Aftermarket Radio Installation - 2015 Tahoe LS with IO3

[JohnC12]

For those interested, here's the How-To Guide. If anyone has any questions or comments, please let me know.

 

[hahler2]

Wow that's a great install guide. Thanks John! I haven't done my install yet. Been so busy at work that I just haven't been able to find an evening to do it. Will hopefully be happening some time this week. I didn't know that you lost your steering wheel back lighting. I wonder why that is. Hopefully doesn't happen with my kit but I'm not very optimistic. Guess we will find out!

On a side note I see that idatalink is now making a maestro kit for 2015 Tahoes and Suburbans. However, it does not support the retention of the factory Bose amplifier. So you have to wire around it. Not sure I'm real hip on doing that so I'll stick with the Scosche kit for now.

 

[JohnC12]

Hey Hahler! I was going to ask where you were with your build. I completely understand about being busy!!! Living it!

I hope the guide helps you. Feel free to let me know if you have any specific questions - I'll PM you with my email address.

I too am curious to see if you experience the steering wheel control lighting issue since you went with the SCOSCHE equipment. Personally, I think it has something to do with the Axxess equipment, but I'm not yet 100% positive. If you have back lighting, this may be another reason to switch my equipment out.

I did see they recently released the idatalink for our trucks. Since the LS doesn't have the Bose amp, LS owners should be okay. (I guess there's one good thing to owning an LS with the IO3.) LOL

Depending on your outcome and experience, I may order the SCOSCHE equipment and add the idatalink and replace my Axxess and Metra equipment. Keep me posted.

 

[hahler2]

Well an update for everyone. So far it has not been a smooth experience. The Scosche DDR-GM01 kit does not work with vehicles with a factory amplifier. I got everything connected the other night and no sound. So I called Scosche and they said oh it doesn't work with factory amplifiers. While why does it say on your website that it does!?

So I'm returning that and going to try the Metra kit. It too says it works with a factory amplifier. I'm not optimistic though. If this Metra kit doesn't work then I'll be giving up on this project and putting the Pioneer radio on eBay.

Idatalink does have a maestro kit available for our vehicles but it does not work with the amplifier. It says in the instructions that you have to run speaker wires all the way to the back of the vehicle to the amplifier and wire around it. That sounds like a ton of work and I'm concerned what affect that would have on the sound quality so I'm not going to go down that route.

 

[hahler2]

So far trying to replace the mylink stereo with factory bose system has been a total failure. I got the axxess kit that John used in his install and that didn't work either. I tried 2 of them. Neither one of them would power the radio up properly. It would power on when the key was off, and as soon as I turned the key on it would just sit there and cycle power to the radio constantly. It would turn on long enough for the splash screen come on and then it would shut down again. The people at crutchfield think that there's something different enough in the can system of my vehicle that it's not feeding everything switched power properly. So at this point in time I have given up. I returned everything and am selling the Pioneer radio to a friend of mine.

I'm fairly confident that the idatalink system would work, but it says specifically in the instructions that it must be wired around the factory amplifier. That is not something that I'm willing to do at this point in time. So for now I'm just going to stick with the factory deck and maybe in the near future someone will come out with a product that better supports the amplifier in these vehicles.

 

[Hooty]

I have a 2015 LT Tahoe. And I really do not like the functionality of the current system. Like others, I have found that it does not support car play, and I can't do a video in motion. Also i am not aware of any software update for the system. Any recommendations?

 

[GTPprix]

I have a 2015 LT Tahoe. And I really do not like the functionality of the current system. Like others, I have found that it does not support car play, and I can't do a video in motion. Also i am not aware of any software update for the system. Any recommendations?

You can do video in motion (and Car Play if you choose to go that far) with the HMI upgrade from MVI.

 

[JohnC12]

I have a 2015 LT Tahoe. And I really do not like the functionality of the current system. Like others, I have found that it does not support car play, and I can't do a video in motion. Also i am not aware of any software update for the system. Any recommendations?

You pretty much have four options:

1) Live with what you have

2) Wait to see if Chevrolet comes out with an update/upgrade (not likely)

3) Purchase an upgrade kit from MVI or OEM (Like GTPprix said)

4) Upgrade your radio to an aftermarket radio (read this entire thread before doing so - there are pros and cons to doing this)

 

[Kpwweb]

For those interested, here's the How-To Guide. If anyone has any questions or comments, please let me know.

That is one of the best step-by-step guides I've ever seen! Great work!

 

[Denada]

You pretty much have four options:

1) Live with what you have

2) Wait to see if Chevrolet comes out with an update/upgrade (not likely)

3) Purchase an upgrade kit from MVI or OEM (Like GTPprix said)

4) Upgrade your radio to an aftermarket radio (read this entire thread before doing so - there are pros and cons to doing this)

John, amazing write-up (and love your vehicle!), very well done! Quick question if you don't mind: During your install did you ever come across an easy way to pick up the speaker wires for the two front speakers (on the dash)? I poked around but without a solid wiring diagram for a '16 Yukon Denali it's pretty useless. I'm just not that comfortable removing the dash trim. I saw a bunch of wires in the kick panel leading up to that general area but again, not sure which pairs I'm looking for. I added two tweeters to the sail panels and originally tied in to the door speakers, but they just don't drive the tweeters very well and I'm thinking the front speakers would be a better option. I'm not the best trim remover but kick panels and the dash ends were easy enough. Thanks in advance!