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its pretty simple...you'll need a wiring harness for your car, found easily online. some places may try to sell you the GMLAN adapter, which isnt necessary for the cobalts, unless gm changed it for 08. you'll also need the mounting hardware which is just a plastic piece to hold your single DIN stereo in a double DIN sized space.
to remove the old stereo, begin by popping off the trim around the stereo. but in order to pop it off, you'll need to pop off the trim above the glove box, and the similar trim on the other side of the stereo. dont be afraid to use some force, they can be a ***** to pull off. once thats removed, pull the stereo trim off and you should see 4 bolts that hold the stereo in place. not positive on the size but it cant be too hard to figure out. remove the stereo and disconnect the harness and antenna from the unit. for the antenna you might need a gm mini adapter, as they tend to be smaller than most antenna plugs. you should be ready to install the new stereo.
go ahead and bolt up the new stereo mount. it should just line up as the old stereo did. i hope you know which wire is which with the aftermarket HU(most have a wiring diagram). wire up the harness from the new HU with the adapter harness you bought for the cobalt. make sure each wire is correct because you dont wanna finish and find out it doesnt work. now for power, you'll have to run a separate wire down to the fuse box. attach it to the power wire on the headunit, then find a fuse (i prefer the windshield wiper fuse) and tap into it. this should give you a constant power source. at this point, the harness should be plugged in, as well as the antenna and you can turn the beast on to see if it works. if so, slide the stereo in the slot and put everything back together as it was!
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