Hello all

My 06 sedan has the factory XM installed in it. I am about to buy the Sirius oem system to replace it with. Has anyone done this? Will the XM antenna on the roof plug into the Sirius tuner? I did a search and found 1 other thread about this. In that thread there was a link to an article quoting someone from XM that the antennas are the same. However, when I went to EverythingG35 to order, I clicked on the install instructions. They specifically state that the tuner and antenna have to be the same (xm or sirius). That worries me, because I don't even want to think about trying to unglue the oem XM antenna (without scratching the paint). So, has anyone hooked up an OEM Sirius tuner to an OEM XM antenna?

 

The official answer is that you should have the proper matching antenna for either XM or Sirius. Each service's antennas are specifically matched/tuned for their respective frequencies, etc.

But that's where the theory ends and reality starts. Many people have had success swapping antenna types. Yes, you may lose some gain/matching, but you may be just fine.

If for some reason the XM external antenna you have doesn't work satisfactorily, you could also consider adding one of the micro Sirius antennas on/under the parcel shelf where it would not be seen, and just keep the XM in place. There are also good techniques for removing these antennas (start with dental floss and a hair dryer).

"You can't be Sirius" - Johnny Mac'

 

Thanks for the reply. Any ideas on what they use to glue the antennas down with? I tried to get a corner off, and it felt much more secure than say the infiniti emblems. I guess I will just go for it, if it works with the xm antenna it will be a plus. thanks again

 

The glue is a pressure sensitive adhesive (for shear strength), combined with a magnet (for tensile strength). You can soften the adhesive by letting the car sit in the sun or using a hair dryer. Then use some waxed dental floss to slowly separate the adhesive from the paint surface. Once done, lift straight up to release the magnet. DON'T slide it.

 

I thought I would post an update for anyone else that might be thinking of switching from one satelite radio brand to the other. My car had XM installed from the dealer. I didn't really want it, but I thought I would give it a try. My wife's car and my portable are both Sirius (It may be what I am used to, but I like Sirius better). So I was hoping that I could plug the Sirius tuner in and it would have the same type plug as the XM antenna the dealer mounted on my roof. No luck. The connecters are different sizes. So, after getting the tuner in, I installed one of the Sirius antennas that is designed to mount on the inside of the car on the windshield. Install was pretty easy, but the reception from the antenna was crap. My house blocked the signal from the driveway, and as I drove around town the signal was constantly dropping. Definately not worth the money, don't buy that antenna (at least if you live in San Diego-- it even dropped out driving down the freeway, with no trees, bridges, etc). So I went to Infiniti and bought the Sirius antenna for the roof, with the built in wire cover. That install was a little more of a challenge, but still not too bad. The reception is awesome now. Oh, I tried cutting off the end of the XM antenna wire and the crap Sirius antenna and I soldered the Sirius end onto the XM antenna. The Sirius tuner would not recgonize the XM antenna. So the antennas are not universal.

If anyone else is going to make the change, I hope this helps out some.

 

I just discovered this thread and I'm interested in doing this conversion. After having Sirius and XM at the same time (on different car) I noticed Sirius is a lot better in terms of music choices.

The question I have is that could I purchase the OEM Sirus tuner from everythingg35 and the HU would be compatible w/o any modification?
Also, it seems this question is in the grey area, could the XM antenna be compatible with sirius tuner? it seems quite complicated with XM antenna on top of the roof wiring thru the rear windshield...

 

The oem tuners are interchangeable. If you have the oem XM tuner and get the oem Sirius tuner, just unplug one and plug the other in (that is what I did). As for the antenna question. I tried to plug my XM antenna into the sirius tuner. The connectors on the antennas are different. So, I tried to modify them by cutting the end off a Sirius antenna and soldering it onto the XM antenna mounted on my car. It did not work for me. There may be a way to do it, but it is more involved than simply cutting the ends and re-soldering the other connector. So, I ended up going to the Sirius antenna on the roof. The install wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. The hardest part was getting the XM antenna off the roof without scratching the car. Get it real hot and use some fishing line or something to break the seal. Once you get the old antenna off, all you have to do is back track the antenna wire. As you pull the old antenna wire out, replace it with the new one. It was really quite easy to do.

Hope that helps some.

 

The old antenna wire is running thru my rear windshield, i don't know how easy it it would be to pull it out....

 

It actually goes in through the trunk (if it is dealer installed like mine). The rubber piece above the window with the cutout in it is just glued in place. You can slowly pull it up and pull the old wire out and put the new one in and then re-apply pressure to get it to go back down. The wire than goes down the side of the rear window under the lip of the glass but outside the car. It then goes in through the trunk at the bottom of the window. The tuner is installed in the trunk on the passenger side (under the speaker shelf).

I have a sedan, I think the coupes have the tuner mounted somewhere else, but I would imagine the rest of the install is probably the same.

 

Does anyone know whether the OEM Sirius tuner can be used with the 2007 G35 with navigation (which is sold only with XM)?

I don't have one yet, but I plan on a 2008 G35 coupe. At that point, Infiniti (and Nissan) will be XM exclusively, but I'm hoping the XM tuner could still be replaced with the Sirius unit from previous years.