I currently have my SAT antenna on the rear parcel shelf which gives me excellent reception 95% of the time. During the remainder 5% I lose reception in wooded area and was thinking of moving it to the roof despite the ugly wart...

My question is how involved is the install for the OEM install? I downloaded the instructions from Grubbs' and it does look a bit "too" involved...

Anyone did the install himself?

 

I did it this last weekend with not the stock "stick on" antenna but the magnetic one that's about the size of 1/2 dollar or so. If you have a credit card type card you can use (supermarket "club" card) or something like that, and all you're doing is moving the antenna it should be gravy. A lot of the stuff they have you doing in the instructions is crap. There is no primer needed for the back window - my kit from Grubbs didn't even come with the stick on strip they show needing install! The biggest pain is running the antenna cord up the drivers side of the window. However, like they said, a little soapy water (or saliva) will do the trick. Run the credit card thing from the bottom all the way up to the gutter cover they tell you to pry up (very easy to both pull up and put back). Then as you move the rubber "gasket" thingie out of the way with the card in your right hand use something a bit thicker (like a real credit card) to push the antenna wire down into the channel. Keep sliding down until you reach the end.

I had to do the whole XM install and it took about 1.5 hours or so, but it was putzy with all the crappin' tape they give you and how the excess antenna wire is all tied up into 4" circle and taped to the inside of the trunk and clear plastic tape this and foam tape that and black tape the other. Geez, if you get some tape that is clear or the same color as your car you'll be fine!

One thing to note about reception - I had tried my antenna in the parcel rack and it worked for crap - because it needs a metallic surface to help it's pickup ability. I'm not 100% sure that moving your larger stick on antenna to the roof will get you too much more signal. I still get dropouts in heavily wooded areas and basically, the whole roof is the antenna.

 

Thanks man.

Two quick questions:

1. I noticed that the drivers'-side rear window does have a rubber that needs to be moved out of the way in order to tuck the wire underneath it. But is there such rubber on the top part of the window (where you run the wire horizontally across the roof to the center of the window)? The mentioned something about primer... what did you use? - did you just tuck it underneat the rubber?

2. How did you go about running the wire INTO the trunk? the instructions say you should cut part of the trunk to create a conduit for the wire.... how or where exactly did you drop the wire into the trunk? - as I assume you didn't cut it....

Thanks in advance!

 

The part from the middle of the car's rear window to the drivers rain gutter I just tucked in below the glass - it stays in there pretty well once you get it in. I didn't use the stick on "holder" for this at all since Grubb's didn't include it in my kit. Probably wouldn't have even if they did include it.

Running the wire into the trunk can be done in a couple ways. I did cut a small notch in the metal and used their rubberized thing to place over the top so the wire has a soft place to enter. The other option that I used on a couple other installs was to pull up the trunk gasket seal, put 2-3 layers of tape over the metal, then the wire and then anohter piece of tape over that, then put the trunk gasket back over it. The wire won't be moving around so much that you'll ever wear it to the point that it breaks. At least it shouldn't because the tape is cushioning and holding it in place.

They also show a long piece of plastic tube to run the antenna wire through for the part between the trunk end of the rain gutter and where it enters the trunk. Don't bother. Just get some tape the same color as your paint (or clear) and tape the wire in place. I had XM for two years in my S2000 doing things just that way and the tape never gave way.

Let me know if you have more questions or want pictures.