whats the best aftermarket alarm?

[shahin]

please answer the question. its for an m3.

[SWHEEEET]

I have heard Clifford alarms are the best bet, now that could be just a Canadian thing but I would be interested in knowing too....

[Kevlar]

Stay away from Clifford... I had a clifford alarm installed on my car and it's been nothing but nightmares.

[ImageDynamicsM3]

I have a clifford avant gaurd 4 in my car.. and it is giving me troubles too. It keeps falsing. I have the "night sensing" light thing, where it turns your lights on in the dark blah blah blah.. and whenever i start my car in the garage (everyday) or turn the car on at night (everynight) the lights come on.. and when i go to remote start it.. I alarm it and it goes off.. It only happens when the light sensor is activated. Its a pain in the ass..

[325bimmer]

Directed(DEI) makes the best alarms. They actually bought Clifford but it is considered their lower end. I have a Viper 550 on my mustang convertible. Great alarm. All the features and you add on what you want. When my 325CI ever shows up I plan on installing another Viper alarm. Brand names aside though a big part of the alarm doing its job and not the unit but the installtion. Once you decide on a good unit for the car find a reputable installer.(Key element)


Rem
Steel Grey 2002 325CI( If it ever gets here)
1994 Silver Mustang Vert

[BMLRacer]

I have a Code Alarm installed in my M3/4. I've been very impressed with its operation.

Brian

[Stockman]

I liked my clifford... I had an XL 1000 and plan on putting it in the next car

Its not all frilly with a ton of options..

Unlocks my doors.. Locks my doors.. Autolocks my doors when I walk away and when i start the car
protects against door/hood/trunk opening and impacts and had some false alarm learning stuff

What else would you need an alarm to do? too lazy to rollup your windows?

My votes for clifford

[Kevlar]

Screw the alarms... when I get my next BMW, I'm just going to stick with the alarm that comes with the car. The clifford alarm worked wonders on my Acura, but has caused nothing but headaches on the BMW.

[jaramill]

I believe Alpine makes ones for BMW as well. I'd probably get that or a Viper alarm.

Gio

[Lopaka]

Ditto on the clifford, it falses like crazy and now it works when it feels like it. sometimes I cant turn the diam thing off w/o manually disarming w/ the console button (feature I really like) the other feature I like about the clifford is that you can play w/ the settings on the alarm other than that "trouble" is a four letter word for that alarm.

I have a Viper on my Wifes CRV and it is good has falsed on very few occassions.

I have an Alpine on the ///M3 which I really like. But I didn't spend for all the whiz bang add ons.

[pikachu]

here come another big "NO" vote for the clifford... they really suck... i swear by alpine alarms.

[RicN]

Screw the alarms... when I get my next BMW, I'm just going to stick with the alarm that comes with the car. The
clifford alarm worked wonders on my Acura, but has caused nothing but headaches on the BMW.

wow you finally found the light ! before I bought my bmw, I have had viper, clifford in my previous cars, and they worked pretty nicely for about a year or so and then they started acting up strangely. my friend, who is a mechanic said that bmws have complicated electronics system, and it's one of the weak point of bmw, that's why I went with bmw oem alarm for my m3 to prevent the potential problems. sure the oem doesn't have all the gizmos like other aftermarket alarms with all the sensors, but as long as I am careful about where I park and stuffs, oem is ok with me.

[kapolani]

Why isn't anyone talking about the Stellar alarm system from Autoloc??? I have that in my car and have been impressed so far... It fits right in like the factory alarm, allows me to roll my windows up, and close my sun roof... the install was easy.. this is coming from a guy that is mechanically challenged....

[A4 No More]

I have had clifford alrams in every car I owned and never a problem. HOwever I belive it really depends on the installer and the amount of time they spend setting it up. I have had a few friends who had more than one problem with there Clifford's. After havong the dealer that did mine re-work them they never had a problem again. I know my local guy would do on average 10-15 Cliffords a day!!! They had switched to Alpine when Clifford closed up shop (my sister in laws Acura has Alpine) now that Clifford is availableagain they went right back to it. They are the only local Alpine F-1 dealer in my area but they still use Cliffords on all there high end jobs...

