Alarm suggestions

**JasonD** · 04-09-2005, 10:55 PM

I looked at the DEI website and they appear to be identical.

**Blazern00b** · 04-09-2005, 11:38 PM

Same alarm yes. DEI is DEI. The only time you get some differences is in the Clifford side of the house. Nothing comes close to an Avanguard.

Did you find an installer?

**Scottwax** · 04-09-2005, 11:59 PM

I had a Sidewinder alarm in my Accord. Trouble free for the 6 years I had it in the car. Still worked perfectly when I sold the car too.

Not too sure what I`d need to do with my 626 since it already has a decent factory system. Special key is needed too.

**Blazern00b** · 04-10-2005, 01:20 AM

Scott,

You must have a 98 or newer 626 I take it.....

Key is really only needed for something like an autostart. You should be fine without having to worry about that if you just want a regular alarm installed.

-Ben

**lucky8926** · 04-10-2005, 01:42 AM

Originally posted by Blazern00b

Same alarm yes. DEI is DEI. The only time you get some differences is in the Clifford side of the house. Nothing comes close to an Avanguard.

What is different on the Clifford side? What is Avanguard?

Originally posted by Blazern00b

Did you find an installer?

Yes....I think. It depends on where I get it from. I`m going to check out one other place Monday

**JasonD** · 04-10-2005, 08:56 AM

The AvantGuard series alarm by Clifford is the top of the line alarm that was made by Clifford before DEI bought them out a couple years ago.

All of the *Responder* alarms are pure DEI and are identical, no matter what name is on them.

I had an AvantGuard in my F250 a long time ago and loved it, but the installers threw a fit because it took them three days to figure it out, and the installation fee was around $700 which is the going rate for an alarm of that caliber. It was like a mini computer being integrated with your vehicle, there were boxes and wires everywhere. You could even buy software that would allow you to program it from a laptop. Really cool stuff but very expensive, and I don`t think they even make them anymore so getting parts for one if it breaks will be hard to do, which is why I went with the regular DEI made Clifford this time.

**lucky8926** · 04-10-2005, 10:43 AM

Ahhhh I see. Thanks for clearing that up for me Jason!!

**Blazern00b** · 04-10-2005, 12:50 PM

They still make the Avantguard, and they still are a PITA to install. There are European versions as well, with metal housed brains, and a bunch of other features.

700 was not bad, I know of installers billing an easy grand out for install on higher end cars that require lots of work.

**Scottwax** · 04-10-2005, 02:46 PM

Originally posted by Blazern00b

Scott,

You must have a 98 or newer 626 I take it.....

Key is really only needed for something like an autostart. You should be fine without having to worry about that if you just want a regular alarm installed.

-Ben

1999 to be exact. The ignition key is chipped so without the correct key the car won`t start.

**JasonD** · 04-11-2005, 08:25 AM

Originally posted by Blazern00b

They still make the Avantguard, and they still are a PITA to install. There are European versions as well, with metal housed brains, and a bunch of other features.

700 was not bad, I know of installers billing an easy grand out for install on higher end cars that require lots of work.

No, $700 wasn`t bad at all. Before I bought the alarm I called around and most people wouldn`t touch it but the ones that would were anywhere from $700-$1000 like you said. I ended up having my friend who was doing a custom stereo for me, do the alarm too so he did it for the cheapest price I could find.

The biggest problem was that I bought my 03` F250 right when the new 6.0 liter PowerStroke came out and nobody had any kind of wiring diagram for the vehicle, not even Ford so he kind of had to do this install blind.

One of the things that gave him trouble at first was the startup delay for the glow plugs. In the older trucks they just always use the "Wait To Start" light as the signal for the alarm to crank, but in the new gauge clusters there is no "light" anymore. The cluster is all one unit with one cable in the back of it that comes directly from the vehicles ECU, so he had to use something else. It was little things like that that really made it tough.

