Car Toys — Attraction in Tacoma

I originally went there to get a subwoofer installed, and other than finding they had scratched up my paint to ground to the aluminum body even though there is a dedicated ground spot not too far away, they did what they were supposed to.

Due to the limitations of the equipment, i decided to upgrade, and take advantage of their "return promise" and return the equipment. other than being accused of blowing the subwoofer before they tested it, finding it was not blown, they allowed me to return the items.

I decided that i would do the install myself and upgrade the guage of wire to accomodate the added power draw. When i went in the engine compartment to run the wire through the firewall gasket, i discovered they didnt reseat the gasket properly. It was completely out of its intended position. It was a pain to get it back in. I watched youtube videos and eventually got it properly sealed.

I mentioned the grounding error to the woman at the counter and she said since i moved things i voided the warranty and took no responsibility for the incompetence.

I figured it was a one off mistake and decided i wanted to upgrade my stereo more and get a consultation on speakers and to put an amp in.

I was advised than in order to put an amp in for the new speakers i would have to either lose the functionality of my infotainment screen and put a new head unit in, or get some 1800 dollar device that allows them to amp the signal. Based on that recommendation i went with just upgrading the speakers. I also had them install bass blockers and they overcharged me 500 to do that quick job addition.

After the installation i immediately realized that the speakers sounded worse than before and really high trebble so i did my own research and found that there is a pretty simple solution to get an amp installed. I found a guy that sells custom harnesses that plug into the factory head unit and sends a signal to the amp. The harness and the amp was half the price of the device the installer told me i needed.

I watched some videos on youtube and decided i would do the install myself. I started out by going into the door panel to take the bass blockers off, and having watched a youtube video, and ordered tools to do it properly i felt confident to do it. Upon getting the passenger side panel off i noticed damage to the panel and upon inspection, it looked like the tech had pried the rivets off instead of the retention clips. Apparently he doesnt have access to youtube that would have shown him this is not how to take the panel off. I called the store to tell them and the guy said come in on tuesday to talk to the manager. I told him i have a video and i could send it in and he said just bring it in. I live out of town and I have been too busy to go in so i havent yet.

While taking the bass blockers off, i found they had wired the speakers incorrectly and bypassed the low pass crossover on the woofer which explained the trebble dominant sound. I know this was wired incorrectly because it shows the correct way on the box. This adjustment improved the sound immensely. I took off the A pillar to check the tweeters and noticed they scarred up that piece of panel. I included a picture of that as well as the broken rivets. I also discovered that they left the trebble setting on high and adjusted that down and now the speakers sound more balanced and im not being assaulted by trebble. I found they had damaged a retension clip on the door where you screw the speaker into, and they used a clip the falls out when you unscrew it. I included a picture.

Now that i took the project on the sound is better than i ever expected with no thanks to cartoys' work, or recommendations. My impression is that they dont care about the customers needs, and just want to overcharge for incompetent worksmanship. They damaged my vehicle and didnt tell me. They also dont want to take responsibility and hide behind "you voided the warrantee by touching the...

Great experience with car toys as they persevered with installation a radio in my Dodge Challenger. Dodge being the geniuses that they are neglected to install Apple Car Play/Android Auto in the 2016 Challengers, despite the fact the Chevy has done in all 2016 Camaro trims but anyway...

It was quite the challenge installing the radio. It had been years since I got a custom radio installed in a car, so a lot of the technology had changed. The Car Toys Sales Rep and Technician helped me understand the changes in the technology. For example back in 2017 you could buy a radio with the USB-A Type, sometimes they gave you both connections but so much of that has changed now. I was totally unaware of how the I-Maestro dash kits work and everything.

I wasn't the easiest customer to deal with either because it had been years since I had to have a radio installed in a car I owned.. The sales rep was very understanding and even worked with me on me buying my own parts online to keep the cost down. I had a hard learning curve.

There was some misunderstandings on the labor price but it is what it is. They are a little pricey on the labor if you have to get the I-Maestro Datalink installed with the new radio, but they did such an excellent professional installation that I consider it money well spent and at the end of the day you end up with a much better set up than the U-Connect Radio depending on the radio you get.

I can actually watch Netflix on my Kenwood via mirroring, you can't do that with a OEM U-Connect radio. With android auto I can finally drive safer and not have to look down at my phone for directions.

Kyle in particular was also very patient with me and went above and beyond to adjust my media hub so that I can get as close to factory retention as possible.

Heated Steering Wheel, Heated Seats, Climate Controls, Radio Control buttons everything works so the I-Maestro modules are worth the investment if you have a Challenger, Camaro, or Mustang or newer car that you have to change the radio and don't want to buy the $1600.00 Infotainment factory OEM radio just to get android auto/Apple Car play, you might want to check out Car Toys.

Just give them a chance and trust that they know what they are doing and keep in mind technology is advancing too fast for most of us to keep up with. So you pay for quality and they...

I am truly disappointed in car toys, ever since I bought this system a little over a month ago I've had nothing but problems. My wife and I walked into the Puyallup car toys to purchase an alarm system and a sound system. The manager gave a price it was a real good price but I didn't have the money on me I got good credit I did snap finance, I wasn't trying to spend the whole credit line that they gave me, the manager then brought out the stuff he had showed me before, but now it was a completely different price, I asked him then what happened, he said price change I said in 1 day? I bought two amps one base, one for the hi, bass speakers, and alarm system. I left while they put it in he called me 2hours later, and said my front speakers are bust out I need to replace them they said it would be another $400, I didn't want to spend that much, he called me back he said he's got something that he can put in that will work perfectly. I agree they put everything in, the next day I'm going to work rolling down my window all of a sudden I'm hearing a crunching sound I look over it's my window tint. It was crunching up in the side, I called them took it back they tried to flip it on me and said it was my fault The window tint got crunched looks like wear and tear on my vehicle. I was insulted then, but they sent me away with fixed windows. Then my front speakers go out they go muffle and it's just all around a bad setup. I'm a newbie I don't know about this stuff, so I depended on him and counted on him to tell me the right things to get that it would all work and if I'm spending over a couple thousand dollars this should be no problem with my system but it's been over a month and a half and I still have not once been able to enjoy my system I took it to Tacoma car toys they couldn't help me they could only recommend that I buy these $1,000 speakers that wasn't my plan. I'm just very disappointed I don't know what to do I just feel very taken advantage of by car toys and it's employees...