Just been stung by BMW!

[iow_corrado_g60 0]

the key fob on the factory fitted alarm is knackered so phoned a specialisat he said i'd have to go to bmw,

 

so went to BMW yesterday (they said just new key fob and re-sync to the alarm.

 

took it in today 8am get a call at 11ish

 

there gear cant find the signal for the transponder box/alarm so they cant re-program it, they took the glove box out.

*fiddled* no luck sir you need a new alarm £240 for control unit £65 for the new fob and 2 hours to fit/setup with vat the price was near £600.

 

so i said no dont go ahead with it,

 

I just been down to pick the car up and they charged me £79,18 to take the glove box out and 1 x re-sync fob. which didnt work.

 

trully pissed off saying trhey didnt fix the prob so ive booked in with motorguarduk for a clifford avant guard at a very reasonable price all because I need a cat.1 alarm for insurance :brickwall:

 

so in car terms i feel ive been done over today

 

on a brighter note anyone have any experiences with the clifford avant gaurd?

 

Cheers Andy

[mrbeige 0]

A lot more things to go wrong with an avant guard rather than general G5 Clifford. Plus the Black Jax can be a pain in the bum. My advice would be to go for a basic Cat 1 Cobra or Autowatch.

[iow_corrado_g60 0]

A lot more things to go wrong with an avant guard rather than general G5 Clifford. Plus the Black Jax can be a pain in the bum. My advice would be to go for a basic Cat 1 Cobra or Autowatch.

 

I agree with the more things to go wrong but lifetime warranty? and its a very copmpetitive price, the bloke i spoke to mentioned the bak jax i may ask him to turn it off

[Critical_Mass 10]

Whats the problem with the black jax?

[iow_corrado_g60 0]

im not sure if mr.beige means electrical wise or ????

 

but i do know that if back jax fitted with thatcham cat 1 in tow thatcham wont approve it as its a red tape thing and they wont be associated with a car turning off automatically if stolen

[Critical_Mass 10]

Yeah but its only once the car has come to a stop, its not moving when the black jax disables the car.

[iow_corrado_g60 0]

Oh rite thats interesting critical do you have one? interested in feedback if you have

[mrbeige 0]

Lifetime warranty is fine, but they can be a ball ache if stuff goes wrong.

 

Black Jax is a pain as in if you open the door with the engine running you have a set amount of time to input the valet code onto the coded switch before Black Jax becomes active - ball ache.

 

Plus as you say, thatcham have issues with the system in itself.

 

To be fair, if it were me and I wanted a Clifford, go for a 350, add the two zone prox and remote start if you want it.

[junkie 0]

I love black jax.

 

Open any door and it then wants the code inputting, you dont have a set amount of time to put it in, its only when you press the brake pedal that it activates it all.

 

So your waiting at some lights god forbid you get car jacked, door opens you get out gladly no hassle with them, they set off driving very fast down the road most likely, they press the brake pedal and it activates everything, now it will only cut the engine out once its below a certain rev limit or speed, so if they manage to get on a motorway they can theoretically drive for quite a distance, until the speed drops, which is inevitable, now whilst they are driving, unknown to them the alarm is turning the brake lights on and off repeatedly to warn the drivers behind something will happen in front. Once below the rev it needs it will cut the engine and ignition lights and the only thing to stop the alarm going off and so on is to input the code.

[Critical_Mass 10]

No IOW i dont have black jax, the bloke who fitted my autowatch alarm was explaining what they were to me. But i couldnt afford £700 for a clifford PLUS black jax. I would have however loved to have remote start for those cold mornings, but it wasnt available on the autowatch 475 :(

[Philuk 0]

i had my old clifford and had nothing but problems with it, wont have another one one. cost a fortune and didnt work for more than 4 weeks at most. got sick of phoning them and trying to get it fixed. thing with it was it wasnt clifford direct fiting them but a person working for gap security. on another note i dont think if like them to do any work on my car again as they were neither use nor orniment to work with. im still paying off my alarm which i had on a car i sold nearly a year ago ( my own fault i kno). my new alarm was fitted by ACCE who are round the corner from me and i have had no problems at all with it.

[Guest]

Alarms are weird...I had a clifford G5 on my Rallye and although it never went wrong as such all it ever did was drain my battery :brickwall:

 

I also have a clifford G5 with blak jax (never used it) fitted on my mk1 cabrio, it works fine, and its been on the car about 5 years and I have never had an issue with it in the 2 years i have owned it.

 

My Corrado has an Autowatch alarm fitted on it, and it seems spot on, but defo keep some spare batterys for the remote in your glovebox/ashtray though!!!!! my keyfob battery went flat a while back and I needed to get in the car to get mini screwdriver to open the remote fob to change it, the siren is so loud it really hurts your ears when it activates next to you!!!

[Walesy 0]

Autowatch are awesome alarms, but i've heard no end of people having problems with Cliffords over the years :eek:

 

 

An alarm is only as good as the guy that fits it really, but i'd never opt for a Clifford given the choice.

[MonkeyVR6 0]

Whats all this about alarms?? I don't live in Bagdad, so opted for the keeping the standard Lazerline system. :norty:

[Critical_Mass 10]

Whats all this about alarms?? I don't live in Bagdad, so opted for the keeping the standard Lazerline system. :norty:

 

I had to get a new one fitted although i had the standard (after factory) fitted alarm. Though when i took a new insurance policy out iwth adrian flux, one of the conditions was to get a new cat 1 alarm fitted because the old alarms fitted to rados, or cars of the same age, are no longer classed as a cat 1 due to their age. So bear that in mind. Not had one problem with my autowatch 8)

[junkie 0]

I would always go Clifford.

