Antennae base, replace is no biggie

[99Turbo]

Been tired of the poor (as in non-existent) radio reception for quite awhile. Also got tired of this comment, "I thought those bases only came in black, where did you get a gray one?". It was black but badly oxidized and sun bleached.

Got past the "Oh God the headliner will fall and I will be crushed" fear and replaced the antennae base.

It is really no big deal.
Over on the Vortex they remove a bunch of other trim and the rear seatbelts. My only thought on this is the antennae base must be farther forward on the GTI's, etc. Because of the way the Bug is rounded the base is almost at the edge of the roof.

1-easiest access for me was laying on my back looking up. So flip the rear seat down and lay in the back with your feet out the hatch.

2-pop the center trim off the rear roof. Be prepared for all the little spring clips to stay stuck in the roof. Take a pair of pliers compress them, gently, and work them out. Slide them back in the slots on the trim piece for reinstallation

3-slide the headliner tabs out by, gently, working them slightly forward and down

4-pull down on the rear of the headliner, gently (seeing a theme here?), and slide each back corner free of the lip on the roof

5-if you are doing this by yourself now is a good time to stick a block of some sort in under the headliner to maintain the gap

6-you will see the bottom of the base very near the edge of the roof. Follow the antennae lead and slide the plastic frame with the plug in it off the lip of the roof. You can now free up the cable and unplug the lead from the base. The plug is pull to release from the long side.

7-you will need a 22mm socket with a short adapter (to clear the lip of the roof) and out comes the old one. Pay particular attention to the way the lead is fed out through the wire keeper above the nut.

8-installation is reverse order. Do not thread the new lead through the nut. It bends and goes in the keeper that is attached to the nut. You will also want an assist here as you need someone to hold the base down on the roof until you get the nut started. For you committed loaners, duct tape perhaps?

9-Thirty minutes to an hour and you should have a nice shiny black antennae base.

[bigsexyTDI]

nice

[cwhitjr]

Thanks I need to replace mine the base is coming apart.