Lex Talionis

Another mod done.. It worked out perfect and looks pretty darn good. Worth the $37 spent. I would say it took about 3-4 hours to jack up (so have floor jack and 4 jack stands), remove wheels, clean - clean - clean calipers, paint, and then come back for a touch up paint, let dry, put wheels back on. The G2 paint system is nice and hella affordable. A cleaner and enough paint to easily do 3 or so coats - but they say 1 coat should be good and I agree. Thick enamel so coats well. The only bad thing about this kit is that the brush SUCKS! As you proceed, the brush just brakes down - looses shape, loses hairs. I wish I had at least 2 brushes. So, the job gets a bit sloppy as you go along not so much because of you, but because you loose precision as the brush deteriorates. Here are photos of before, after, front, rear, wheels on/off...

yes, in your info center you can set the delay for how long the lights stay on.. 0 up to xxxx minutes (I forget exactly). Your manual can explain how and your 3-4 length options, but that is very doable. No, the Edge does not auto lock your doors for you once you power down and get out.... I can see why not in many scenarios why that would be an issue as a default setting. I just use the key pad and press the correct 2 numbers and pow.. it locks.

here you go - dirt cheap and they ship to Canada

save yourself the money, since you will be doing this often enough, and buy one of the reset tools off eBay as you will need it.

I would be curious what people leave their message center read out as normally? I see the only real message of value to me is the "XXX Miles To Empty" message and never switch off of that really.

me personally, I cannot recall the last time I ever left an engine running while filling up with gas. maybe last time I was in cold snowy conditions - but never in this car.

on a similar note here.. I always just fill up when I opt to get gas. Never have taken my car near empty. My car always, like clock work, always reported like "343 Miles To Empty". every time this was the same. Well, recently I did take the car near empty. As close as I have ever gotten.. maybe like 15 miles the Info Center sadi... and upon fill up it jumped up to like "376 Mile To Empty". Pretty big jump. Not sure the, if any, correlation. But, interesting that all the other fill ups - dozens - at not even close to E and it reports same miles every single time and one time I go way down low to E it like resets the available miles seemingly. Like a recalibration? I am about to test this again just for fun as I am getting close to E and I am going to run it about same - right down to E - and see what it reports for "xxx Miles To Empty".

overhead switch & light are cake, read earlier in thread. cannot comment on pillar, but can't image it is hard and you might actually run wire and just push it behind pillar and not actually remove it. that is a common tactic used is just run wire and slide behind pillars not take them off. I did that all the way from rear to front with camera wire for example.

that is exactly why I recommended a stubby for you. now that you plan to put stuff up there, others have commented about that looooooong antenna being a pita so a stubby might be a consideration.

I loved it also UNTIL I found that tiny camera I found. you have to admit, the install is pretty awesome and the camera is barely noticeable. once I found the camera I used, I lost interest in trying to find out if the Ford emblem camera from the Flex would fit. I would still be curious to know, but certainly love how mine turned out.

nice write up.. good photos.. this will help the next guy for sure. now, all you need to do is go with a stubby antenna

how long you owned the car? if this is a first time event, I would certainly lean towards user error - that is, your missing something that was left on. I know you listed the items you covered, but.... in lieu of that, as a bad battery early on in cars life is slim albeit possible, this often happens due to a bad ground somewhere in the electrical so power is flowing to 'something'

I read elsewhere on the internets that there was "a Service bulletin for all vehicles built before 5/5/08 that the SYNC module may have to be replaced if there are issues with the USB" I can find no mention of this here.. and would expect to. Can anyone can confirm/deny this Service Bulletin rumor?

yeah... 'wireless' is not so 'wireless'... it only cuts out the wire that runs to the front camera head unit/control unit. heck, at that stage, the hardest part of wiring is already done as you still do have to run wires for it, so to have a 'wireless' only cut out the wire you run to the head unit... in your case the LCD display... not too wireless as power and ground are tougher to negotiate and those must be done. plus, on a side note and not really relative to the Audiovax but more to the Costco and Wallymart systems, I have read time and time again the wireless are a bit questionable in quality of product and camera picture. that is why they are so affordable and a kit has an LCD and camera so inexpensive. IF I were to do this, I would only want to do it 1 time, and that means I would pay to get a really good high end camera and that means, +100 just for the camera unit itself. In the Audiovox case, that is a lot of coin for a 'wireless' camera just to not have to run the 10 foot cable up to the head unit - but still have to have the stand alone LCD screen. $350 can get you the bitchen video switcher box so you can tie a wired camera right to your nav unit and use the preexisting screen. That is why this whole key is about tying into the existing nav screen and at these prices, I would go my route before a wireless no doubt - similar prices, but use the existing screen

don't fret - you are suppose to get them, for cup and door handles, so just ask for them and if somehow they are not in place, or not in the baggies, they cam get them for you free of charge (or just take a set off a car on the lot that has them). mine was missing 1 in the door and 1 of the cup ones was all disfigured and they just swapped them out right there and gave me the missing one from another car.