[mrbeige 0]

Autowatch are awesome alarms, but i've heard no end of people having problems with Cliffords over the years :eek:

 

 

An alarm is only as good as the guy that fits it really, but i'd never opt for a Clifford given the choice.

I have to agree with that, alarms are indeed only as good as the fitting of it. When I worked for a Car Audio shop, some of the abominations that I saw from so called fitters were shocking. Cliffords are probably one of the worst alarms to fit, being a lot more complicated than most, and it has to be said we did see a lot of problems with Clifford security. Being fair though, most of the problems were off the older Clifford systems (Concept 50 era) G4 and G5 stuff seemed to be a lot better. On the other hand, I think in 7 years of working there I didn't see one Cobra or Autowatch alarm come back with problems. That has to be a good thing.

[iow_corrado_g60 0]

guys for interest getting my clifford fitted sat morning 9.30 so will let you know how it all goes and try take some pics!

 

theres been quite a few mixed comments I hope there good at there job i might stay there so that they dont try and bodge it while im gone

[junkie 0]

1 thing i will say is do not use black jax, have it turned off for a couple of days, get used to the alarm then get it turned on, sounds daft i know but you will understand once its in.

 

Also Cliffords do have as you know alot of adjustability, it is easy for the installer to se up but it may need a slight bit of tweaking to suit you.

[yalan 0]

I see no-one has mentioned Toad yet!

 

Almost every car I've had since 1997 has had a Toad Cat 1 fitted. None have given me any trouble whatsoever (5 cars).

Once I was forced into Clifford ownership with Black Jax (that was switched off after 2 weeks - what a PITA!).

The clifford was orrible. Many sensitivity issues, failing keyfobs (double sided PCB breaking contacs between two surfaces etc). And a HORRIBLE fake carbon fibre blocky design remote.

Never again with a clifford - though I will concur that with true 'professional' fitting they do make excellent additions. Upon inspection mine cartainly wasn't done by a professional.

 

After I paid good money for my second Cat 1 to be fitted by a 'pro', I found an extra 40 miles on the clock and twisted wires with insulating tape.

Subsequently re-did the job myself and have just done them myself ever snce. Take your time and its not a difficult job.

I bought the last two alarms from eBay for ~£110.

 

As I say, no false alarms, easy to configure and complete piece of mind.

[mrbeige 0]

guys for interest getting my clifford fitted sat morning 9.30 so will let you know how it all goes and try take some pics!

 

theres been quite a few mixed comments I hope there good at there job i might stay there so that they dont try and bodge it while im gone

Should take them a full day to do that mate, so if they fit it quicker than that, I'd be a little suspicious....

[junkie 0]

Totally agree it should take a full day to be completed properly and professionally, i was told the same but got it back 3 hours earlier as they had a cancellation so had 2 fitters on my car.

 

Never ever had any issues of any kind with my alarm Clifford Concept 500 G4 and been in 5 years. Well 1 small thing, the 2 button thing to put your code in for valet/programming/black jax, well the contacts fail and the button stops working eventually, had 3 in 5 years but they do get alot of use with the black jax, never had to pay for new 1's though and 2 minute job to change.

 

If you have black jax on and the button fails then there is a way round it to still drive your car but im not going to announce it on a forum even though some people will already know. Just remember never ever turn the ignition on then touch the brake with the engine started before putting the code in if the door has been opened.

[iow_corrado_g60 0]

Hi all have my new clifford alarm in,

 

and I have to say its very good got it fitted at autogaurduk in birmingham on saturday, they have done loads of of the max power cars and also did an install for west coast customs for the UK demo they seemed to know there stuff and were very helpful. some of there work is very nice dont ask me who would do this but there was a 2-tone cinqi cento in there while i was there and there audio guys were putting a massive system in it looked well sweet but i can honestly say it must of cost probably double the price of the car.

 

I didnt get the remote engine start fitted, as this was because i wanted the alarm under the avant guard (due to money) and they couldnt get one in time so they upgraded me to the avant guard for the same price with the black jax system but without the engine start (but they'd already told me this on the phone).

 

they had the car about 6 hours, then gave me a full demonstration, just to check the black jax system i did try it and it does work allthough as said before could take some getting used to its really only the opening the doors while the engine running that i think could potentially catch me out.

 

Other than that the proximity sensor is about medium sensitivity on the time it takes to beep and i can change this myself,

 

1 thing i must say that the fob is a million times more asthetic than my other full closure alarms in the past. also a lifetime warranty if i get it serviced once a year so all in all very happy.

 

Cheers andy

[junkie 0]

Glad your happy bud and good write up, does it confuse you adjusting the prox sensors as on mine it does the inside sensor sensitivity then the outside, to be honest as well people moan about the prox sensor been naff as they have the internal setting too high which will set the alarm off and not just warn you away. Also in warm/hot weather the sensitivity increases slightly so if it starts to alarm then it might not be the sensor thats faulty so adjust down 1st before kicking off.

 

Now get that black jax turned on and forget to put the code in, it is really the only way to learn to put it in everytime, some lessons have to be learnt and some the hard way. :lol: