Xm Installation In 2006 Gs300/430

[rainier_5049]

Has anyone installed the XM in 2006 GS300? If so, where did you get installed and how much did it cost you?

The car is already pre-wired, but my local dealer is asking for >$800 for the installation. I think, it's ridiculus.... I am wondering, I can just go to Bestbuy or Circuitcity for it.

Thanks

[RAID10]

Has anyone installed the XM in 2006 GS300? If so, where did you get installed and how much did it cost you? 

The car is already pre-wired, but my local dealer is asking for >$800 for the installation. I think, it's ridiculus.... I am wondering, I can just go to Bestbuy or Circuitcity for it.

Thanks

←

It's prewired, but does not come with the radio itself. It is a pretty large unit. I had mine installed by the dealer $900 with the antenna under the rear deck lid. Nothing shows works great.

[joeypeep]

Has anyone installed the XM in 2006 GS300? If so, where did you get installed and how much did it cost you? 

The car is already pre-wired, but my local dealer is asking for >$800 for the installation. I think, it's ridiculus.... I am wondering, I can just go to Bestbuy or Circuitcity for it.

Thanks

←

It's prewired, but does not come with the radio itself. It is a pretty large unit. I had mine installed by the dealer $900 with the antenna under the rear deck lid. Nothing shows works great.

←

I'm confused...I thought the unit is built in (i.e. it is just a band on the radio, like FM/AM)??

[AZofC]

:D I negotiated the price of a fully loaded GS 300 with the Xm. I am not sure of its cost, alone. The unit is fully intigrated into the audio system with 3 preset screens and is controllable from the steering wheel buttons. The sound quality is great. I had a Delphi add-on Xm unit on my other car and was far less satisfied.

I have seen the Lexus unit by itself for $300 without installation at lexus-parts.com. They also have a viewable set of installation instructions. (When you see what is involved you will appreciate why dealers are charging so much) I don't know if this is the best price available, so, If you decide to go that route you may try to shop for an even better price.

The dealer that installed my unit short-cutted the instructions and installed the antena inside the back-light of the car instead of on the trunk lid, as the instructions show. So far it seems to work fine.

Has anyone installed the XM in 2006 GS300? If so, where did you get installed and how much did it cost you? 

The car is already pre-wired, but my local dealer is asking for >$800 for the installation. I think, it's ridiculus.... I am wondering, I can just go to Bestbuy or Circuitcity for it.

Thanks

←

It's prewired, but does not come with the radio itself. It is a pretty large unit. I had mine installed by the dealer $900 with the antenna under the rear deck lid. Nothing shows works great.

←

I'm confused...I thought the unit is built in (i.e. it is just a band on the radio, like FM/AM)??

←

[rainier_5049]

Thanks all for the information. I went ahead and installed xm in my car. It works great. But, my installer put the antenna on top of the trunk (he followed the instruction). I wish, he hid it somewhere inside the car (like back light).. Do you think, I can remove the antenna without damaging the car paint and put it some other place in the car?

I also noticed that the song title/artist information is incomplete (shows only 11 characters).. I think, this is bad... Why couldn't they make it so it displays a complete information? Do you think, this is a XM receiver problem or a Mark Levinson audio display unit issue?

[briggs400]

Hey i had an XM radio in my old BMW...it was a complete setup with a headunit and this and that. pretty much all i needed was headunit and antenna and the head unit only showed something like 11 characters also.

might be a technology issue??

[MartinGS]

Hey i had an XM radio in my old BMW...it was a complete setup with a headunit and this and that.  pretty much all i needed was headunit and antenna and the head unit only showed something like 11 characters also.

might be a technology issue??

←

I want to install the XM antenna on someplace other then the top of the trunk lid. I’ve been testing the XM antenna location with a magnetic antenna that came with a XM2Go, before I buy and install part number 86100-0W130 in the trunk. With the antenna on top of the trunk, I can drive 20 miles to work, through different terrain and never lose the signal. When I put it on the inside of the trunk through the plastic opening near the back, by the taillight, the signal is lost as I go through some woods, which is a quarter of the trip.

Can anyone describe the exact location where the antenna was installed on 2006 GS, other then on top of the trunk? I would settle for poorer reception with the antenna in the car. I’m just looking for the best hidden spot.

[MartinGS]

Hey i had an XM radio in my old BMW...it was a complete setup with a headunit and this and that.  pretty much all i needed was headunit and antenna and the head unit only showed something like 11 characters also.

might be a technology issue??

←

I want to install the XM antenna on someplace other then the top of the trunk lid. I’ve been testing the XM antenna location with a magnetic antenna that came with a XM2Go, before I buy and install part number 86100-0W130 in the trunk. With the antenna on top of the trunk, I can drive 20 miles to work, through different terrain and never lose the signal. When I put it on the inside of the trunk through the plastic opening near the back, by the taillight, the signal is lost as I go through some woods, which is a quarter of the trip.

Can anyone describe the exact location where the antenna was installed on 2006 GS, other then on top of the trunk? I would settle for poorer reception with the antenna in the car. I’m just looking for the best hidden spot.

←

Last week I moved the XM antenna all around the back of the car, in the trunk, on the trunk, near the rear bumper, and the location with the strongest signal was on the package tray, near the high brake light. This location was even better then on top of the trunk.

I would really like to put it below the package tray, if that is possible. Then I could drill a hole for the wire and pass it down to the XM radio unit. I won’t need to take off the bumper, just the trunk center trim.

I need to get a service manual to figure out how to take off the package tray.