Had he had the proper wiring diagram, it would have gone a lot smoother.

As far as getting parts, that`s good to know. I was always told that they couldn`t get parts anymore.

**lucid696** · 04-11-2005, 09:13 AM

Originally posted by JDookie

Keep in mind that if they want your car bad enough, they are going to do what it takes to get it but you can certainly make them work for it thus giving you time to call the proper authorities before they get away.

In reference to this, I had a Clifford installed in my Honda (don`t remember the model #, it was back in 1996), and it was fine for many years. Last spring it was broken into, and since the car was fairly old (1993), I never bothered arming it and left it on valet mode (but locked). The red light deterred most would-be thefts, I assume.

However, there was about $2-3 K of stereo equipt. in the car (dumb not to arm, yeah, I know, but complacency, right?), and so the theif started working hard.

First he smashed the heck out of the trunk lock area--totally punched in the surrounding sheet metal, so the lock stuck out--but he couldn`t get it open.

Next, he smashed the left rear quarter window, and somehow managed to unlock the car door--the 93-95 Civic Coupe has long doors, and the lock is all the way up front. After getting in the car, he proceeded to smash around the trunk lock release (which I keep locked)--no avail. Then the lock on the rear seat deck took a beating, so that area was a mess.

Lastly, he tried to remove the stero from the dash (I kept the faceplate in the house, thank goodness), and got one side about 1/3 out, and gave up, but not before smashing the dash area. Yay.

In all, nothing was stolen, but things were smashed up pretty good--but one nice thing--his blood was all over the car--I guess the sharp edges everywhere made it difficult on his skin--Ha!

The thief will try anything, but they know they are on borrowed time, so good practices (trunk release locked, faceplate out of the car) actually went a long ways here...FWIW

**lucky8926** · 04-11-2005, 10:36 PM

If you lived in Illinois the police could take the blood and get DNA from it, and if that person had been incarcerated in the IL Dept. of Corrections from late 2002 to the present their DNA is on file. Back to the big house they would`ve went!!

**lucid696** · 04-13-2005, 02:35 PM

Yeah, I thought about it, and I did file it with the po-po, but for an 11-year old car where nothing was actually stolen, I just let it go.

They basically just forced me to donate the car instead of selling it cheaply.

Got a new one, now--treating it like a baby!

**RatedG** · 04-08-2006, 02:26 PM

Originally Posted by imacarnut

on top of having an alarm, also get the unbreakable autolock-pro (attaches to the brake or clutch pedal) with the barrel lock keys (i`m sure it can be broken, but compared to most auto theft devices, this one is one of the better ones out there and will be a b!tch to take off since it`s in the lower part of the car). if a car theif wants your car bad enough... they will get it no matter what alarm/lock you have, all you can do is help prevent it. having both these, it will take a bit longer for them to get it and they may just move on to an easier target. http://unbreakable.com/Unbreakable_Auto_BL.htm

I can see how this would be theoretically more effective when used on a manual car as opposed to an automatic, but I have an automatic. Say this was my only theft detterent device. Thief hotwires my car and can drive it, but can`t use the brake pedal because of this thing. Can`t the thief just use my E-BRAKE? Sure its not effective as the brake pedal, but it does stop the car. Then the thief can work on removing the Autolock at his local chop shop, no?

On a manual locking up the clutch would be great, but on an automatic car like mine I dont see this thing being effective at all.

At the moment I can`t afford a quality stealth install and even when I do get it installed, I`d want a visible detterent device in plain sight. But for now, I want a visible theft detterent lockable device like this that won`t break the bank. Any other suggestions? Thanks.

**JasonD** · 04-08-2006, 10:08 PM

RatedG,

Most ( I think all ) cars require you to push the brake to go from Park to Drive so, yes, it would still be just as effective.

Wow, talk about bring a thread back from the dead! I actually forgot about this one, lol.

Anyway, I hope this helps.