Anyone can remove their aftermarket stereo face but still have their stereo stolen. In the process of stealing the stereo, thieves will also cause damage to the door and window and steal other items from the car. So i this tutorial is for those looking to keep thieves away.
If you still have; or can get an OEM radio, you can disassemble it and hollow out the face to use as a decoy. Then it will look like you just have the stock radio; something that attracts no thieve. This works really well on the 92-95 Civic because it has a deep recessed opening to support the false faceplate.
Tools/Materials Needed:
Here is your aftermarket stereo, enticing dumb*ss thieves to steal it. In the process they may also believe you have other valuable parts of equipment in your car like speakers and such, and will proceed to tear your car apart.
Here is what we are going to make it look like.
First off you will need your OEM deck.
There are sets of screws on each side of the radio (phillips). You will want to remove all of them located near the front of the radio that seem to be on a separate plate then the base metal frame of the radio. (should be about 2 t 4). These screws will be located underneath the rubber trim around where the plastic faceplate meets the metal of the radio. Remove this trim and remove all the screws found underneath.
Next you can pop that part off of the front. There are a couple slots in the plastic on the top and bottom of the plastic, get some flat head screwdrivers and gently pry these up and over the tabs holing them on. Carefully slide the front plastic faceplate off. You will want to be careful because most of the buttons will fall off/out. Make sure not to loose any.
Next we will want to glue all the buttons that fell out onto the faceplate. You will want to make sure you glue them so they arent sticking too far out, or pushed too far in. For the "<<" and ">>" buttons, i glued them together first, then to the face itself. For the most part this step is pretty self-explanatory.
Next we will want the screen from the radio (still attached by several metal tabs). Cut all these connections as close to the screen as you can with some side cutters. From there take the glass screen AND the white plastic sheet behind it and glue it to where the screen is on the faceplate.
From there we will want to trim down as much plastic as you can. Get some side cutters or an exacto knife and trip off as much excess so the faceplate is shallower.
After you are done these steps you should have something like this:
Your are pretty much done now. To double check the fit of it, remove the faceplate off your aftermarket deck, and the trim ring (if you have one) and see if the faceplate fits in. If it doesn't you will need to trim more off the back.
Pretty convincing eh? Now if a thief looks in your window he may get discouraged and move on to another target. Just make sure you either put your aftermarket faceplate under your seat, in your glove box, or anywhere else it cannot be seen.
If you still have; or can get an OEM radio, you can disassemble it and hollow out the face to use as a decoy. Then it will look like you just have the stock radio; something that attracts no thieve. This works really well on the 92-95 Civic because it has a deep recessed opening to support the false faceplate.
Tools/Materials Needed:
- OEM radio (does not need to work)
- Superglue/ strong adhesive
- Side Cutters
- Exacto Knife
- Phillips Screw Driver
- Small Flat Head Screw Driver
Here is your aftermarket stereo, enticing dumb*ss thieves to steal it. In the process they may also believe you have other valuable parts of equipment in your car like speakers and such, and will proceed to tear your car apart.
Here is what we are going to make it look like.
First off you will need your OEM deck.
There are sets of screws on each side of the radio (phillips). You will want to remove all of them located near the front of the radio that seem to be on a separate plate then the base metal frame of the radio. (should be about 2 t 4). These screws will be located underneath the rubber trim around where the plastic faceplate meets the metal of the radio. Remove this trim and remove all the screws found underneath.
Next you can pop that part off of the front. There are a couple slots in the plastic on the top and bottom of the plastic, get some flat head screwdrivers and gently pry these up and over the tabs holing them on. Carefully slide the front plastic faceplate off. You will want to be careful because most of the buttons will fall off/out. Make sure not to loose any.
Next we will want to glue all the buttons that fell out onto the faceplate. You will want to make sure you glue them so they arent sticking too far out, or pushed too far in. For the "<<" and ">>" buttons, i glued them together first, then to the face itself. For the most part this step is pretty self-explanatory.
Next we will want the screen from the radio (still attached by several metal tabs). Cut all these connections as close to the screen as you can with some side cutters. From there take the glass screen AND the white plastic sheet behind it and glue it to where the screen is on the faceplate.
From there we will want to trim down as much plastic as you can. Get some side cutters or an exacto knife and trip off as much excess so the faceplate is shallower.
After you are done these steps you should have something like this:
Your are pretty much done now. To double check the fit of it, remove the faceplate off your aftermarket deck, and the trim ring (if you have one) and see if the faceplate fits in. If it doesn't you will need to trim more off the back.
Pretty convincing eh? Now if a thief looks in your window he may get discouraged and move on to another target. Just make sure you either put your aftermarket faceplate under your seat, in your glove box, or anywhere else it cannot be seen.
