22CarbGrayElite

Made a little more progress today, but I had a set back that prevented me from finishing. As some of you may know, the fuse panel under the dash is in a miserable spot and accessing it is a PITA. There are three major wire harnesses attached to it. Well, in my efforts to check and test for switched and constant power, I managed to loosen the latch lock to the middle harness and my issues eventually began. The key fobs stopped working, the car went into battery protection mode, the car wouldn’t go into accessory mode or power on/engine off mode, let alone start. I was beside myself. I had to call my daughter to come get me and go get my battery charger and scan tool. After doing my due diligence, I called a knowledgeable friend who walked me through a couple of things, one of which was checking a certain fuse in the panel, and that was when I discovered the loose connector. The scan tool told me communication was lost to the BCM and the push to start button was stuck ON. Couple that with everything else, and no flashers or horn, it was frustrating. I snapped that connector back it and secured it and everything came back to life like it should. Note to anyone going into that fuse panel under the dash… be mindful of those harnesses and double check they are secured properly before you call a tow truck. I have signal wires hooked up, the power harness for the LOC ready to be plugged in, and power, ground and remote for the amp ready to be cut to size and plugged in. Sub wires are also ran and ready to be plugged. Last is the amp fuse. Realistically, this is an hour or two of work and it will be running. Hopefully there will be no more set backs or being pulled away to do something else and. It being able to get back to it.

If the amp and LOC prove to be an issue, I will move them to the cargo area. I have installed amps under the seats of a 2014 Impala I once owned and never had any problems. We shall see, good to know regardless.

Amplifier installation wiring is a KnuKonceptz Kolossus 4 gauge OFC power and ground kit along with a set of short Klarity RCA cables, a mini ANL fuse holder and 12 gauge speaker cable. They also include 20’ of remote wire. KnuKonceptz has been at the amplifier and speaker wire game for a long time and has a stellar reputation for reliability. Their amp wiring kits are significantly cheaper than Crutchfield’s offerings as well. I also have the Metra ANC bypass cable as well. I haven’t hooked that up yet as I want to see what the AudioControl LC2i can do with its Accubass settings. Hopefully I can finish this install next weekend and get it dialed in.

The AudioControl Epic500 amp, which will feed the sub 350 watts RMS @ 2 Ohms, and the LC2i line out converter…

The Kicker sub, 48CVTDF102, 10” CompVT sub rated at 350 watts RMS @ 2 Ohms. This was originally bought to go in my Acadia as it fit perfectly between the second row captains chairs on the floor. That install never happened and the sub sat brand new on the shelf, until now.

Power wire run… Don’t know how some did this without removing the battery. Took 10 minutes to remove the battery and it gives full access to the grommet, although the brake fluid distribution block does sit somewhat in front of it. I poked a long screwdriver through the divot and then taped a 12 gauge wire to my 4 gauge wire and pulled in through from the engine side into the cabin.

Today I mounted the amp and LOC under the seat. I bought a piece of plexiglass from Lowe’s and cut it slightly larger than the amp. I then put it under the carpet and screwed the amp down to it. I screwed the LOC down to the plastic cover that covers the seat control module. I fished the amp power wire under the carpet and it is ready to be cut and hooked up. At this point, I am ready to ground the amp, hook the power wire, hook up the sub speaker wires and hook the signal and RCA cables up. Since I am using two AudioControl components, they included a power wire harness with the amp along with an imbedded one amp fuse, to power the LOC, simplifying the install. All I have to decide is whether to let the amp automatically sense the signal and turn on both components or run a remote turn on wire. Pics in the next post showing progress and hopefully to help someone else planning to do an install.

Finally got started on the install today. Going in is a Kicker 10” down firing sub box, an AudioControl Epic 500 amp and an AudioControl LC2i LOC. This sub was going to used in my previous vehicle but that never came to fruition, so I am going to use it in the Edge. So far, I have tapped the stock subwoofer wires for signal and ran them to the spare tire area. I also ran the 4 gauge power wire from under the hood to the cabin. My initial plan was to mount the amplifier and LOC under the cargo floor panel, but after receiving the goodies from Crutchfield and glancing under the front seat, I decided to mount the amp and LOC under the front seat. They will get plenty of air flow and it will make tuning the stuff easier. The seat will not interfere or come into contact with the components or wiring.

I have two in my driveway, along with a 2020 Lincoln Nautilus. Great cars, pretty good acceleration and fuel mileage with the 2.0 Ecoboost. Do you plan on doing maintenance yourself, or paying a shop? Regardless of that, do some reading about maintenance, and I would plan on changing some fluids sooner rather than later, namely the transmission, PTU and rear differential. FORscan is out there to make some functionality changes (coding) to the car. Do some reading on that and decide if that is something of interest to you. Plenty of aftermarket items available for the Edge to make it yours. Enjoy it.

