Mounting Options for Stiletto

[Tallen234]

At this time I do not want to spend 500+ on factory Sirius, so I am going to use my old Stiletto 2. I just bought the 15' cable to tie into the shark fin antenna, but was wondering about options on mounting the Stiletto and running the wires.

Easiest option is to keep the Stiletto in the center console where there is already the power connection and the aux port. Maybe I can velcro the unit to the inside of the console and pull it out when necessary. If I go this route, how can I run the antenna cable into the center console without looking too ghetto?

Thanks

[rcasey]

Hi Tallen: I mounted my Sirius magnetic mount antenna just inboard of the left side roof rail, about 6 inches up from the upper left opening of the rear hatch. I never encountered any shadowing and loss of reception, and the antenna was not an "obvious attractive nuisance" that some kid would rip off.

The wiring ran thru the hatch opening at the top, and easily tucked under the edge of the hatch seal. At the joint line between the upper and lower hatches, the wire went into the cabin. The wire continued to the front being tucked between the cargo area side covers and neatly tucked between the left side of the seat and the side moulding.

At the foot level, the wire slips beneath the door sill covers and continues up to the driver foot well.

Tuck the wire under the plastic cover for the left side of the driver's foot well and "drop" the cover under the drivers side dash. As I recall, there are 3 sheet metal screws holding the rear most edge of this cover. Just drop it an inch or so and snake the wire into the cover and over to the centre console. You can readily hide the wire as it comes into the centre console and under the edge of the dash, by the front tandoor door sliding cover.

I used a plastic wedge for my tool to poke the wire into between all the plastic panels and door sill covers, or simply my finger tips. As I recall, I did remove the side cover in the left rear cargo compartment, but this is easily pulled out with gentle hand pressure to access the electronics mounted there.

Since any vehicle wiring that shares the zones you are running thru is all very well insulated, AND there is no voltage in the antenna wire, all one needs to do is push the wire out of sight under the door sills and other panels. There should be no concern for damaging vehicle wiring with reasonable care when poking the antenna wire out of sight.

This is about a 5 minute task.

best wishes,
Dick

[Tallen234]

Wow. Thanks for the guidance. I will take a stab at it this weekend. Again, thanks

[quackbury]

Siruius told me there was no adapter that would work with the shark fin antenna on my 2007 X5. I didn't want the antenna outside, so I mounted it on the dashboard, just forward of the center speaker vent, with the wire running to the vent, then down into the dashboard. (I had a 2003 540i SP with one of the first BMW Sirius radios in New England, and had the dealership install that antenna on the rear package shelf to avoid junking up the roofline). Reception is flawless, easily as good as the OEM install on my M3 and previous 550 and 540.

Stilleto is in the center console, so I pulled the inside covers off the glove box to snag the antenna lead, then routed it around trim down to the passenger side floorwell and along the console trim. Use the 12V power lead in the center console, running the signal into the Aux jack.

Drawbacks are that I miss the stream and artist readout on the iDrive screen, and changing stream can be a pain. I mostly listen to the same 5 or 6 presets, so the stilleto remote is fine for these, but if I am trying to manually find a stream (say, for an NFL game) it is a PITA.

YMMV