Lex Talionis

search these forums and you will find several threads on this topic that will answer most all of your questions (and raise some I am sure). here is just 1 Anyway.. I understand from reading several forums on the HID topic for the Edge that you must have the DRL (daytime running light) feature turned off. this can be done quickly at the dealer - but not something you can deactivate yourself. as for your other question about relay usage. many here, and elsewhere, report no need for a relay and just use plug and play kits. fewer have mentioned using them. but on one of the key threads here on this topic, there is mention of a relay needed. genrally, it seems the consensus is that you would want a digital ballast type HID kit - which you can buy from vendors here or on the web at like retro-solutions.com and install yourself. the retrosolutions guy claimed that you could use a relay kit if desired as some added protection, BUT it was not his opinion that with a good digital ballast kit, that was even necessary. I will let you read and decipher as you wish, that thread is here I already ordered and will install a digital ballast kit - plug and play - without the relay based on what I learned and is mentioned in that 2nd thread and another massive HID topic on another HID specific forum. enjoy... it is an interesting topic filled with opinions and jargon and many kit options.

I live in CA.... so for me, twas more expensive which is naturally my point/concern on that front. as for quality, you could be right about similar quality. I do not know as that brand is not really named while you can do a lot of research on Curt. Do I think quality differences exist in products (paint finish, wear, welds, materials, fitment precision).. yes sure - seen it many times in products. will it matter in this case? I do not know but I can tell you this, in this case, the Curt hitch uses 3 attachment bolt points versus the other which shows just 2. good example right there of a product difference with the Curt distributing more load across the frame at 3 bolts versus 2. I think you are reading way more in to what I said than I was implying.. but ultimately I think we both agree that in the end.. who cares really

I am looking into this option also.. It looks like, and I am waiting to hear back, that those same guys - PAC - make a PAC VCI-X Universal Backup Camera Interface which claims Universal Video Back Up Camera Interface for Factory Navigation Monitors and though they make factory brand specific options, this one just seems it is universal. this items instructions are dated 7/2007 - so well after the date of this original thread so this item may not have been available in 12/2007 when I find out more I will post up becuase this would be a very clean install to tie a backup camera into our factory nav systems if this gadget works.

Abrannan19 - talk to me about that back up camera. Iam curious about the install... the plate camera has wires - power, ground, and rca jack and such on it, no? how did you get those into the vehcile so as to have no wires exposed? did you have to drill holes? is it a bulkly bit of wired? also, where did you run the wires up to the head unit? through the headliner or along the floor trim? thanks, very curious here.

Well akriby... you have flabbergasted me here. seriously - all BS aside. somehow, despite my 2legit points, you just fail to see that everyone is at the OEM level Sync version right now so there is really nothing to verify at this stage. there are not 8 possible updates floating around and people could have any one of those 8 so they want to know what you have. there is the OEM factory everyone will have right now except for that 1, hypothesized by me to be very low percent applied MKX update given its tight constraints. as well, verification checkers are generally built into the new update, and not stand alone. 2 good points I believe. And, rather than provide legit counterpoints to mine, you just pull the parent/child move on me... "this is how it is"... "but why daddy akirby?"... "um, because I say it is and I am the all knowing parent" - and that doesn't fly with me. like solas offered, I expect more reasoning and actual points from a software designer/engineer if anyone. so let me raise a 3rd point. one that might prove conclusively that this is not checking anything per se, just sending data. why doesn't someone here who has a 2007 or 2008 Edge with nav - or maybe a 2007 MKX with nav but no THX - download and try to install the mentioned 1 update available (8L2T-14D544-AE). Since this is only for 2008 Lincoln's with nav and THX with language set to either French or Spanish my premiss is that it will NOT be installable on an Edge or MKX configuration not matching the tight requirements and that in fact, there will be a verification checker built into the update that lets you know you cannot install and hence, no stand alone verification checker is required and that one available now is just a red herring used for data collection on habits. seems like a logical next step to find out just what this little piece of software is really doing.

