitely