vasco

I’m thinking of buying the IS350 XM satellite radio kit and installing it myself. Can anyone who has the kit installed answer the following questions:

1) The installation instructions show the antenna on the right edge of the trunk. Has anyone installed the antenna on the interior rear deck instead? How’s the reception?

2) If I do have to install it on the trunk, I’m not too keen on installing on the right edge as the instructions show. I prefer the center of the front edge. Will it hit the back window when the trunk is open? Is there enough antenna wire for the antenna to be installed here?

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

kenne74

I had the antenna in my back window of my Audi and it seemed to work ok (not great), but once i tinted the windows reception went to hell. I moved it to the upper left corner of my truck and it works great. I plan on mounting my sirius antenna (once it comes out) in roughly the same place on my IS should be delivered sometime next week if i can ever get a hold of the shipping people.

ecr527

I was planning on doing the same thing. Once I get it, I was planning to mount the antenna on the front part of the trunk lid right in front of the brake light. I was originally planning to run it up the side of the glass and mount it on the roof in the middle, right by the rear window, but after reading the instructions, it looks like you'd be able to hide the wires a little more by mounting it on the trunk lid, since it says you'll have to take off the inner trunk lid liner and everything. Someone else here even came up with the idea of painting the antenna, so it doesn't stand out so much. I'm going to try the technique they mentioned to test if I will still receive signal once painted. First you have to wrap the antenna with a plastic wrap and then paint that. That way, if it doesn't get any signal, you could always take it off.

I have the XM antenna currently on the dash of my Integra. I would say it works 98% of the time. Although there are a lot of repeaters in this area (or so I've been told). The only time I really have trouble with it is when I go into parking garages or tunnels. I did however have less than stellar reception when I drove my car down to Key West.

Jhoo

Painting the antenna, WOW your making it to hard on yourself. I have mine on the back ledge in the car to the right of the brake light when standing behind the car. You can run all the wires back to the reciever for a clean install this way and the reception is great. Like you said 98% on the dash. Try and make it simple for yourself.

ecr527

Well the only reason why I'm planning to paint the antenna, is because I have a Breakwater Blue IS, so slapping a black lump on the trunk lid will stand out like a sore thumb.

So far, I've never come across a mod that's been simple.

RCPiercy

Somebody posted an IS with a shark fin a while back. If you really wanted to drill through the top of your car and hide all the wiring, the fin looks pretty slick.

lexus_x_2

1) I originally installed the antenna on the interior rear deck shelf and had bad reception. I experienced NO SIGNAL (for brief periods of time) every time I drove my car. Once I moved it to my trunk, I have not had any problems.

2) I have my antenna installed on the center of the trunk and it does not hit the rear window when the trunk is open. Like I mentioned above, I have had no problems with the reception now that I moved it.

Hope this helps

vasco

Thanks to everyone for the inputs. I'm leaning on putting it on the front center edge of the trunk.

darrelld

Had the rear shelf install by the dealer, many signal drops. I plan to do the center of the trunk install when I can get a weekend off work.

Foxberry

I have my XM antenna on the interior rear deck right next to the brake light. Reception is fine.