What dash kit comes with metal brackets?

i am in the market for an aftermarket HU and i would really love to have the alpine ine928hd with perfect fit kit but that is a lot of monies... aside from it seeming to be a really solid headunit packed with features, the perfect fit kit gives it that flushed look of a factory unit. others sometimes have a recessed look or even worse in the case of some s10's, a protruded look... neither appeal to me, i want flush... i really like metra and have always used them for the quality in the faceplates but i am a little disappointed that they still use plastic side brackets. alpine uses metal in the perfect fit... i saw a scoche for 2012 models that used what appeared to be metal. i do not wish to use plastic because they dont last. i had a 2006 colorado that i drove for about 2 years and the side brackets needed replacing after... i have had bad experience with scoche prior so i usually just stay away... the obvious and most expensive will be the ine928hd... does anyone know if factory metal brackets will fit with aftermarket face plate?

 

any insight at all?

 

If I'm not mistaken, you can reuse the metal brackets off the stock unit.

 

Not with the Metra kit.

Metra kit uses the supplied plastic side plates to retain the trim ring (and it is recommended to epoxy it together because it will vibrate if you don't).

The outer panel (that contains the clock) snaps in separately after the HU is mounted up.

 

are there any known brands that use metal brackets or reuse the oem brackets?

 

Scosche and Metra are the only game in town for generic installation kits.
Beyond that, options are the custom (and expensive) unit-specific kits such as the Alpine, or the "OEM-Look" abortions Ottonavi/Rosen/Caska.

 

i REALLY _and i mean !!REALLY!!_ want the alpine ine928hd and the perfect fit install kit... that is sahweeet! but the price of 1499 for the deck about at least 150 for the kit, thats not so sahweeet! :-( im trying to open my mind to other things but that alpine setup is the first thing i set my mind to and is so far the best there is right now... im very open to go other routes since i have never have a bad kenwood or pioneer experience. but the dash kit if where my ocd kicks in... i want metal brackets, and i was a matching dash trim plate. the newer models come with metallic black gloss, not just raw plastic. i just looked and the scosche say its textured to match, but mine isnt textured and the photo didnt look like the paint on mine... and the metra appears to have plastic brackets and i have had metras before and they all had plastic brackets. i had to change the metra side brackets out once before and they dont come a la carte...

 

The way the Toyota system mounts, I really don't think you're going to encounter any issues with the plastic kits.
I had units in my '95 Suburban and '93 S-10 Blazer and they were nothing like the Toyota mounting system.

 

mine was a 2006 colorado that i had problems with... it was at the point where the brackets fasten to the dash sub chassis, not where the brackets go to the HU... i dont like the plastic one because i cant put torque like i can with the metal... im just real ocd... do you know if the factory brackets work? or do they need tabs to affix to the face plate?

 

I've had three different HUs in my '08... factory, Rosen (metal) and I installed a Kenwood last weekend with the Metra kit.

I too am "gorilla fingers" when it comes to that kind of thing.
The Toyota mount runs 4 bolts (10mm hex head) through the bracket and into the dash mount. All 4 are under the HU. The positioning of the brackets stresses the bolts in compression/extension, rather than in shear.

Ya, you can probably tighten them enough to stretch/damage the plastic, but you'd really have to crank down. It is a beefy mount.

 

do you have any photos? the metraonline website doesnt show the best shots

 

I didn't take any during installation, and it's too dark for decent shots now.

Here's the Crutchfield page.

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_12095...-Receiver-Kit-Black.html#customer-reviews-tab

You can see the basic parts of the kit.

 

I don't have any issues with my Metra kit (after I got one that wasn't a factory abortion, but that's another story).

 

LOL

After I get the time to pull my cap and remove the two antennae, I'm putting the Rosen and Sirius tuner in the Marketplace.

I'm liking the Kenwood. Only issues are that when the AM/FM transitions from HD to analog the tone gets very shrill, and the XM traffic stations are very muffled. Most are okay. I'm hoping it's because the antenna is on top of an air duct under the dash. HU shows good signal, but I'm wondering if (and hoping) it impacts tone.

 

I have the Metra kit and just mounted my HU with the metal factory brackets off of the stock HU. Works and looks great!

 

How did you attach the trim ring?

 

Rich, the analog to HD transition you hear will not be fixed by any antenna relocate. Its a normal sound. It sucks when your in an area that is constantly switching back and forth it sounds terrible, but that's just the way it is unfortunately. If it is switching so often that it bothers you, you should be able to manually turn HD off until you reach an area with better HD signal. But the antenna will not make a difference.

As far as the OPs question, I have been installing for over 6 years and have installed literally thousands of head units. Very few use the original OEM metal brackets. And nobody that I know of makes any metal brackets unless it's some type of specialty kit like a newer Honda accord or Chevy Camarro. Metra, Scosche, and American International all use plastic mounts and they work fine. I have never ever seen one break unless your constantly removing and installing it over and over.

With the Tacoma, the general consensus is that the Metra kit outperforms the competition. I have had my Metra double din kit installed for almost 4 years now. It has been uninstalled and reinstalled over a dozen times and has held 4 different radio models throughout the years. It has also been put through much off road abuse and violent shaking and has yet to break or become loose. The plastics mounts must be super glued or epoxy to the kit face as Rich mentioned, but doing so will make it indestructible.

 

My kit came with two screws that attach the trim ring to the kit and it just sits flush against the HU. Also, I don't see any reason why anyone wouldn't use the factory brackets for mounting.

 

Oh ya, I know the XM antenna has nothing to do with the HD reception (and I plan to remove my Antenna-X shorty and reinstall the factory whip).

I'm just hoping that the antenna relocation to the roof will improve the XM reception.
I'm not dropping signal... even in places where the SC-C1 used to drop.
Frankly, I'm amazed at the difference between the Sirius SC-C1 and the new XM SXV200V1 tuner. The Sirius used to drop signal on the overpasses on the 210 between the 605 and 57, and the Mission overpass, plus it would drop under the power lines that cross near Sierra Madre in Pasadena. The XM tuner has never dropped. The only time I haven't had signal was on restart when parked against the north wall at Lowe's in Chino Hills... but once it connected, I did not drop crossing the north wall of BevMo'.

Like I said, I'm just hoping for more consistent tone on the XM channels. Sirius was consistent, the traffic channels were very clear. SM is a bit "muddy" on those channels... yet the music channels are good. I'm hoping that perhaps they are on a different transponder... but if you don't think it will improve, then I see no reason to move it to the roof.

 

And you have the Metra?
Mine is the Metra and the "wings" have slots that engage the face. The HU slides in from the front, bolt onto the "wings", and mounts to the dash. The front cover and clock module then snap in over the HU trim ring.

The only thing that screws in is the mount for the clock module. 4 screws on that.