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After much wringing of hands and nashing of teeth I installed Apple Car Play in my 2013 SL550 today. Big shout out to ThatsMyDawg (TMD) and JettaRed for their help. If you are considering this then you need to read TMD's sticky thread very carefully. It's pretty thorough BUT here are a couple of additions:
1. Do NOT try to pry the center console cover off before taking out the screws! The order of the picture in the sticky had me prying before unscrewing and you don't want to do that.
2. When replacing the HU I needed to lift the levers on either side of where it fits. These are the two screws that TMD says to loosen but not remove. For me, to get the HU to settle in to place I had to lift the levers attached to these screws then wiggle the unit back in place.
3. For the cable that ran to the center console storage unit I drilled a hole in the back AFTER removing the rear cupholder. It worked great, see the pictures.
4. As JettaRed mentioned, the difference in sound quality is quite noticeable and, like him, I do not think I'll be installing a separate power amp now.
Everything works great, the car reads my texts, calls are crystal clear, Google, Apple and Waze maps are fantastic, music is dynamic and, the best part, I don't have to touch my phone. Best $300 I've spent in awhile.
Yeah, I mentioned after my post that I was beat and tired from the install and write up and would later go back and edit, etc. I did some edits, but didn't finish. I have since updated the picture order, so people wont't get mixed up by that center trim part.
Glad you got it done. Congrats and enjoy. One of the best parts to me is the fact that I can just say "Hey Siri, give me directions to blah, blah" and the directions will then pop up on the head unit. My wife is jealous, but I will do this install on her GLK, if we don't trade that in this summer.
Originally Posted by jrupp
After much wringing of hands and nashing of teeth I installed Apple Car Play in my 2013 SL550 today. Big shout out to ThatsMyDawg (TMD) and JettaRed for their help. If you are considering this then you need to read TMD's sticky thread very carefully. It's pretty thorough BUT here are a couple of additions:
1. Do NOT try to pry the center console cover off before taking out the screws! The order of the picture in the sticky had me prying before unscrewing and you don't want to do that.
2. When replacing the HU I needed to lift the levers on either side of where it fits. These are the two screws that TMD says to loosen but not remove. For me, to get the HU to settle in to place I had to lift the levers attached to these screws then wiggle the unit back in place.
3. For the cable that ran to the center console storage unit I drilled a hole in the back AFTER removing the rear cupholder. It worked great, see the pictures.
4. As JettaRed mentioned, the difference in sound quality is quite noticeable and, like him, I do not think I'll be installing a separate power amp now.
Everything works great, the car reads my texts, calls are crystal clear, Google, Apple and Waze maps are fantastic, music is dynamic and, the best part, I don't have to touch my phone. Best $300 I've spent in awhile.
Every
Last edited by ThatsMyDawg; 05-29-2022 at 08:08 AM.
05-28-2022, 05:01 PM
