Installation Safety

• Disconnect your car battery. Whenever working on electrical devices, make sure everything is turned off to prevent harming yourself. Pop the hood and disconnect the battery. Make sure you've properly disconnected it by checking your dashboard. If the mileage counter is off, then the battery is off.
  
  

Tips and tricks for cleanly installing your car stereo

• Cleanly installing a stereo into the car is often the most time-consuming and trickiest parts of the installation process due to the many wires running to the amplifier and head unit. However, the Jetta MK III is an easy vehicle to run and conceal wires through. Before beginning, be sure you know how to wire your amp, speakers and head unit because that knowledge can save a real headache later on.
  
  The trunk is the most logical place to situate the amp. Some people will screw the amp into the back of the rear seat to save space or simply screw it to the bottom of the trunk. Either way works fine. The trunk is lined with a fabric that is easy to peel back to run wires through to the rear speakers if you want to power those with your amp.
  
  The entire back seat folds down, creating an easy avenue to run wires through to the front of the car. This is also where you'll want to ground your amplifier. Look under the bottom seat cushions in the rear, you'll notice the seatbelts are screwed in by a nut. Use a Phillips head screw driver to unscrew the nut and connect the grounding cable, then screw everything back together.
  
  Open one of the rear doors and you'll notice a plastic panel on the ground. This is where you'll want to continue wiring your stereo. The same goes for the front door. These black plastic panels can be removed by unscrewing the screws with a Phillips head screwdriver. After running the wires beneath those panels, you'll reach the front of the car and an apparent dead end. However, similarly to the trunk, the black carpeting can be pulled back to continue hiding the wires. Don't worry about ruining the carpeting because it's easily reattached so long as you merely pull out the fringe areas of the carpeting.
  
  From here, you can run all of the necessary wires up to the head unit. First, remove the head unit from the dashboard. Some people will also remove components of the dashboard to create space to properly run cables up to the head unit. However, using a simple trick can be a time saver. Use a broken coat hanger to run wires up through the wiring channel behind the head unit. This can save substantial time.
  
  Find an opening in the car to run the power wire from your amplifier to the battery. The closest opening to the engine bay and to the battery is on the driver's side floor beneath the pedals.