Ordered and received the aftermarket ST grill from eBay. Now the search is on for black Ford oval emblems. I have found the rear and varying options for the front. Trying to figure out the difference between the SE, SEL and Titanium and the ST/ST line emblems. Apparently there is a difference between them but I can’t pinpoint what that is. Window tint is scheduled for the end of the month. Looking at a custom leather steering wheel wrap as the next update. Looking for the red to match the interior along with perforated black combo.

I took it a step further and compared a ‘22 ST to my ‘22 Titanium on Rock Auto for brake parts. Most part numbers were the same across the board for calipers, pads and rotors. On some there was mention about the red calipers or brake package but if you pulled up both vehicles and went back and forth between the specs, most everything was identical. I was wondering if the brake package option had something more to offer but I don’t feel like it does, given it seems I have the biggest rotors available stock from Ford on it. Been looking for stainless hoses and haven’t found any for the ‘19-‘24 Edges. Can always have them made if need be. I have 20” Elite wheels on mine, but I like the 21” wheels more. Regardless, the previous owner put cheap Walmart tires on it and they are just that, cheap tires. I know better brand tires will help braking but I can’t run ultra HP summer only tires on it unless I buy a second set of wheels and switch them out. Haven’t ruled that out. I deal with cold winters, ice and snow so running a summer only tire year round is a no-go for me.

Edit: No personal attacks. That brake package is not impressive. I have the large vented front rotors on my Titanium along with the rear vented rotors. The caliper size is the same, but painted red. My daughter’s ‘22 SEL has the same brakes. I don’t know what the brake pad material is, maybe it is a semi metallic material that may offer better stopping power but maybe it leaves more dust to clean off your 21” wheels, that anyone can buy after the fact, or you could order on your Edge without the brake package. Summer performance tires might be great in the summer but winter? Yeah, no. So you either learn to drive a high performance sticky summer tire in the colder winter months or you swap wheels with a tire that is more appropriate for winter driving. The issue you were specific with was wanting to know if you could upgrade the stock Edge brakes with Nissan 370z parts. Then you commented about some Volvo parts possibly working. Then you go on about using the performance brake package parts to “upgrade” your brakes and solve whatever issue you were having. Then you get butthurt over the use of the word “warped” pertaining to pulsating rotors. Then you further get butthurt because I mention German cars with big Brembos up front, particularly my friend’s Audi I mention. The fact that most 21 - 24 Edges come with the bigger front rotors, vented rear rotors, and the same caliper sizes is half the battle. There isn’t much left to upgrade. If the cooled brake dust shields let you sleep better, more power to you. You bought a PowerStop OE equivalent rotor, a Carquest high carbon rotor and platinum brake pads. Congratulations! You probably bought better parts than the OE Motorcraft parts. After all, if they were that good, you would have bought them again, right? The fact that I test drive two low mileage Edges last year with “warped rotors” and after a few weeks mine are starting to pulsate, tells me that the OE Ford brake parts really aren’t that good of quality. You do you. You are entitled to your opinion and I am to mine. I endorsed your idea for a factory Brembo upgrade because I did just that on a car I own. You seem to be mad because more than one person stated that the performance brake package wasn’t all of that and that is the path you chose for your “upgrade”. Relax, it isn’t that serious. And to your comment about hating because we drive lesser Titaniums or SELs… 🤣

I agree… the term “warped” for rotors is a generic way to describe a pulsating brake pedal while braking. An actual warped rotor is rare. Brake pad deposits on rotors from all of the aforementioned causes, fairly common. I’ve looked at the Edge brake package and I don’t think it is all it is cracked up to be. You get painted calipers, a different pad material, same size rotors, dust shields with cooling vents, a special radiator fan and I thought I read somewhere about a bigger front sway bar? You can replicate and better that by buying a high quality slotted rotor, good pads, paint the calipers yourself, buy the vented dust shields if you really want them, buy stainless brake hoses, and flush the crap out of the brake fluid with good quality synthetic fluid. Of course, if a four or six piston Brembo can be bolted on with a slightly bigger rotor, a good pad and stainless hoses, this would be the way to go. The German cars come pretty standard this way, focusing on the fronts as the rears come with small calipers with electronic parking brakes. My buddy’s 2021 Audi RSQ8 has a monster Brembo up front and a puny rear setup with EPB. It stops very well.

That is true but at least with the key, it isn’t a gimme like finding the fob and being able to start it and drive away.

First thing you need to do is pull the key off the top and compare the Ford part numbers and frequency ID codes. If the fobs don’t match, it won’t work. Second thing that may have to be considered, is the Escape fob still programmed to the Escape? Since you are trying to add a third key to your Edge, you can DIY and the worst case scenario, it won’t program to your Edge because it is tied to another vehicle. I am willing to bet that any used fobs need to be unmatched from their vehicles before being able to be learned to a new vehicle. It makes sense because, back to my situation, I lost a key and two are required to do any programming. I had to go in and delete all old keys (mark as lost) and program my remaining OE key along with my new replacement.