Michael S.

OK guys... and Gals,

For Christmas I am seriously considering doing a DIY installation of XM satellite radio to the wife's 2005 Cayenne S. I have searched and read almost every thread I can find, but I have yet to find anyone who has done this install themselves.

Call me crazy, but it just doesn't look all that difficult to me. The rear spoiler and the right rear interior trim pieces have to come off, and you need access to the rear and right rear portions of the roof under the headliner (I don't think the entire headliner will have to come out). Except for maybe the headliner piece, the installation seems pretty straightforward.

Sunset will sell me the kit for $803. Two separate P-car dealerships today quoted me $1700-1750 each for parts and labor. Even if I have to take it to the dealer for a PWIS hookup after I'm done, $900 is a LOT of labor! I guess I'm just cheap at heart...

Have I lost my mind or is this really possible?

Someone please talk me out of this before I order the parts!

ltc

If you've read the entire TSB, have all the tools (radio removal keys, trim panel removal tools, various metric/Torx/hex tools, etc), AND have a dealer who is willing to activate via PIWIS and fill out XM paperwork AND cover it under warranty AND not void your warranty, then, Yes, it can be considered a DIY.

Yes, you're crazy.

Holiday hugs,
Larry

mudman2

If yu have access to piwis it will be easy if you take yr time, I did most of it for my Sirius, my gallery has pix

Michael S.

Sanity Prevails...

I am dropping the Cayenne at Hendrick Porsche this afternoon for a factory XM install... I decided that it just wasn't worth the risk... $900 in labor is a tough pill to swallow, but when I consider how long it would likely take me, plus the fact that I would still have to take it to the stealer for programming... I just decided that it wasn't worth risking messing up an interior trim piece or something like that. If they mess it up, they have to fix it...

I hope the wife enjoys her Christmas present!

LVDell

Let me just tell you that the R&R of those trim pieces is a PITA! Because while it seems simple enough, to get to remove certain trim pieces requires the removal of several others. To install the "brain" for the Teq Towing System requires just that and while I did it myself, it took several days and several P-Rex Kool-Aid.

SnP

$1750 to activate XM - time to start in on the kool-aid.

Of course, I can't really say much as I shelled out 3K for the PCM head unit when a $300 aftermarket does a better job.

I put a $40 sirius unit in the sunglass case and play it through an fm transmitter. Not perfect, but not bad.

ltc

And how many bottles of Grey Goose?

LVDell

In my world, I refer to 1 bottle as the 1.75L and if we are counting and I have to be honest, I would imagine 1 entire bottle but I was helped. The wife said she needed to partake in the martini meds due to the hightened level of stress she felt watching

skl

Boy I'd love XM in mine, but figure we'll have it for another year before it hits 50K miles and for that much $$, I'll wait for the next vehicle!

jaholmes

For Porsche to do it for $1,700 is highway robbery. I put in a sirius starman and it works fine. I have not hard-wired it yet, or put in the FM Modulator, I just play it through the radio and it sounds fine. I stuck it to the shifter with that plastic velcro looking tape and tucked the wires behind molding.

I rad the antenna out the sunroof, but I think the best thing would be to buy the integrated antenna and put it under the rear spoiler and hardwire everything.

Does anyone know if the Porsche sirius antenna has the proper connector to plug into any sirius receiver.

Here is a photo of what I have plus my dirty car interior.

Michael S.

Sorry Guys...

Nothing personal, but I won't have a stick-on unit cluttering up the dash / console on a P-car. I thought long and hard about the sunglass flip-down install (very nice), but in the end I decided that I'd rather just suck it up and do it right from the start. I want a fully integrated solution and the factory unit is the only way to accomplish that... I'm weird that way, I guess.

The parts to do the install were going to cost $803 from Sunset, plus shipping, plus whatever it cost me to have the P-car dealer to activate it, plus however many hours sweating (or freezing) to do the install... Ultimately, I decided that the likelyhood that I would break at least one piece of interior trim was pretty high, and the cost to replace only one broken piece would likely make the dealer install look relatively economical... at least that's what I'm telling myself...

I'll let you know tomorrow how it sounds!

Would someone please pass the Kool-Aid?!?

ltc

Technically, you'd be cluttering up a VW truck, but that's a minor detail

It will sound identical to the CD/CDChanger, as the audio is transferred over MOST at 44.1KHz sample rate. It's part of the reason MOST was 'invented' in the first place.

I think you've had enough. Perhaps Dell will pass you a bottle of Grey Goose and/or MadFox will share some adult additive recipes.

Michael S.

Actually... I prefer Belvedere to Grey Goose... And, I've had plenty of that lately, as well!

I got the Cayenne back from the dealer and all is well... I love having integrated XM and it sounds great. The $1700 bill does sting, but the wife will be very happy, which means I will be very happy!

I can appreciate those of you who balk at the cost of the upgrade... I guess value is in the eye of the credit card holder. Not that I expect to get my $$ back out of the upgrade, but when it comes time to trade or sell, I do think the integrated satellite radio will show better than an add-on. Of course, that's just more rationalization on my part.

I would take pictures, but there's really nothing to take pictures of... which is exactly why I paid for the upgrade!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!