I bought the Metra mount for my car and i'm not impressed. The DIN mount holder is resessed almost 1/2 inch and theres a pocket that holds 2-1/2 CD cases. Looks kinda amaturish!
I haven't got the rest of the install parts yet, but i wanted to see what it looked like, so i put the Alpine in the mount and then went out to the car to get the plastic trim plate that goes around the radio. Broke the trim plate! the clips are a lot stronger than the plastic. Is there any way to get that trim off without breaking it? I'll get a new one and it won't go on till i'm finished the install, but what about when i want to upgrade the Alpine next year? Or should i buy a few trim plates since they seem to be a 'one time use only' type of thing?
Anyway, is there anything better than the cheappy Metra for a more professional installation?

 

Yes there is. WHat Metra number do you have like 99-? There is a Budget kit, Custom kit and Premium kit. The budget kit is the cheapy kit. The Premium and Custom tend to be a little thicker plastic and more options for mounting and fastening the HU.

 

The kit i have is a 99-3305 and the car is 06 MonteCarloSS

 

Unfortunatly looks like since its very new they only have the one kit. Normally they have a budget, custom and premium. Maybe another brand. Sorry I could not help