Huge Update incoming - overdue since forever. Some pictures might not be safe for your pleasure (they might seem amateur, but trust me, i am an expert)
My 159 got a couple of changes to it - most of them are on the inside, most of them are invisible.
~October 2015
Last year around this time i wanted to change the lightning in my car. The H7 Halogens felt pretty dim, even with some Philips H7 Xtremevision +130%, which seem like serious things. I did some research and noticed that the 159 has a “Super-DE” projector lens system - which is has very high similarity to Xenon-Systems. It just lack the High-Beam shutter and the automatic height regulation.
I instantly imported the “Morimoto Elite H7”-Kit from Theretrofitsource.com (they have a perfect support and a lot of retrofit kits, even with full projector swaps) and installed them when i got them.The wiring was a bitch and i noticed that the CAN-Bus ballasts are worthless - the Alfa 159 has no “Dead-Bulb” Detection for your Low-Beams. I suspect they went for “People see bulb is kaputt, they dont need warning”. Installation was fairly easy, old H7 bulb out, H7 HID bulb in. Install the ballast somewhere intelligent, wire it up and fire it up.
I went for “stealhtier” 4500k Bulbs instead of superwhite 6500K ones that cause an instant pull-over. The pictures may not really show the “won” brightness of the swap, but its very visible on the street. The swap was totally worth it - its a whole different car at night.
~May 2016
The stock radio was shit. Satnav felt like it came from the 90s, the Audio-Quality was below my standards, it had no Bluetooth/USB/MP3 Support, the “HandsFree” was a SIM-Slot.
Goodbye old Magneti-Marelli radio block.
I decided to buy a Pioneer AVIC-F70DAB, a CAN-BUS Adapter and a Rear-View-Camera that replaces a Numberplate lamp (no photo of that one). Then i thought “When i change that radio i can add a rear-view camera too! But i dont want to run wires… lets take a Wireless-Adapter” - and bought one of these aswell.
The cable are a mess - but i am an electrician, trust me, its safe. And next to untameable.
Install done - its a really nice Head-Unit. Has a full “Android-Auto” Integration, so you just plugin your Android-Phone via USB and boom - it opens Spotify/Google Maps/Play Music. You can also use the normal SatNav, but the german voice has a swiss-accent. Its weird.
4 Weeks later i installed a concealed subwoofer - again ignore the cable mess. I fully tidied it up already and it works.
And in the end - it got a nice clean wash with some Optimum No Rinse Wash&Wax and got coated by CarPro Reload
1200km later - the CarPro coat worked - just the exhaust tip got a bit dürty.