Aftermarket radio & steering wheel buttons
 

I didn't see anything covered in the sticky & I've been searching and haven't seen anything on this yet..

Everything works as it shroud (hvac/display, etc)... so it appears that extra component to "trick the car" was installed.... the only thing that doesn't work, is steering wheel buttons. This is a car with the Bose system. Is there a way to get these to work with an aftermarket radio?

It's a JVC single dine.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...3475bc4628.jpg

I have a Pioneer double din with nav and metra kit for sale that retains the steering wheel function, if you're interested.
(/shameless plug!)

Nah I'm not looking to purchase another stereo, I don't need the buttons that bad! Unless it can make it work with this setup, that would be nice. Thanks tho.

The Metra Axxess ASWC-1 Steering wheel kit works for me with my Pioneer unit. Bit pricey at $60 though but wiring it is easy.

Thanks, I'll check it out.

I should mention that there are only 3 wires on the Metra Axxess ASWC-1 to connect on our vehicle and you can cut off the rest.

Black to ground
Red to 12v Accessory
White/Green to 1N on Harness
Then you ground the 1P on the Harness

Wait a full minute the first time you turn the ignition on to Acc position to let it self program then done. Noticed cheapest Amazon price is $49.

K thanks for the heads up! Since I didn't install this head unit, I'm not sure what I'll find in there in terms of wiring. Hope it's been done cleanly, lol. It works flawlessly, aside from steering wheel.

It'll be normal for it to be bit messy back there cause of the extra modules and cables the 8 requires to get aftermarket radios working with the AC. However, it'll be easy to locate the ground and 12 volt acc wires and there should be unused 1P and 1N wires on the aftermarket harness also. So you should be able to easily make the connections without splicing into the oem harness.

Ok great. Im not quite ready to do it yet, but I will be here eventually and I will definitely save all this for reference. Appreciate your input!

There weren't on my harness (from the Metra kit). But I wanted it to be clean, and didn't mind spending a bit extra, so I picked up a Metra 70-7903 from Amazon for $8, extracted 2 pins from it and inserted them into the other harness in the proper locations.

I also extracted all the unnecessary pins from the ASWC-1 harness, because I hate extra wires. Its hard enough to get everything jammed back into the dash.

But of course YMMV.

Wierd, maybe we had different revisions of it. My Metra kit had a blue and blue/white in the 1P and 1N connection. I purchased mines from Crutchfield about a year ago.

The kit as it comes from Metra has the blue wire in 1J an blue/white in 1H (I think I got that right, I might have them reversed, I can't remember off the top of my head). If you have a non-Bose system then you can move both of those over to 1P and 1N. But if you have a Bose system then you need to hook up the blue wire to the radio or the Bose amps won't turn on. In my case I have the Bose, so I purchased a second harness to pull another pin out of. Or I suppose you can do it the cheap way and hack the factory harness.

It's also worth noting that the particular aftermarket head unit you have installed needs to have a "wired remote" or "steering wheel control" input. Entry level, but even brand name, ones do not. Pioneer 150MP for example does not have any input for this and thus, cannot be controlled by steering wheel controls. The vast majority do. But it's just something to be aware of.

The ADS-SW is another product that can be used instead of the Axxess ASWC-1. VERY VERY similar, but I've used both a hundred times. Whichever is cheaper.

Double din radio
 

How much was your radio and waz it easy to install