Anyone retrofitted a 'shark fin-style' X3 roof antenna on their X5??

[DinanX5]

My dealer-installed Sirius antenna is starting to show signs of abuse from my local hand car wash place. I was just wondering if anyone has looked into retrofitting one of the cool looking shark fin-style antennas (from the X3, or new 3/5/7 series) onto an X5 to serve this purpose... Or is this not even possible?

[Rob_]

I wouldnt do it. You would have to drill a hole in your roof

[UCrewX5]

Originally Posted by Rob_

I wouldnt do it. You would have to drill a hole in your roof

- I would mount the antenna inside the rear spoiler

[DinanX5]

Originally Posted by UCrewX5

I would mount the antenna inside the rear spoiler

That's a good idea... The Nav-w/-TV guys installed my TV antenna in there - you think there's room for both?

[jmh]

Originally Posted by DinanX5

That's a good idea... The Nav-w/-TV guys installed my TV antenna in there - you think there's room for both?

Yup plenty of space if you are using the low profile antenna.
I have the TV antenna and the Sirius antenna in the spoiler and they both work pretty well.

More pics and info at http://www.janixworld.com/x5/Sirius/

- Jan

[dkl]

Originally Posted by jmh

Yup plenty of space if you are using the low profile antenna.
I have the TV antenna and the Sirius antenna in the spoiler and they both work pretty well.

More pics and info at http://www.janixworld.com/x5/Sirius/

- Jan

Jan...I see that you have some felts lined under the roof spoiler...did you added it to cure some sort of rattling? Or was it OEM? I noticed some intermittent buzzing on my roof spoiler after I added my sub. I might just go ahead and steal your idea of adding some dampening material up there

[dkl]

Originally Posted by Rob_

I wouldnt do it. You would have to drill a hole in your roof

Instead of drilling the roof, he might only have to drill the roof spoiler to mount that "shark fin"...which should be much easier and cheaper to replace in case he does mess things up. Doesn't having the antenna exposed (especially satellite antennas) get better receptions than hidden it beneath the spoiler?

[Rob_]

Originally Posted by dkl

Instead of drilling the roof, he might only have to drill the roof spoiler to mount that "shark fin"...which should be much easier and cheaper to replace in case he does mess things up. Doesn't having the antenna exposed (especially satellite antennas) get better receptions than hidden it beneath the spoiler?

I dont believe that it would look right with the shark fin mounted on the spoiler instead of on the roof. Just my opinion.

[statdoc]

Originally Posted by dkl

Doesn't having the antenna exposed (especially satellite antennas) get better receptions than hidden it beneath the spoiler?

The spoiler is fiberglass, and seems to be fairly transparent to the signal. I installed my XM antenna inside my X5's rear spoiler yesterday, and it works flawlessly. I did put in some styrofoam (cut to shape) to fill the angle beneath the antenna, to allow the XM antenna to be oriented horizontally (just like it would be on the roof). A little duct tape to hold it in place, and ! Done.