[Grentz]

Based on some of the comments and ideas in this thread:
http://www.2addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1298958

I set out to do my own take on it. Doing a fully concealed design from the center arm rest USB connector to the front cupholders, then leveraging the 3D printed iphone dock that fits in the cupholder.
http://www.shapeways.com/product/MSV...ionId=42946671

Note this also could be used for just getting a cable to the front cupholders if you wanted to use a different holder/dock solution.


First step was pulling the trim around the gearshifter, if you get your nails under the silver trim part, just yank up and it unclips fairly easily. (this is both the silver part and the black surround).


The USB connector in the center armrest is the same thing, get under the edge and yank up and it will come unclipped fairly easily. Note that I used a large plastic zip tie to "fish" the wires from the center console to the gearshift....super easy as there is plenty of open space.



At this point you have the cable from the armrest to the gear shift:


You can see the cupholders from the gearshift area, I will say it would be much harder to get the wire into the cupholder on the passenger side as there are some cables and bracing there that make it even more difficult to get to. This next part was the most difficult, fishing the wire from the gearshift area into the cupholder. I drilled a hole a bit too far to the passenger side the first time and could not get the cable through. Then I drilled a large hole more towards the driver and with some string and time was finally able to get the cable in. The tough part is there is only about a 1/4" under the cupholder before you are touching the tunnel (which is the carpet you see through the hole in the picture).

Note these holes are covered by the plastic insert mat if you ever want to sell the car or remove this later.

Now on to the dock, one trick is getting the cable in. It is a super tight fit so that it does not come out when you are docking your phone, but the dock itself is plastic. I used a larger pliers with a towel to protect the plastic and it was very easy to get it seated:


Then the dock just slides into place and the armrest USB clips back:




Overall I like it, only issue I have is the dock is spotty with my (very thin) case on the iphone. It works best with a naked iphone.

[Sleslie]

Thanks. This is one of the first things I'm going to do once I get my 230. I've already bought the cradle. I have the Smartphone Connectivity package so may have a bit of a challenge getting the cable in place at the console end.

[JohnnyCanuck]

Originally Posted by Sleslie

Thanks. This is one of the first things I'm going to do once I get my 230. I've already bought the cradle. I have the Smartphone Connectivity package so may have a bit of a challenge getting the cable in place at the console end.

If you have no plans to buy a snap-in adapter, get rid of the cradle for it and then you'll have no issue. Grentz linked my post on how to do that (I also added a second hidden USB outlet in the centre console so you don't have to use the one that's there).