Anyone done an antenna delete?

[Anthony]

I'm definitely going to do this, but just wondering if anyone else has yet. And if so, how did you go about making it look not-awful?

[jx86]

But why?

[Anthony]

Well, just pretending that I wasn't trying to save every bit of weight possible and this car was my daily driver, I'd still want to do it because it looks a lot cleaner without an antenna. I've taken the antenna off every car I've ever owned. This is my first toy car ever, so it's extra-definitely getting the antenna removed.

[jx86]

Ahhh.. Not quite sure how you'll deal with the holes when your remove the black bit. Sorry I can't be of any help

[Anthony]

No problem. I've thought of a few ways to go about it, but am just wondering what anyone else might have done. I wouldn't be surprised if no one has done it yet. I think radio is awful though - shitty music interrupted by commercials, so I'll be happy to get rid of it.

I had a shop do my Tiburon's when they did the spoiler delete too. So they filled 4 small holes for the spoiler and one big one for the antenna, and you can't tell anything was ever there. It's been 7 years now and I could only tell you where the antenna used to be within about a foot, and that's just from memory. I'm guessing they used Bondo.

I want to do the FR-S's myself though.

[FyeaFRS]

Also interested. Installed an aftermarket headunit (Kenwood DDX719) and didn't want to buy the antenna adapter since I'll never listen to the radio.

Considered one of those shark fin ones, but meh.

[infinite012]

I feel like it wouldn't be easy to do this. Here's what the hole on my BRZ Limited looked like when I removed the antenna base:

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by FyeaFRS

Also interested. Installed an aftermarket headunit (Kenwood DDX719) and didn't want to buy the antenna adapter since I'll never listen to the radio.

Considered one of those shark fin ones, but meh.

Oh yeah, that's another thing. Getting rid of the antenna doesn't disable your radio. The head unit in my car doesn't even have an antenna connected to it at all and the radio works just fine. I guess the range I could listen to it away from the radio station is less, but it still works pretty well. The only reason I know is because my friend put it on the radio one day when I told him he could be the DJ. I would imagine if you deleted just the antenna itself and left the antenna wire in place and plugged in, it might serve as an antenna for you. Ain't no need in all those shark fins and shorty antennas.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by infinite012

I feel like it wouldn't be easy to do this. Here's what the hole on my BRZ Limited looked like when I removed the antenna base...

Cool, thanks! I was wondering what it looked like. I'm glad your hand is in the picture too, because that gives me a frame of reference for the size of the hole. It looks like it's probably about 1x.5".

[jadewbj]

Remove it and wrap the roof over with 3m Dinoc Carbon Fiber. Not sure how to plug it up and keep it a non permanant thing. You could use sugaru maybe.

[Anthony]

Oh yeah! Shit... didn't even think of just wrapping it. Seems like the most obvious thing to do.

Hmm... I wonder how much that would weigh and how much work it would be compared to my ideas. One was to glue or tape a small piece of aluminum to the underside, fill the gap with bondo, then paint it. The second was to fabricate a carbon fiber plug. The second option would be more work, but other people might would be interested in them, which would justify the extra bit of initial labor.

[FyeaFRS]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Oh yeah! Shit... didn't even think of just wrapping it. Seems like the most obvious thing to do.

Hmm... I wonder how much that would weigh and how much work it would be compared to my ideas. One was to glue or tape a small piece of aluminum to the underside, fill the gap with bondo, then paint it. The second was to fabricate a carbon fiber plug. The second option would be more work, but other people might would be interested in them, which would justify the extra bit of initial labor.

I think there would definitely be a market for a carbon antenna plug.

[Anthony]

Yeah, definitely at least a handful of people. I don't know how many people actually listen to the radio anymore. I installed my first MP3 head unit in about 2001 and haven't looked back. That being said, I'm almost certain the radio will still work without the antenna. A carbon fiber plug would blow those shark fins out of the water as far looking clean from the side. Over head looking down, there would be a mysterious little black square on your roof. I'm fine with that though. Plus, paint is a real thing.

[Kiske]

A plug will look like shit. IF your going to do it have someone remove the headliner and weld it up. On our cars one can easily just paint the roof as there is 2 black seam strips that can be removed and use to hide the edge of the paint.

Note the roof is aluminum make sure the shop has can tig it or has a spool gun w/ enough experience. Its very thin and won't be hard for a new guy to fuck it up.

If your that worried about the antenna you can pick up one that you can stick to the inside of your back window. No one will ever know and there will be zero loss in signal/function.

Figuring 4 hours for some one to patch the hole to perfecting with a minimal thin skim layer of metal glaze (filler) on top. 3.5 labor to paint it. 0.3 to remove/install both roof moldings. 4.4 hours to drop the roof liner. 0.2 to remove the antenna base. Plus $150.00 to cover paint an materials... you looking about a total of $843.00 to do it right.