Car Stereo Wiring Color Codes

The picture below shows the wiring color codes for a CEA aftermarket radio harness that is included with most radios. Brands like Pioneer, Alpine, Sony, Kenwood, JVC, Boss and Jensen.

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Are Radio wiring Harnesses Easy To install?

Generally, when installing a new car stereo into your vehicle you’ll need an aftermarket wiring harness that clips onto the factory harness you pulled off of the back of your factory radio during its removal.

You Are essentially continuing the flow of an electrical circuit when your connecting a wiring harness for your stereo. Make sure to use the proper tools such as solder for your connection or “crimp caps”. Crimp caps are pretty easy to find at your local parts shop, even at your local car audio shop.

Soldering is a bit more difficult, your using a soldering iron that gets extremely hot to melt led free solder onto your wiring connection. I promise this is easier than it sounds.

Heres a quick video with a pretty in depth explanation of wiring a harness. Pay attention to how neat he keeps his wires, this is important. Keeping your wiring neat can help to kill the chance of wires shorting out.

Aftermarket Car Stereo Wiring Color Codes

Why Do I need An Aftermarket Wiring Harness?

Generally, when installing a new car stereo into your vehicle you’ll need an aftermarket wiring harness that clips onto the factory harness you pulled off of the back of your factory radio during its removal.

This wiring harness adapter that you need is specific to the year, make and model of your vehicle. The cool thing is that it also follows the same CEA wiring color codes that are shown in the picture above. So all you need to do is to connect them by matching them color to color.

How Do I Find The Right Wiring Harness?

Believe me, there is no art to it and you don’t need a degree to find the correct harness for your vehicle. However, there are a few pieces of information you need to know in order to find out. You know them very well…. well… you should. They all have to do with your vehicle and the options it may or may not have.

1. What is the year of your vehicle?
2. What is the make of your vehicle?
3. What is the model of your vehicle?
4. Do you currently have a factory amplified system?
5. Do you have an aftermarket radio already?

If you answered yes to number 5 then you wont need a radio harness more than likely. Generally shops use a wiring harness to install aftermarket radios assuming there is a harness on the market for that vehicle.

If you answered yes to number 4 then youll need a special harness that provides a low level signal to your factory amplifier. You may not know you have an amplifier, or a factory subwoofer. Dealerships don’t generally explain your sound system specifications, they’d rather just take your money.

If you are looking to find a wiring harness for your specific vehicle, I recommend using this easy vehicle fit-guide source. All you have to do is to enter your vehicle information and they show you everything you need! If you have any questions you can contact us by sending us a message on Facebook.