Shizzy.. as we both know, yours beat mine. you ordered first, but got caught behind and I was catching up.. congrats on yours anyway... it turns out that on mine that hey had to order 2 cars - mine and then another so they could get the wheels off it I wanted (pretty cool huh? would get brand new wheels and tires versus those test driven or sitting on the lot for months) - BUT it turns out the one with the wheels showed up on Thursday... and mine still has not :angry: both ordered and built and shipped at same time. after 6 weeks, I am ready to be over this ya know. I found one, cheaper actually as the base price is cheaper and the vista roof is cheaper as it is in stock and not ordered, at a dealer up north and I am so jonesing to just go get it done as I wonder now if dealers even get any sat and/or sun deliveries PLUS the holiday monday plus I think there is a Presidents Day Sale I would also miss which could mean extra incentive. this waiting is driving me nutso.

GREAT for you.. :happy feet: bad for me J/K glad it worked out.. the 750$ can buy a lot of extras... savings is savings (which is why I wanted to try to bamboozle the dealer with it

I stand corrected. sure enough you found it... BUT, they charge 64.00 shipping so in the end, it is 163.22 to get a hitch from them while at realtruck.com it is only 146.32 (140.85+7.95 handling+8.79 shipping - 11.27 with coupon code SJ921). so in the end, realtruck.com is cheaper and uses the more proven Curt brand versus this one of which I am not sure what it is.

Would love to see it retro cover older BT 1.0 phones - like newer ear pieces seem to do - so that more phones could be used.

okay then... I don't like you explanation. I really think in this case you are wrong :yup: My logical points seem more solid than your it's a "good idea and the right way to do it". I do not accept it just because you are some random professional software developer - kind of odd to even assume we should because you say so. at least solas989 had some tangible points to work with.

I am not sure if you are asking if this person has those accessories or if those accessories are available... if you are asking the latter, splash guards (Ford), bug deflector (Ford) and window deflectors (saw on eBay) are all available.

jim post #42 right above has the price and the phone number to call to order - mine was $38 shipped from them and the quality and thickness is very nice. all accounts it is much nicer - and mo cheaper - than the Ford version.

hey man... worth a try.. the dealer may care about that, and may not... Ford would not even know..I would try it no problem if you want to part with it

can I have it .... please I'll try and use it this week - been trying to find one for weeks now

so hard to say... much of it will be decided by the adaptor and how well it fills the space. and neither adaptors nor receivers are super precisely milled. just a little 'extra' milling in the receiver or a little less material for the adaptor and it will be losey goosey. so, I could not really say. consider this also.. using a 2" down too 1" reducer will add length on to the bike rack hitch. So, if before, you slid the 2" hitch into the receiver, now you will slide the 2" hitch into a reducer and that reducer into the 1" receiver. these reducers can be 8-12" long or so to give enough room to take in the 2" and supply enough to go into the 1". that can make these things stick waaaaay back and that just adds to wobble factor as it creates more torque hanging that much farther back.

I think yes u can get the new incentives... as a matter of fact, I understand you cannot qualify for an incentive UNTIL you take delivery. so it does not matter what was available at the time of the order, that is now in the past, it matters what is available when you take delivery. that is exactly what I was told by ford. no, an order is NOT taking delivery.

close.... but not exactly.. it is more like (and this is overly simplified and just gives high points).. take out your bulbs from the reflector, take the new kit which has bulbs AND ballasts AND cables/wires harness.... and then place the ballasts where you like, run the wires to each ballast, plug the harness that has the HID bulbs into the ballasts and put the new HID bulbs back into the reflectors. watch one of the videos above to see a basic install or search the web as there is a LOT about actual HID installing. claims seem to be 15-45 minutes to do depending on skill level and how nice you want to make the install (hiding and running wires and ballasts).