[huskydog]

Just purchased an 06 gs430 and the dealer was to install the XM. Cost of the XM and installation was $900. They put the antenna inside the car on the front dash on the passenenger side. I saw it in the sales managers car, but it was not installed in ours. The XM was for me as was the car until my wife drove it and decided it was now her car and she did not need XM. Dealer sent us a refund check.

[MartinGS]

Just purchased an 06 gs430 and the dealer was to install the XM. Cost of the XM and installation was $900. They put the antenna inside the car on the front dash on the passenenger side. I saw it in the sales managers car, but it was not installed in ours. The XM was for me as was the car until my wife drove it and decided it was now her car and she did not need XM. Dealer sent us a refund check.

←

That's very odd, since the XM radio is installed in the trunk. Take a look at the installation instructions: {Dead-link}--changed by Moderator.

[huskydog]

Just purchased an 06 gs430 and the dealer was to install the XM. Cost of the XM and installation was $900. They put the antenna inside the car on the front dash on the passenenger side. I saw it in the sales managers car, but it was not installed in ours. The XM was for me as was the car until my wife drove it and decided it was now her car and she did not need XM. Dealer sent us a refund check.

←

That's very odd, since the XM radio is installed in the trunk. Take a look at the installation instructions: http://www.lexus-parts.com/partdetail.asp?...ubCategoryID=37

←

Well I was told they put the radio unit under the front passenger seat, but I did not see that first hand. When the car was originally for me, I was very specific about not having an antenna stuck to the trunk lid, and they said they never do that. I would imagine the dealer would describe the installation over the phone if you called and acted interested. It was Sheehy Lexus, in Annapolis MD.

[gmillerok1]

The installer put the xm antenna on my 06 GS430 on the right underside of the third brake light. See (Dead Link)-changed by Moderator Works great, no dropped signals. I couldn't find where he put it and had to ask. The dealer didn't charge any installation fees other than the price of the unit ($299 MSRP, dealer cost on that is $225) because they had my car about a week trying to figure out why the auto trunk lid switch woudn't work and felt bad they had it so long.

By the way, XM is much better than Sirius in my opinion with much better music selection. I had Sirius for about a year and wouldn't switch back, even though Sirius is now available.

GM

Hey i had an XM radio in my old BMW...it was a complete setup with a headunit and this and that. pretty much all i needed was headunit and antenna and the head unit only showed something like 11 characters also.

might be a technology issue??

←

I want to install the XM antenna on someplace other then the top of the trunk lid. I've been testing the XM antenna location with a magnetic antenna that came with a XM2Go, before I buy and install part number 86100-0W130 in the trunk. With the antenna on top of the trunk, I can drive 20 miles to work, through different terrain and never lose the signal. When I put it on the inside of the trunk through the plastic opening near the back, by the taillight, the signal is lost as I go through some woods, which is a quarter of the trip.

Can anyone describe the exact location where the antenna was installed on 2006 GS, other then on top of the trunk? I would settle for poorer reception with the antenna in the car. I'm just looking for the best hidden spot.

←

Last week I moved the XM antenna all around the back of the car, in the trunk, on the trunk, near the rear bumper, and the location with the strongest signal was on the package tray, near the high brake light. This location was even better then on top of the trunk.

I would really like to put it below the package tray, if that is possible. Then I could drill a hole for the wire and pass it down to the XM radio unit. I won't need to take off the bumper, just the trunk center trim.

I need to get a service manual to figure out how to take off the package tray.

←

[MartinGS]

I ordered the XM radio kit for $300, it should come this week. Sunday night got ambitious and took apart the trunk. It was extremely easy to take apart only the center trunk liner, five minutes at the most. I thought I could install the antenna under where your dealer put it, but no way. You should get an excellent signal from there. I did find on each side of the car, where there would be side lights if the car had them, there is a 2 by 5 inch panel cut out of the trunk that goes to the plastic bumper. I put my test antenna there and it worked great coming to work today. The center panel is pre-marked where to cut for the XM radio.

[MartinGS]

I ordered the XM radio kit for $300, it should come this week.  Sunday night got ambitious and took apart the trunk.  It was extremely easy to take apart only the center trunk liner, five minutes at the most.  I thought I could install the antenna under where your dealer put it, but no way.  You should get an excellent signal from there.  I did find on each side of the car, where there would be side lights if the car had them, there is a 2 by 5 inch panel cut out of the trunk that goes to the plastic bumper.  I put my test antenna there and it worked great coming to work today.  The center panel is pre-marked where to cut for the XM radio.

←

Forget the side light/vent location, going home in the reverse direction, the signal strength was poor. I'm thinking more and more of putting the antenna on the package tray.

[MartinGS]

I ordered the XM radio kit for $300, it should come this week.  Sunday night got ambitious and took apart the trunk.  It was extremely easy to take apart only the center trunk liner, five minutes at the most.  I thought I could install the antenna under where your dealer put it, but no way.  You should get an excellent signal from there.  I did find on each side of the car, where there would be side lights if the car had them, there is a 2 by 5 inch panel cut out of the trunk that goes to the plastic bumper.  I put my test antenna there and it worked great coming to work today.  The center panel is pre-marked where to cut for the XM radio.

←

Forget the side light/vent location, going home in the reverse direction, the signal strength was poor. I'm thinking more and more of putting the antenna on the package tray.

←

I sure would like to remove the package tray, the spot under the back window by the high brake light and I only need to take the part out behind the sun shade, if that is possible. Does anybody know how to do this?