[Canatro]

Originally posted by A4 No More
I have had clifford alrams in every car I owned and never a problem. HOwever I belive it really depends on the installer and the amount of time they spend setting it up.

EXACTLY!!!! i have the clifford av4 as some of you do. no problems whatsoever. (i do hate the night sensing thing though, especially going under overpasses). the guy who installed it was the most anal installer i have ever met. he made me sit there for 1 1/2 hours while he taught me how to use it properly. he made sure that i knew everything. since then, i swear by him and what he recommends.

[ImageDynamicsM3]

haha same here with anal installers.. we had to go through everything.. i have sat there for 6 hours one day w/o getting any work done.. just trying to figure out why the hell the thing was being retarded. And if you are wondering prices (guy who is asking about nice alarms for M3) I paid 1,300 for mine installed

[Kevlar]

Originally posted by A4 No More
HOwever I belive it really depends on the installer and the amount of time they spend setting it up.

Well... I've had my car completely rewired, twice. They have swapped brains twice, changed the siren 3 times and I changed it once myself... still same problem.

[Canatro]

i think mine was a little more. i also added a couple extra sensors around the car amongst other stuff. if i had gotten just the alarm it would have been around 1300 bucks.

[Canatro]

Originally posted by Kevlar


Well... I've had my car completely rewired, twice. They have swapped brains twice, changed the siren 3 times ... still same problem.

the same company did all that? if so, maybe you should try a different one just for sh*ts and giggles.

[Kevlar]

Originally posted by j.c. estoril


the same company did all that? if so, maybe you should try a different one just for sh*ts and giggles.

I thought about that... but then I had to pay for the removal and reinstallation, not to mention the repair/replace of any parts they broke in the process which would likely cost more than the alarm did in the first place. I almost did it... but it wasn't worth it.

When I sell the car, I'll give the next owner the option of leaving it in or disabling it.

[Canatro]

kevlar,
if i remember correctly you posted that a long time ago. you are still having issues?

[Kevlar]

Originally posted by j.c. estoril
if i remember correctly you posted that a long time ago. you are still having issues?

Yup... I've just learned to live with it now.

Alarm works fine, but the siren keeps crapping out. On occasion, you can go up to the car... set off the alarm and the lights will flash, the ignition/starter/fuel will be cut off (those functions are already done by the BMW EWS anyway, but it's double protection)... but the siren is as quiet as quiet can be.

The alarm can go through an entire 30/60/90 second blast without making a peep. Even arming/disarming doesn't work sometimes.

Alarm works, siren doesn't. Nobody seems to know why.

[Lopaka]

Originally posted by Kevlar


Alarm works, siren doesn't. Nobody seems to know why.

Kevlar had the same problem w/ the clifford on my 93 325. for some diam reason the keyless remote won't arm/dis-arm w/ the stupid sound option, but if I silently arm/dis-arm it will work off and on. they replaced the remote 2 times, and the brain once. The guy who installed it was supposed to call me back december 2000 for a upgraded DEI/clifford system, he never called back and I'm too nice a guy to bother him.

I just use the double lock now.

[A4 No More]

You might want to try DEI direct now... Clifford was a classic case of a company with a great product but it grew so fast it could not keep up with demand and still pay close attention to quality control. It almost (actually did) put them out of business until DEI bought them out. DEI realized that some of the Clifford patents and technology was way ahead of what they had. It is my understanding that DEI is handling all problems associated with past Clifford alarms.... I guess in the end the only thing you have to lose by contacting them is some time...

[Kevlar]

I went back to the installer and they told me that Clifford was out of business and they would have to contact DEI. DEI worked with the shop and they sent them the DEI equivalent of what I already had. Same result... The second time the car was rewired was with all DEI products to replace the Clifford ones since they were out of business...