I am looking at adding XM or Sirius to my son’s GS350. I have done the search trying to find a thread with addresses using the shark fin antenna to no avail. Has any one added XM or Sirius and utilized the shark fin as the antenna? TIA

 

The Shark Fin is prewired for use with the Lexus XM receiver kit. It is my understanding that it can't be used for Sirius without some modification.

 

I just installed the OEM Sirius kit tonight (thanks EyeKutr)

I put the sirius low profile ant (best buy- $ 40.00) on the back deck inside the car (thanks to lexuslover) ...Have drove around area and it sounds good.

The advantage of the OEM kit (lexus-parts.com) is that it installs in the trunk using the existing cables from the amp- this is huge compared to taking out the nav head unit, etc.

It took me all of 15 minutes to install and run the ant cable through an existing hole and up to the back deck.

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It sounds like it is a plug and play DIY. How much was the OEM Sirius kit? Did you get it from the dealer? If so could you give me the part number? TIA

Thousand Oaks Lexus wanted $750 for the OEM XM unit and install and Glendale wanted $995 for the same. I think not.

 

I actually bought mine from someone who did not want it...

www.lexus-parts.com

they have them there ..

I think it is 299.00

N

 

I too did the OEM XM install on my wife's '07 GS. Couldn't have been any easier. Bought the kit from Sewell (see post above for link) and don't forget to use you Club Lexus discount to knock another 10% off - code: CL911M

A worthwhile investment and instructions are on their site w/ the kit.

 

Great, thanks. I went to the site and printed the instructions for installation with the shark fin. If I am reading this right, you are pluging the XM wiring into the current cars wireing so that the XM receiver uses the shark fin...right?

 

Thanks for all of the replies. I just ordered online from Sewell's Lexus (www.lexus-parts.com) and used the code for 10% off; $287.49 shipped. The instructions look easy enough to use and they appear to use the existing shark fin antenna.

Do you get three months free XM? One of the dealers parts departments told me you do.

 

Extremely easy to hook up. Should take you about 1 hour. The XM tuner uses the sharkfin for the antenna. A lead is stashed behind the trunk liner. You just need to plug the line from the tuner box into the lead already there and wrap the foam tape around it.

Don't know about the 3 free months - dealer (who wanted to charge me $800+ to install) told me yes I would get. However, I was moving over a prepaid subscription from my wife's old car to this one so I don't know. There was a sheet in my kit that said I'd get 3 months free so you might...

 

So you have to remove the stereo head. Did anyone have rattle problems after the install?

 

Got Vais SLS here. For that, you will need to remove the NAV/Audio unit. It was actually installed from dealership by subcontracting shop. Price was $425 (SLS $230, Sirius Receiver $70, the rest is 1 hour labor). Antenna was mounted originally on the top right rear fender. I didn't like the look of it, even so reception was good (during winter/early spring time when there was no leafs on the trees). Later in the spring they wired Sirius into sharkfin (required modification to bypass XM decoder chip located inside of the sharkfin enclosure). Reception got a little bit worth, but it was also a time when all the trees started to bloom. Here on East Coast in the area where I live with no terrestrial antenna repeaters and only relying on clear satellite, the reception considered to be "acceptable" Just as an experiment, I also got that same magnetic dot antenna for $40 and throw it on a back deck and getting the same reception as with sharkfin. So, in my case it really made no difference.

 

Nope.... Looking at the instructions for the OEM unit it is all done in the trunk.

 

for the OEM XM kit on the '07 GS, everything is done in the trunk. Extremely easy to do. Here's a quick run down of the steps:

disconnect battery
pull trunk liner
2 bolts to install tuner box in existing holes
connect 1 antenna lead
feed 1 wire harness to plug into existing harness at amp in right rear 1/4 panel
5-6 zip ties and a few pieces of foam tape to secure everything
utility knife to trim the trunk liner (ps it's premarked on the inside in case you were wondering/worried )
re-intall liner
re-connect battery
reset windows & sunroof (open each half way and then back to top & hold)
call XM to activate radio
enjoy!

Couldn't have been any easier - seriously

 

Sorry for being repetetive...but can you do the XM install on the 06 (without the shark fin) from the trunk as well?

 

Yes. The kit that came for my son's car was missing the cable to hook up the shark fin. It did have the exterior antenna though. I simply ran it out of the truck to the lower right corner or the exterior of the rear window and double taped it on. It worked fine until we got the missing cable. It was hardly noticeable. Good luck.