Car Stereos: Pontiac Grand Am Gt Aftermarket Stereo Installation, monsoon system, monsoon sound system

Question
I own a 2004 Grand Am GT with the Monsoon sound system, and i recently bought a Pioneer DEH-p5200HD stereo. I have not yet received the stereo so i have not yet tried installing it. But as i looked into it, there are not many wiring harnesses that are available that work with the Monsoon system. Is there a way to connect the stereo to the car, while still keeping the door chimes, without having to purchase the $100 wiring harness?

Answer
Hi Mike,

You don't need a special adapter just because of the Monsoon system in the Grand Am; in your vehicle, you'd use the exact same adapter as you'd use with a non-Monsoon system.  Unfortunately, if you want to keep the factory warning chimes working, you'll still need a special integration module.  A Metra GMRC-01 adapter should work perfectly well; it's available online for less than $50.

If you don't mind doing some custom wiring, you can relocate the factory radio to the trunk and keep it wired into the data bus system, using a separate extension speaker to retain the warning chimes.  This would be a bit less expensive, but it's a lot more work.  However, if you're interested in this option, let me know and I can give you some detailed instructions.

Hope this helps!

Brian