First thing I did when I got it home was remove the grey vinyl pinstripe that drove me crazy. I figured it would be pretty easy, which that part was, but little did I know it was there for a reason. Apparently it was put on to cover up a previous pinstripe that was painted on. It was a sweet lime green and yellow masterpiece. I had to bust out a little lacquer thinner for that one. Worked great, just took a little time. Now I have to do some buffing and polishing. I wish I would have remembered to take better pics, but here's what I got...

Before:

After:

 

After that, I went to work on some stereo upgrades...

Massive Audio A-Pillar Tweeter Install/A-Pillar Black Vinyl Upgrade:

 

Front Door Speaker Replacement/Sound Deadening Install:

 

Rockville 5 Channel Amp Installed in Place of Factory Subwoofer:

 

he Install of the 10.4" Vertical Screen Tesla 1024*768 Android Car DVD GPS Navigation Radio RAM 2GB 4 Core was a little more difficult than I was hoping. I don't think the brackets for the one that I bought were designed to fit an Escalade like the description indicated. I found another listing that popped up shortly after mine arrived that had brackets that looked like they were the right ones. So I had to come up with some jankity brackets that would work. You also have to cannibalize your stock stereo since it works in conjunction with the Android unit. I eventually got it to fit properly and look good, but it was a PIA. And most of the instructions were written in broken english. It is a pretty cool unit though and looks awesome. If anyone is looking into getting one, send me a PM and I'll try to steer you in the right direction.

 

I tried like 3 different phone mounts for this thing and best one that I have found so far is the Kuda Mount. I added a WizGear 10 magnet mount to it too. Looks great and works awesome.

 

Finally got the new black mesh grill installed. Went ahead and added the newer 2015 Escalade style emblem to it too. Removing the old grill was kind of a PIA too. Had to take off the entire front bumper. I tried my hand at some vinyl to cover the chrome hood trim piece and it came out terrible. I'll re-do it when i get some time, but it'e good enough for government work right now. I'm gonna black out the headlights and tint the fog lights as soon as it warms up here in Austin too. And maybe black out the chrome on the new emblem.


Before:

After:

 

How did you get you're emblem attached? I am about to put the same setup on my 07. Did you just remove tabs and put 3m double sided on?

 

Scored some Cadillac cup holder coaster inserts from Amazon. Fit in there perfectly. It's the little things...

 

I installed some DNA Motoring HDS-GY99 Stainless Steel Exhaust Shorty Headers a while back and got lucky with only 4 broken exhaust manifold bolts. I managed to get most of them out by welding a nut on them wrenching them out, but the rear driver side was too hard to get so I just used the Dorman repair clamp on that one. I also did the WWP Dual Tip Exhaust / Resonator Delete Kit and a Magnaflow 12909 Muffler. The sound everything added is subtle until you get on it...then it's awesome and it definitely added some low end torque.

While I was in there I went ahead and did the ACDelco Iridium Spark Plugs and put the ACDelco 9748RR Wire Set and wrapped them in some titanium spark plug boot protector sleeves.

 

I took advantage of the $50 off sale and bought a Airaid 201-796 Intake Tube Kit.

 

I didn't like the older style original console lid that came with the 2007 Escalades, so I found a good deal on an entire center console out of 2013 and just took the lid from it. Looks so much better.

 

I finally installed my 3" lift spindles, 3" rear coil spring spacers, Bilstein 24-187237 Rear Shocks and 35x12.50R22 Venom Tires on Escalade Black Replica 22"x9" wheels. I had to trim a bunch off the front bumper, the rear inner fender, and the power running boards to fit the 35s.

 

I bought some of those cheesy MGP Cadillac Red Caliper Covers from Amazon Warehouse, but only because they were an open box and $15 instead of $245. They actually look pretty good and 3 people have already asked me where I got them. We'll see how they hold up. I was going to do all new rotors and pads, but the previous owner must have done them right before he sold it to me because they have at least 65% life left.

 

I wasn't really digging the aftermarket black mesh grille that I put on a while back, so I found an OEM 2103 Escalade Luxury Sport Grille.

 

So I saw a sweet lifted Escalade EXT online somewhere that had an N-Fab light bar on it with an LED curved light installed and thought I'd try it out. It's the N-Fab C063LB. I didn't like the look of the curved LED bar, so I went with some round 7" black LED lights. I also installed it with a harness that has a remote control that I programmed to work with the Homelink buttons.

