Antenna Base Replacement -- Headliner removal?

[bds85466]

Greetings All,

2007 CX7 GT

My wife left the garage stall a bit too early before the ol' door was all the way up. It partially sheared the antenna right off at the base -- exposing a curved metal plate and a busted out circuit board. The only real thing it left was a few major scratches in the paint....

Question: Say we wanted to replace it, how does the remainder of the base come loose from the car?

I'm assuming you may need to get between the headliner and the roof? Looking at the replacement base, there must be some screw it's attached to on the inside, right? And then a wire harness/connector(?).

Anyone have any ideas? Anyone know how to get under the headliner without wrecking things?

Thanks all in advance.

Brian

[Raider]

Just open the rear hatch, and pull off the rubber seal. Reach in and unscrew. Not too hard to do. Look up Sharkfin antennas (real) or just an OEM replacement, up to you.

[bds85466]

Thanks for the response.

Could you elaborate more on the rubber seal? Location, appearance etc? Is it near where the headliner meets the hatch?

Just curious as I'm not with the vehicle right now to check it out.

[Raider]

Go out and look. Trust me.

[bds85466]

Oh yeah, nuff said. I got it out. Just need to get a replacement now. Thanks.

[Raider]

OEM has Jim Ellis Mazda, onlinemazdaparts too. Or eBay. Peep a Sharkfin out. Can get em painted to match, look killer too.

[bds85466]

I'm looking into replacements. Many (with the exception of the OEM) aren't incredibly explicit via description/photo as to if they come with leads/connector. There's just such a price spectrum out there it makes me wonder what you're getting. Obviously there's a bunch of crap ones out there on ebay that don't function well. With the sharkfin ones, are they simply selling a 'cap' for a snubby antenna or are they actual functioning antennae?

Any opinion or word of mouth on the reception quality of a sharkfin from like beatsonic or the vg from RPM store? I've read from a reception standpoint, *in general* they're not as good as the OEM.