eBay Center Screens (12.3") for CT4 - Anybody tried it?

[Seth]

Like This

I'm curious to know if it's a good fit, it also gets rid of that ugly plastic piece.

 

[1BadTundra]

I have one of these Android powered screens in my Tundra. It's the biggest piece of shit I've ever bought. Idk if I would mess with the Cadillac OS just to get a bigger screen. My truck screen is laggy, it constantly needs to be rebooted, it drops connection to my phone constantly, just another piece of Chinese Ebay junk

 

[RKS]

Is the GM/Cadillac OS incorporated into the OEM screen or is it just a "dumb" display? Could you potentially remove the Android OS and just have the OEM OS?

 

[Seth]

The one I linked says you can still use the "original car function" instead of the Android OS. 99% of the time I'm running CarPlay anyway.

 

[MatthewAMEL]

Considering the agony one of our members went through trying to get the OEM CT5 screen to work in the CT4, I'd say the chances are zero.

retrofitting CT5 display in CT4

I lasted 6 months before prying panels off so I'll count that as a win. ever since seeing the larger screen in the 5, I have been annoyed at the small display in the CT4. I drunkenly ended up buying some pulled displays from wrecked cars off eBay and decided to see if I could do a swap. The...

www.cadillacvnet.com

 

[G.Newt]

Like This

I'm curious to know if it's a good fit, it also gets rid of that ugly plastic piece.

I did some searching on eBay. There are some with an 8-core Qualcomm CPU, 8G of RAM, and 128G of storage which are decently beefy specs. They most likely won't lag or have performance issues. I may have to try it and take it to the Audio Shop on Lamar in Austin lol.

Even better, you could have the Android screen connected to the unlimited hotspot in the car and run native Google Maps and Apple Music/Spotify. That's the part that intrigues me. Toyota/Lexus have these 2 things built into their infotainment system.

I did reach out to one of the sellers to confirm they'd work for manual transmission cars. I may take a chance. $600 isn't a lot to solve my major complaint with the interior: the small screen.

 

[G.Newt]

Considering the agony one of our members went through trying to get the OEM CT5 screen to work in the CT4, I'd say the chances are zero.

retrofitting CT5 display in CT4

I lasted 6 months before prying panels off so I'll count that as a win. ever since seeing the larger screen in the 5, I have been annoyed at the small display in the CT4. I drunkenly ended up buying some pulled displays from wrecked cars off eBay and decided to see if I could do a swap. The...

www.cadillacvnet.com

Those are 2 different things. That's trying to retrofit a screen that was never designed for our cars vs a product that is specifically for the CT4's. My previous experience with these aftermarket screens is positive. Good fitment and performance.

 

[Seth]

I did some searching on eBay. There are some with an 8-core Qualcomm CPU, 8G of RAM, and 128G of storage which are decently beefy specs. They most likely won't lag or have performance issues. I may have to try it and take it to the Audio Shop on Lamar in Austin lol.

Even better, you could have the Android screen connected to the unlimited hotspot in the car and run native Google Maps and Apple Music/Spotify. That's the part that intrigues me. Toyota/Lexus have these 2 things built into their infotainment system.

I did reach out to one of the sellers to confirm they'd work for manual transmission cars. I may take a chance. $600 isn't a lot to solve my major complaint with the interior: the small screen.

Oh man, let me know if you follow through with this and also how much the Audio Shop charges. I’m really curious, I think it looks a lot better.

 

[seattlecubes]

This looks awesome…such a small change that would have been really nice to have in the car originally!

 

[Jack Tors]

I've installed these generic chinese android retrofit kits in a number of older cars that either didn't have screens to begin with, or were lacking android auto.

The bezels are fairly cheap but not bad and look decent enough.
The unit has an entire OS that can run its own apps as well as android auto and apple carplay.
The benefit for older cars that didn't have a screen to begin with is that you can add features like carplay and a backup camera.

Note that these are generic android screens / processors that are mounted to custom bezels to fit specific vehicles. You can find them on aliexpress as well, but not many available for cadillac. They come with specific wiring harness adapters and are sometimes missing modules needed to fully interract with the vehicle (such as the steering wheel controls). Support is very poor, so you are basically on your own.

