I'm looking into getting a radar detector as its spring time so cops are everywhere, and they seem to love my bright red car. If I get one, I'd like to do a couple of things to it.

First off, I'd like to hardwire it in. I should be able to take the cheesy car adapter powerplug most radar detectors come with and modify it, no problems.

The second thing is I would like to mount it in my dash, probably right around where the factory tapedeck/cd player is. Obviously, my main concern here is that the radar detector wouldn't be able to get a good signal down there. Has anyone done something similar to this? How easy would say, boosting the signal be?

Also, what is a decent radar detector? I'm looking at Escort right now.

 

the radar detector needs to be mounted high.... if it doesnt get a signal from direct line its not going to work properly or posibly at all!
just dont drill any holes in the dash! VELCRO or double sided tape at the most! at least they can be cleaned off the dash!
hardwiring is very easy...... i would just sugest spliting the wire DONT CUT IT JUST YET and probe each wire to find out which is power and which is negative..... then write it down and then go ahead and cut the wires and simply wire it to the cig lighter wires behind the trim panel, at least thats how i have mine wired up. it comes on with the ignition turned ON and off when OFF.

how adays the cops got some nice new radar toys like POP feature which the cheap radar detectors dont detect.

but if ya dont want any tickets..... dont speed just that simple.
your tint can already posibly block some of the radar signals from behind. im not positive but id think they would....

if your REALLY worried about tickets then SPEND A PRETTY PENNY.... and get a radar jammer. tho they are illegal so....... youve been warned be sure to hide the system dam good! they use 1 or 2 sensors on the front bumper area and one on the rear bumper somewhere to jam radar signals.
ive thought about buying one before BUT keeping a good eye out and dont act stupid or speedo to much and ya should be DECENT. tho i do have a older radar detector that works for me, but i know its not great because sometimes cops i see have their radar guns out and pointed at me and the detector NEVER goes off! im not sure if they are playing with people OR if they are have a mode that my detector cannt detect......

 

Here's how it works. Police often use radar in their cruisers. There are several different bands, and any detector above about 100 bucks will pick them all up. Lasers are what you need to worry about, though. Lasers are the guns that you will see police holding, and aiming on the side of the road. These are often not picked up because the officer will simply turn the gun off, and then turn them on for a small period of time, checking the speed, then turning it back off. This can be confused as a false alarm, such as an automatic door or other laser signals on cheaper radar detectors. One thing to note is that only radar can be used in rain, hail, fog, ect.

What I would reccomend is the Escort radar detectors. They're kind of spendy, but well worth it. They get rid of false alarms, so if you hear the beep, you know it's the fuzz. Plus they had a cordless, battery powered detector.

Here's a site that gives extensive information on radar detectors, and just happens to be Escorts site, too.

http://www.escortradar.com/detector-school-2.htm#q3