Aerial relocation.. is it possible??

[Brigante]

I would like to fit a shark fin aerial to the mondeo.. but it will not look right atbthe front of the car..

So what I would like to know is first is it possible to get some sort of extension wires, to extend the existing aerial wires further back along the roof, so that I can drill a hole in the rear of the roof to fit a shark fin aerial..

Secondly, will it be possible to get rid of the hole left from removing the existing aerial from the front of the car?

Will i be able to use some filler/fibreglass from the underside of the roof to get rid of the hole, and use colour coded paint to blend the hole into the rest of the paintwork?

Or will i have to weld a metal plate to the underside of the roof to get rid of the hole and have the whole roof resprayed?

Any advice will be much appreciated

[Gizza11]

I would think that you could easily move the antenna from the front to back with little problem with as you said a little rewiring ...I personally would make my own extension wires up as I am able to do this myself for next to nothing but my time, but I expect that there are some ready made available try Maplins or eBay oe even Halfords for the same. You may find that the shark fin Antenna has a long enough lead that comes with it  anyway as they usually go on the back anyway.The problem for me would be the original hole if it where me I would get a body shop to sort it as I think that the whole roof may need spraying(depending on the sort of paint you have one or two coat/ lacquer ) so the you won't see a patch in a certain light so to say. If you think about it years a go  on cars the antenna could be on the wing or by the boot or on the roof font or back  so your mod will work it's just filling the old hole  so you can't see it I would have problems with, but not imposable if done right. I think it will be a nice mod to do wouldn't mind doing it myself come to think of it.I must stop reading these post gives me ideas what to do next lol lol.

[JW1982]

Personally i would use an original Ford shark fin antenna and wiring.

For example the shark fin antenna of a 2015 --> Lincoln MKC / Ford edge. This type of shark fin antenna is a direct replacement for the Fiesta MK7/MK7.5, Focus MK3/MK3.5 and Kuga MK2 antenna base. The original Ford shark fin is known for its excellent reception quality and same as the normal GPS antenna base has the GPS antenna integrated into the shark fin. This type of sharkfin can be found on eBay. Prices start at approximately $80,- for a brand new one (in primer)   

The Lincoln MKC / Ford Edge shark fin can be combined with the antenna wiring of any Fiesta MK7/MK7.5, Focus MK3/MK3.5 and Kuga MK2. The antenna wiring can be found pretty cheap at a local scrap yard.

 

If you want to do it the correct way you need to have the existing hole welded and have the roof painted (either spot repair or completely). The weldings should be preferably as smooth as possible to avoid large amounts of filler. The mounting hole for the new shark fin antenna will have to be made at the preferred location. Original Ford antenna bases do usually have a square hole. You should remove the headliner to check whether it is possible or not to install a sharkfin antenna at the preferred location. the roof has beams for structural integrity. If a beam is installed at the preferred mounting location of the shark fin antenna it is not possible to install the shark fin antenna at that particular location.

[Brigante]

I have asked my trusted mechanic about doing the weld and he said I would be better off just using some P38 filler to get rid of the hole. Would this be do-able?

Also I'd preferably like to do the job as cheap as possible as the mondeo is getting old now and dont wanna put too much money into it. Ideally like to avoid doing a full roof respray for the sake of a small hole. Would it be possible to just paint and blend where the hole was?

I've already asked one person in the spraying job and he said it would need to be a full respray costing about 150.

If thats the case then i'd have to abort the mod idea and just fit a like for like aerial in the same place

[pragmatix]

On a 2008 car I wouldn't bother spending out on the modification, just replace like for like, just my opinion 

[Brigante]

23 hours ago, pragmatix said:

On a 2008 car I wouldn't bother spending out on the modification, just replace like for like, just my opinion 

I'm looking at say 30-40+ for a new like for like aerial. I was hoping I would be able to do the mod myself for around the same price. Thats why I'm trying to gauge an idea of whether it is do-able. It will only be a small hole to fill so if i am able to fill it and watertight it, and get it smooth enough to paint it i'd be up for going for it

[pragmatix]

getting the roof to look good is the hard part and the costly bit