When installed in a vehicle that already has a screen and a UI, you have the ability to switch between the car's default UI and the custom android UI by holding a menu button for a few seconds. I put one in a 2018 bmw to add android auto compatibility and it is awkward to have to switch back and forth to gain various features. Also in a BMW you can code in the screen size and resolution so that the screen ratio isn't stretched or distorted.

I wouldn't expect this to work well in a CT4 as we already have the features and vehicle integration. I am not aware of a way to code the cadillac to change the screen aspect ratio or resolution, so it may look stretched or have huge bars on either side while in the cadillac UI. If you spend your time in apple carplay or android auto in the head unit's UI, then it will look better, but you won't see any of the car settings or even volume indicator unless you manually switch back to the cadillac UI.

That said, It would be neat to see how it works out if you've got spare time and spare money. You can always pull it back out if it doesn't work well.

 

[G.Newt]

The support so far has been great. They've answered all of my questions. All steering wheel / drive knob controls are retained. I ordered one with a small discount.

I too retrofitted something similar in a 2016 BMW. I rarely had to switch between the UI's. Once I set the settings I want (usually in the 1st week of owning the car), I usually never have to mess with anything.

What vehicle integration? The only thing that integrates really is the stock navigation (not even Maps+ integrates LOL) and music in the cluster/HUD. The Android UI will use the stock camera UI, and the parking sensors show up in the cluster. I'm willing to lose stock navigation and music integration, considering I never really cared for either.

 

[1BadTundra]

Get some pics of of this thing... Good luck, I hope it retains all factory operation.

 

[G.Newt]

It arrived today (2 day shipping from China). I have fully installed it now and it looks like it came from the factory. Fits very well. No loose gaps or anything. I can't comment on rattles, but I'm taking a 2hr 45 min road trip each way the weekend of the 10th. I'll update my observations below.

They didn't come with any instructions but it was well packaged. Okay here's my observations:
1. The included aux to usb dock doesn't work. Bummer. My goal was to download Apple Music and not even need to use CarPlay at all.
2. It works great connected to the Blackwing/s unlimited hotspot. Google Maps app works.
3. The best combo is: wired CarPlay / Android Auto to Android screen. Bluetooth to the Cadillac. Steering wheel volume, forward/previous tracks work, and shows up in cluster/HUD since it's bluetooth'd directly to the car.
4. When you plug in, it autoloads CarPlay, which is a nice feature.
5. You can go back and forth between stock Cadillac software and the Android software. You lose nothing.
6. The screen looks GREAT. Good resolution and is ginormous. Such a big upgrade over the tiny 8" screen.
7. I routed the wires behind the start button, underneath the steering wheel, then behind the plastic trim on the center tunnel next to the driver's right leg. It's a semi-professional installation, can barely tell the 2 USB and aux cables are there.

I'm going to drive around for the next 2 weeks since there's a 30 day return and see if I'll keep it or return to the stock screen.

 

[Jack Tors]

The support so far has been great. They've answered all of my questions. All steering wheel / drive knob controls are retained. I ordered one with a small discount.

I too retrofitted something similar in a 2016 BMW. I rarely had to switch between the UI's. Once I set the settings I want (usually in the 1st week of owning the car), I usually never have to mess with anything.

What vehicle integration? The only thing that integrates really is the stock navigation (not even Maps+ integrates LOL) and music in the cluster/HUD. The Android UI will use the stock camera UI, and the parking sensors show up in the cluster. I'm willing to lose stock navigation and music integration, considering I never really cared for either.

Integrations would be modifications to drive modes like steering, suspension, brake, engine sound, etc. as well as seat settings adjustments, etc.
I found switching UIs in the BMW as well as the unpredictable way it decides to switch on its own to be frustrating, but looking forward to hearing if this works any better.

 

[Seth]

It looks a lot better but the audio thing is a real bummer

 

[G.Newt]

EDIT:

eBay Center Screens (12.3") for CT4 - Anybody tried it?

Like This I'm curious to know if it's a good fit, it also gets rid of that ugly plastic piece.

www.cadillacvnet.com

See my post above. I'll keep updating it as I use it more.

 

[SemperEspi]

Got the link?