New Here - Have a few questions

[adamjackson]

Hello everyone! I haven't joined or posted in a forum in years but, this is the first time I've bought a new car so I had a couple of questions! Before this car, I've owned all Camry models from '89 to '95. I'm 24 now and decided to stop dumping a lot of money into my cars for repairs due to rust and other aging annoyances and just buy new from the dealer.

This is what I bought. White-River-Toyota-Page

I'm stoked! ...but I have a few questions.

• It has bluetooth. Does the iPhone 4 stream music to the radio via Bluetooth or am I still going to have to resort to Aux input?
• I'd like to buy an iPod classic (hard drive based model) and plug it directly in via USB with a cup holder mount or maybe even in the glove box. Can I easily install this with the stock stereo?
• Is it a good idea to stick with the tires I got from the dealer? I'd like to get a high MPG since my commute is long. I think they are all season.
• What's yoru favorite brand of leather seat covers? Red is ideal
• The audio on this thing says it's at "max" but, in my opinion, it's not very loud. I know that sounds insane but I frequent raves and trance festivals and this stereo has to be able to get louder. Tips?
• Do I benefit at all by putting in cold-air intake, performances air filters, performance brakes, synthetic oil, high octane gas or other extra cost things given that the engine is admitidly pretty weak?
• Finally, I'd like to get the windows tinted. Any tips. Was just going to take it to a local auto shop. Is it easy to do myself?

THANKS EVERYONE! I'll be sure to hang around and contribute as well. It's my first Corolla so I wanted to ask the experts!

[eisendo]

Caution on the stereo volume...I'm 68 yrs old, and take it from me, your hearing is going to suffer! I don't mean to sound like an "old fogey", but if you keep listening at high levels of volume, you WILL need a hearing aid.

[TFCommanderBob]

Originally Posted by adamjackson

Hello everyone! I haven't joined or posted in a forum in years but, this is the first time I've bought a new car so I had a couple of questions! Before this car, I've owned all Camry models from '89 to '95. I'm 24 now and decided to stop dumping a lot of money into my cars for repairs due to rust and other aging annoyances and just buy new from the dealer.

This is what I bought. White-River-Toyota-Page

I'm stoked! ...but I have a few questions.

• It has bluetooth. Does the iPhone 4 stream music to the radio via Bluetooth or am I still going to have to resort to Aux input?
• I'd like to buy an iPod classic (hard drive based model) and plug it directly in via USB with a cup holder mount or maybe even in the glove box. Can I easily install this with the stock stereo?
• Is it a good idea to stick with the tires I got from the dealer? I'd like to get a high MPG since my commute is long. I think they are all season.
• What's yoru favorite brand of leather seat covers? Red is ideal
• The audio on this thing says it's at "max" but, in my opinion, it's not very loud. I know that sounds insane but I frequent raves and trance festivals and this stereo has to be able to get louder. Tips?
• Do I benefit at all by putting in cold-air intake, performances air filters, performance brakes, synthetic oil, high octane gas or other extra cost things given that the engine is admitidly pretty weak?
• Finally, I'd like to get the windows tinted. Any tips. Was just going to take it to a local auto shop. Is it easy to do myself?

THANKS EVERYONE! I'll be sure to hang around and contribute as well. It's my first Corolla so I wanted to ask the experts!

I can contribute a tiny bit on this:

I don't know the JBL system which I assume you have, but a few people on here have it. Does the head unit have a usb input on it? If it does, than all you need to do is plug in the iphone you have and see if it recognizes it. The Iphone4 CAN send music via bluetooth, so I can confirm that much, but I don't know if the stereo will receive it.

A lot of people like Katzkin leather. There are ones on TRDSparks as well.

As for engine mods, just one might not make much of a difference, but as a whole they can help. I wouldn't expect the world, although many people love the bars/springs mods if they crave better cornering/handling.

Probably get the tint done by a professional, and try to find someone who has good word of mouth advertising. I've heard of "professionals" doing poor tint jobs, so I'd imagine it is pretty annoying to do.

[emptyminded42]

Originally Posted by adamjackson

Hello everyone! I haven't joined or posted in a forum in years but, this is the first time I've bought a new car so I had a couple of questions! Before this car, I've owned all Camry models from '89 to '95. I'm 24 now and decided to stop dumping a lot of money into my cars for repairs due to rust and other aging annoyances and just buy new from the dealer.

This is what I bought. White-River-Toyota-Page

I'm stoked! ...but I have a few questions.

• It has bluetooth. Does the iPhone 4 stream music to the radio via Bluetooth or am I still going to have to resort to Aux input?
• I'd like to buy an iPod classic (hard drive based model) and plug it directly in via USB with a cup holder mount or maybe even in the glove box. Can I easily install this with the stock stereo?
• Is it a good idea to stick with the tires I got from the dealer? I'd like to get a high MPG since my commute is long. I think they are all season.
• What's yoru favorite brand of leather seat covers? Red is ideal
• The audio on this thing says it's at "max" but, in my opinion, it's not very loud. I know that sounds insane but I frequent raves and trance festivals and this stereo has to be able to get louder. Tips?
• Do I benefit at all by putting in cold-air intake, performances air filters, performance brakes, synthetic oil, high octane gas or other extra cost things given that the engine is admitidly pretty weak?
• Finally, I'd like to get the windows tinted. Any tips. Was just going to take it to a local auto shop. Is it easy to do myself?

THANKS EVERYONE! I'll be sure to hang around and contribute as well. It's my first Corolla so I wanted to ask the experts!