 

I finally installed my tow mirrors on the Escalade. My stock ones were all beat up, the power fold didn't work, and I missed being able to see behind me easier...so here we are. These have the puddle lights too which are nice. I'll probably have at least the caps painted black eventually. Here's the mirrors

 

Holy smokes, I love this! Beautiful, goals for mine!! Did you have blind spot? I'm looking at doing tow mirrors, but no sure how I'll get around the blind spot.

 

Installed some PRV Audio 6MR500-NDY-4 Neodymium 6.5" midrange speakers and Massive Audio CT2 - Silk Dome tweeter in the rear doors along with a little Noico 80 mil sound deadening mat and some Road Kill RKFR6 3 Piece Foam Speaker Enhancers. Luckily I pre-ran the speaker wire to the rear doors back when I had installed the 5 channel amp under the dash so the install didn't take too long. I was a tad nervous cutting the holes for the tweeters though. And the rear door molex was a little harder to get through than the fronts.

 

After tinting the windows so dark it's kinda hard to see out of the the rear hatch, so I thought I'd try out one of those rear view mirror cameras I've seen on Amazon. I didn't want one of the lame ones that strapped over the oem mirror, so I got one that replaces the oem mirror altogether. Here's the one I got. The install wasn't too bad...running the wire to the rear hatch was the hardest. It has a few quirks that I'm not real excited about, but overall it's pretty cool and it's nice to have the front and rear recording at all times.

 

When I bought the truck it came with the Weathertech floor mats, which IMO don't come close to the fit of the Westin Sure-Fit floor mats, so I finally bought a pair for the front. I would buy the rear one too if they made it. The Weathertech mats slid around al the time and just looked like crap. These Westins stay put. Highly recommended if you need some new mats.

 

I bought some custom speaker pods for the A-Pillars and put them in this weekend. They were a little glossy compared to the a-pillars, so I painted them with some satin black SEM Color Coat. I went with the CT Sounds 3.5 Inch midrange speakers and my Massive Audio CT2 - silk dome tweeters hooked up to a CT Sounds passive 3 way crossover. The quality was actually pretty decent for $100. I might add another screw to the top on the driver side down the road, but that's my only complaint. And the new angles really brought out the mids and highs in the system I have to say.

On a side note, I tried to fix the corners on my newer upper dashboard replacement that never laid down completely flat. Somehow I made them worse. Has anyone had that problem with one? Here's the one I bought: Upper Dashboard Replacement

 

My 5 channel amp went bad on me (sub channel burned up) last week, so I decided to rip everything out and start from scratch. I decided to go with the Pioneer GM Digital series. I got the GM-DX874 (4 channel) and theGM-DX971 (mono). I also originally went with a Dayton Audio DSP-408, but it introduced all kinds of noise to the system so I pulled it out and returned it. I have a Pioneer DEQ-S1000A on the way to replace it. I mounted the new amps under the rear captain seats. I can't even tell you how much better it already sounds. I don't think I'll ever go the single 5 channel route ever again. It didn't work out in my Tahoe and it definitely didn't work out in the Escalade.

Here's the ugly part first...

 

I'm afraid if I start anything this is exactly how deep I will get into it! Very nice truck man, great build!

 

Amps under the rear captain chairs

 

Bass Knob mounted next to the headlights switch

 

I made a new welcome screen for the Tesla style Android head unit too while I was at it. Came out pretty good I think. If anyone wants a copy, let me know.

 

I finished up my vacuum actuated exhaust cutout. I'm gonna order a turndown and install it shortly. You can't adjust the opening, it's either open or closed. And since no one really made a vacuum cutout for 3.5" exhaust, I had to kind of Frankenstein parts together. I had to weld the cutout to the flange after I cut the flange down a bit and used butt joints to tie it altogether. I mounted the vacuum pump/remote relay under the cupholders in the center console. Eventually I might weld it all up. When the cutout isn't open, the exhaust goes through a Magnaflow 12909.

Here's a list of the parts I used:

3" Vacuum Cutout
3.5" to 2.5" flange
3.5" Stainless Cutout
3.5" Butt Joint Exhaust Clamps (2)