I have watched a few vids and read the G2 propaganda and I think it will be a very easy mod. As usual, I will post up photos (B/A) of the mod. I already ordered the paint today, decided on red. Stuff is so cheap, but so universally praised as one of the top/best choices for this mod, I could always go to black if I really hated it, but I saw enough in photos I am convinced - against white car - it will be great. As it turns out G2 talks about the fact that calipers do not have to be removed to paint. Yes you could and yes you could even spray versus brush, but I will stick to their protocol and leave them on, clean like crazy, tape it all up real well and brush paint away. I believe, without removing the calipers, I can do a solid job. They claim 1 coat is ideal if you can do it and is thick enough to be perfect, and there is enough in the can to do 2 for sure. And for sure, in talking with them, since you mix the catalyst and the paint, you MUST jack it up and do all 4 wheels at once as the paint sets up and cures so fast, you simply do not have time - they claim - to lift front, clean, prep, mask, paint and put wheels on and set down and move to the rears. I already have 4 stands arranged so I am set. I expect to have it done by next week or so... so stay tuned.

yep, bummer for us but hey, can you confirm that the seat memory button, the adjustable dimmer dash knob, the child lock button, and the twist mirror adjustment button all are/are not lit on an MKX?

I have pretty much convinced myself to do this.. but just not sure on red or white. red is kind of classic euro sporty, but white could be a decent compliment, maybe? or since my car is actually not 'white' a white paint might be to much like I tried to match it, but could not. maybe even black would be good any opinions?

yeah, might be kinda costly.. but they seem neat as for a CAI.. I plan on getting one 4 sure.. if anyone - like K&N or Steeda - actually ever makes one

So.... for my next mod (as if the recent backup camera and BAMR lighted controls were not enough in the last 2 weeks) I have always liked the looks of red brake calipers and think that up against my white sand tri-coat, it could be a nice addition and some nice European flavor and pop. Now, the caveat is that I do not like them enough to go out and drop a bunch of coin on some nice high end calipers like Brembo, so I do not even want to go there okay, but I do like them enough to drop some coin on a DIY paint kit as that is clearly, after seeing all my DIY mods here, how I like to roll. has anyone done this yet? I do not care if it has been on an Edge per se, more curious if anyone has done a full DIY paint kit on your calipers? I saw one post back in January where the guy started, but never followed up. here is one here is another if you have, any words of wisdom or caution or recommendations? I am considering the G2 paint kit. video on installing here is a dirty quick mock-up to give potential outcome.. any thoughts? red

So, I have always though that lambo style vertical doors are pretty nifty. I have seen many conversions on many cars that turned out pretty awesome. I think it could be a petty cool setup on an Edge... anyone ever seen or done one on an Edge? Anyone ever consider it? Anyone know of any pitfalls to doing it? here is a site full of examples

so did you access the headlight switch from behind dash or pull the whole switch straight out with a tug? and where did you run up your wire? up the pillar with airbag and into head liner?

just out of curiosity please.. can you report what color wire it is you tapped into (we know the mirror colored wire already) AND was it in the bundle in the headliner with all the other wires like the mirror wire or did you have to run it down the pillar?

I would be stunned if it was water in gas. that would be a significant amount of water that generally only comes from long long long periods of car sitting - this is not seen in newer cars used daily - if it is condensation based. Just as rare would to have gotten a bad series of tank fills with water in it from a gas station. these cars are so electronically controlled and dependent, an issue like that seems more likely to be related to electronics - even more so since it is happening only at stops - than actual bad fuel. if it were me, I would not put anything in that tank.. just take it to dealer and have them examine as your still in warranty.

post #52 answers this.. yes, they stay on during the day. mirror always has power, so LED lights always on. Mirror does not just come on at night, it is always hot with power.