Hey, welcome! I'm pretty new here too, but I'll chime in with what I do know...
1) My stock head (6 speaker non-JBL) doesn't do Bluetooth (at least I don't think, although I haven't really looked) - I just use the aux port to get audio in because it works
2) I don't know anything about USB...
3) I like my tires so far but I'm upgrading to performance tires eventually. Their gas mileage is good enough for me - I can get ~38-40 on the highway in Ohio going 65-70.
4) Definitely not a leather seat guy
5) There's a couple things - first, if you're playing from a phone/mp3/iWhatever, you need to turn the volume up on the device as high as you can if you want it to be loud in the car. If that's still not sufficient, you'll probably have to look into upgrading the speakers & getting an amp.
6) - I'm personally getting an SRI and exhaust to basically make my Corolla sound cool but they will have probably minimal effect on performance/gas mileage (but that's not why I'm doing it).
- I roll with Mobil 1 full synthetic 5W-20. I'm going to drive my car into the ground so I sprung for the extra $$ for synthetic oil (but make up for the cost by doing it myself). High octane gas would be useless.
- Your car is meant to run on 87 - buying higher-octane gas would do nothing but take more money out of your wallet.
- Performance brakes? Maybe if you're going to do performance mods to your car and plan on driving hard but so far, I've had my 2010 for 1.5 years and the stock brakes are fine. I've had to stop really fast on a few occasions and they performed better than I expected.
- Search posts on intake & exhaust and judge for yourself if the performance gains are worth the $$$.
7) From my experience you definitely want a professional to do your tint for you. The reputable ones will guarantee their work to be bubble free for life (at least the one I went to did). Plus, it's a huge f*cking hassle trying to do it yourself (my buddy tried...) And as for quality, don't cut corners on film - you want film that won't turn purple on you in a year or so, so definitely spring for metallic or ceramic (I went ceramic). You will kick yourself in a year or two when your $50-100 savings on tint will make you look like a doofus because your car windows are now purple.

[adamjackson]

Wow. Excellent replies so far! You guys know your stuff.

I guess an update for anyone following along, I searched the car for USB. Bluetooth (phone icons on steering wheel and logos near the cup holder for a phone) and an auxiliary jack are all I have.

Was really hoping to control / navigate the iPod from the dash without changing the head unit. I loved that about the Mini cooper I looked at but maintenance on that thing was going to be too expensive.

Will go through other responses later. Can other 2010 Corolla S owners confirm USB is normal? Maybe adding Bluetooth to my model took that feature away?

**edmunds says "iPod Input" on 2010 S models but perhaps that's just an auxiliary plug**

[NautiCorolla]

I'm not sure about 2010, but I have a 2011 with Bluetooth hands free, and my iphone4 will stream audio to the car, but it streams all audio if you have the ringer on.

[motto]

This video tells you how to pair a phone and also set it up for bluetooth streaming

You Tube

You Tube

Before I found that video I spent like 20 minutes arguing with the lady inside my radio to just set up my damn phone

PS I have an iPhone 4 also and it works fine

[adamjackson]

Originally Posted by emptyminded42

Hey, welcome! I'm pretty new here too, but I'll chime in with what I do know...
1) My stock head (6 speaker non-JBL) doesn't do Bluetooth (at least I don't think, although I haven't really looked) - I just use the aux port to get audio in because it works
2) I don't know anything about USB...
3) I like my tires so far but I'm upgrading to performance tires eventually. Their gas mileage is good enough for me - I can get ~38-40 on the highway in Ohio going 65-70.
4) Definitely not a leather seat guy
5) There's a couple things - first, if you're playing from a phone/mp3/iWhatever, you need to turn the volume up on the device as high as you can if you want it to be loud in the car. If that's still not sufficient, you'll probably have to look into upgrading the speakers & getting an amp.
6) - I'm personally getting an SRI and exhaust to basically make my Corolla sound cool but they will have probably minimal effect on performance/gas mileage (but that's not why I'm doing it).
- I roll with Mobil 1 full synthetic 5W-20. I'm going to drive my car into the ground so I sprung for the extra $$ for synthetic oil (but make up for the cost by doing it myself). High octane gas would be useless.
- Your car is meant to run on 87 - buying higher-octane gas would do nothing but take more money out of your wallet.
- Performance brakes? Maybe if you're going to do performance mods to your car and plan on driving hard but so far, I've had my 2010 for 1.5 years and the stock brakes are fine. I've had to stop really fast on a few occasions and they performed better than I expected.
- Search posts on intake & exhaust and judge for yourself if the performance gains are worth the $$$.
7) From my experience you definitely want a professional to do your tint for you. The reputable ones will guarantee their work to be bubble free for life (at least the one I went to did). Plus, it's a huge f*cking hassle trying to do it yourself (my buddy tried...) And as for quality, don't cut corners on film - you want film that won't turn purple on you in a year or so, so definitely spring for metallic or ceramic (I went ceramic). You will kick yourself in a year or two when your $50-100 savings on tint will make you look like a doofus because your car windows are now purple.

This was exceptional. Thanks and is exactly what I was looking for.

Originally Posted by motto

This video tells you how to pair a phone and also set it up for bluetooth streaming
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw4r8RbvfDo

Before I found that video I spent like 20 minutes arguing with the lady inside my radio to just set up my damn phone

PS I have an iPhone 4 also and it works fine

Perfect! I have found a few BT videos but all were incomplete and done by amateurs. Finally a video that explained this perfectly. Thanks for the help!