im planning on getting xm for the TL and wanted to know from those who have it what kind of antena you have and where you installed it. I was thinking of getting one of those mouse style ones and install in the top corner of the back glass. Any suggestions?

 

it just depends on how you plan to intergrate it. meaning if you go with a Delphi unit or XM commander then the antenna is supplied as part of the unit. if you go with a direct link one (like sony, pioneer, alpine, etc.) then you would have to get the antenna seperate of the xm tuner. personally i like the smaller antenna that is a part of the Delphi units. as for mounting it, it's a matter of personal preference, as for me i am a nut for symmetry, so obviously i would look to be in the middle of the top of the back window, or perhap on the trunk lid.

 

well im going with a pioneer unit so i have to get the tuner and a seperate antenna, and i was looking at a good place to put it so i get good reception(sp?) and for it to look good at the same time. I like the fact that our cars dont have any antennas stick out from it and i dont want to really change that now.

 

well to get to the best possible reception it need to be on the exterior of the car. i think on the edge of the trunk lid or the center of the top of the back window would look as factory as possible.

 

i have seen people install them on thier back dash, i hope i coud do that!

 

On the dash will work if you are in an area with lots of repeaters (urban, not a lot of country driving). Otherwise, the antenna needs the plane of a metal surface (trunk or roof) to maximize reception. I have mine on the trunk, centered near the back glass. I love it there and because it's body-colored it totally looks stock.

Chris

 

what kind of antenna do you have chris and what type of paint did you use to paint yours?

 

i have sirius but pretty much the same. i mounted mine on the centerline of my roof right near the back window. i plan on replacing it soon cause sirius came out with a lowerprofile unit but im going to stick it in the same location. as far as painting it, go to a local auto paints store and have them mix up your paint color and put it into a spray can and spray it your self

 

I have my Delphi Roady antenna sitting on my dash, and it has gotten beautiful reception everywhere I've been with it, including rural areas of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas.

Larry

 

U can even place it inside between the speaker grills.
But most people want to show it off and give the thieves a target.
Pss. You don't need to place it on metal.
I've had mine (XM) on fiberglass and now on the inside.
WITH NO LOSS OF SIGNAL.

 

I have the antenna that came with the Delphi car kit about a year ago. It's actually a little bigger than what comes with them now I think. I took it to a local body shop and had them paint it the same satin silver metallic that the car is painted--and they did it for free. It's flawless. So much more integrated than the flat black (those are SO General Motors-looking)

Chris

 

They used the same paint they use to paint the car? From what i heard matalic paint is not supose to be good for the antenna's reception.

 

silfa718, I hadn't heard the warnings until after I had it painted. You can imagine how surprised I was to read people saying not to paint because the metallic in the paint would interfere with the reception. All I can say is that I took it to the Honda body shop, said "paint this satin silver metallic." The end result is that it looks identical to the paint on the car and it functions properly.

If the paint was a problem, how do you explain all the new Accords and TLs running around with them painted? Is the paint different from what they use on the body of the car? I'm genuinely curious about this.

 

you think you could find out from that honda shop what kind of paint they used if it was factory or something else?

 

paint is going to be paint no matter where it came from. if it has metalics in it its usually just a metalic flake. i dont see it causing a problem. maybe if there was tooo many layers, but still kinda doubtful

 

i have sirius radio ... i didn't mount the antenna on the roof. instead i have it just sitting on the rear deck behind the back seats ...works just aswell... btw. SIRIUS ROCKS

 

My Sony XM antenna is on the rear dash, right next to the middle speaker cover. I'm in a rural area and very rarely lose a signal.

 

thanks...im glad to hear i can mount it on the back dash