I thought of another reason while I think this thing is not checking jack but just sending data... why make 2 pieces of software, beta test them, debug them, have a team and hardware and support for them and release them when they can do it with 1? for example, I got to thinking of all the products I use that require updating software: routers, mac OS, applications, phone, ipod, scanners, cameras, blah blah and I could not think of 1 that had a stand alone verification tool to run prior to updating. the verification of what you have and if you can use the next update comes in and is part of said next update and when you try to apply it it then tells you "sorry, you do not have xxx and need to apply xxx before upgrading to this yyy". You do not run 2 tools - especially not one now and one when.. who knows when. It makes no sense here. they do not need to verify anything... they just need to release a next update - like every other company does - and people try to install it and the update tells you whether you can or not as it verifies right there on the spot what you have and what you can do. no verifying tools now... and maybe a new update months away. heck.. this is a MS product.... what do you expect from them but something like

Why do you keep asking me "You've obviously never done software development" - you have said this several times already across threads (showing some signs of that repetitiveness you so disdain in me). so let me be official "no, I have never done software development before". But, I work on them all day long, tinker on them and am fairly intelligent enough to know "how things work" and understand logic. with that out of the way.... the reason I point out only 1 update so far is that it plays a key role in this discussion and the timeline of things relative to the release of this checker. It gets boring to explain, but follow me as I think my logic is pretty clear whether you like me or not.... why release a checker at this stage? only 1 update has been released. That 1 update was for a VERY SMALL percentage of the Sync users: Lincoln with THX stereo and using Spanish or French display. And how many of that population actually installed it? What were they hoping to verify? If you were not one of the very few to do that first and only update, what would there be a need to verify at this stage with no other updates haveing been released? EVERYONE else will be at base level OEM release. THAT is why having only 1 release matters here as it seems early to release a checker to verify what you have. I could see it being needed maybe 5 more universal releases down the road when who knows what everyone has... but at this stage, like 99.9% of the people would have the original OEM level with no updates applied. with so few updates out, yes just 1, it seems much more plausible - especially when looking what I point out in conjunction with their comment "knowing how your Sync unit is configured" leads me to speculate that this checker is no checking jack at this stage.. but just gathering data and sending it back. which I do not care about really.. maybe in 5 updates it will have something to check, but for mow, the only real thing is that people have a lot of usage data and so it is not to early to start collecting that. feel me?

Costco guy once told me that N leaks out slower over time versus O - but this could be BS FAIK

I agree 100%.. didn't say it wouldn't be hacked, just said I have never read where it has as of yet. Heck, given what guys have done with the iPhone, I know it is possible. Just a matter of to what end? could you actually install applications? enhance it? open up some hidden features not yet tuned on but there (like in the iPhone)...likely to some degree. the syncmyride.com mentions downloadable 'widgets'... but no details on them. and, they do not use that term when referring to these "updates" (like the French Spanish one) or the "verification tool" - so it kind of implies some other capabilities are there, just not yet available.

maybe your car is so new, there is no personal info or user habits for it to send to them just yet. My car is suppose to be here today and I was going to do it to see what happens, but since I am a firm believer it is also transferring user habits, I would not have anything to send. post up what happens if you do it again.. hope it does not blow up your car

despite commenting first prior to not even knowing it was a verification tool until someone told you, and your telling me to "pay attention" :hysterical2: though I get your point, but knew it prior to your pointing it out as it was logical, following what your implying... why would someone take the time to download the 1 update that was made available for French or Spanish users too a USB and not install it? Yeah, I suppose you could have downloaded it and then got sidetracked and never did it.. but slim chance at that - I mean come on, most that even do this effort are interested in seeing what they will get and follow thru on the install right then. but yes, it is possible. <_<

well.. since they are the only ones putting out updates, there are not other items or updates we could possibly have 'installed' except for what they release on their site to us. so, nothing for them to really track in that respect as there is nothing for us to have "installed" on our own - except for the 1 Lincoln/THX update from a while back - but they would have that already in their system about you in your profile when you downloaded it at that time. And to my knowledge, I have never heard of a hacked Sync system yet nor 3rd party items put on this system. logically, the only thing this really can be for is tracking user habits.

arn't they mostly using mostly nitrogen in tires now as one combat against cold pressure changes as they are less susceptible that way.. or is that just Costco and after-market thing at wheel and tire places?