Front camera advice

[The Car Stereo Company]

I actually wrap it around my steering column once to use up the extra slack.

this is never a good idea. use zip ties and attach to an existing wire harness. but never go around the steering column.

 

[Evanscott29]

I just dont understand why people need their front camera so bad for parking. This is the exact reason I back into spots 99% of the time. I dont care if I have to make someone wait 10s. And yes, I have the stock front camera which I find very useful when I'm actually offroad. Now dont get me wrong possessing the capability is nice, but for all the modification and money, I could use it on something else. JMHO.

 

[gwpfan]

this is never a good idea. use zip ties and attach to an existing wire harness. but never go around the steering column.

Why? Have you seen the cable? It's a beefy cable. I ran plenty of cables and this is a pretty safe method.

 

[The Car Stereo Company]

i have seen cables run around a steering column before. i also heard of a shop being sued because an installer wrapped cables around the steering column and they fell into it and the customer couldnt turn the steering wheel and crashed. as a safety precaution i never recommend it.

 

[gwpfan]

I just dont understand why people need their front camera so bad for parking. This is the exact reason I back into spots 99% of the time. I dont care if I have to make someone wait 10s. And yes, I have the stock front camera which I find very useful when I'm actually offroad. Now dont get me wrong possessing the capability is nice, but for all the modification and money, I could use it on something else. JMHO.

It's more than just parking and it depends on how populated of an area you are normally driving in. Driving in Vegas in some of the casino parking lots/downtown areas w/limited parking vs. driving somewhere the parking lot is rarely full.

The other day I was making a tight corner with a trailer and I had a 1' rock wall to avoid, of course I couldn't see it, had the wife jump out and guide me. She even mentioned using the front camera, but hell no am I putting it in 4 LO/Off-Road mode w/Lockers on a tight corner on pavement.

Next ever backed into a spot or even started to and then realized the other guys that did the same when you open your door you'll hit their mirrors? Pulling in forward you may not have that problem. The other interesting one is in the southwest the 'cheap' covered parking lots and the poor design, you back in you likely won't be able to get out of your door due to the support pillar.

Next is I've been off-road plenty of times in which 2WD works just fine, not tearing anything up/spinning, but may have a tight spot in which it would be nice to just enable the camera without jumping thru all the hoops to do such.

Finally there's the wife and parking, she doesn't like backing in places and too many time she leaves the rear end sticking out too far. Luckily she's been driving a screw w/a 6.5' bed, so w/the 5.5' on the Raptor she has figured it out better.

As to price, they are relatively cheap. A camera for $9.90, one with night vision for $15.29.
front camera car | eBay

Honestly a setup add with front, rear and sides would be really nice for when off-roading alone. It's nice having someone in the passenger seat guide you on how close you are to the stuff on the other edge, but a camera setup would be awesome.

---------- Post added at 09:20 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:14 AM ----------

i have seen cables run around a steering column before. i also heard of a shop being sued because an installer wrapped cables around the steering column and they fell into it and the customer couldnt turn the steering wheel and crashed. as a safety precaution i never recommend it.

Ok I could possibly see that, but not being able to turn, they must have zip tie it to the steering rod/not look for edges that could catch the cable. Still that would likely have to be one tight wrap and they must of tried to hide it behind the steering column protector piece. With the way mine is setup that couldn't happen. I will go get pics and try out my polarized glasses...

No pics, having a PC driver issue so maybe later.

With 2 different pair of polarized glasses I saw the Livewire screen just fine.

Oh and the cable is about 6' long.

 

[ZBoater]

That's why I'm not keen on buying NavTV for this. If I can hook up to the Livewire (which I'm buying for other reasons) then it's just the cost of the camera and install. For that it would be nice. For $600 I get all sorts of other "features" I don't need or want, then no, it's not worth it.

I need to find a decent wide angle camera with a bracket that will install in the front grille. Any suggestions?