BMW X5 E53 Navigation Sirius Receiver PDF Installation Guide

This installation guide is intended to supplement the BMW Installation Instructions to help you with the installation of the BMW Sirius Receiver for BMW X5 (E53) with Navigation. I opted for the Terk SIR3 Low-Profile Magnetic Mount antenna and mounted it in the spoiler. As a result, this guide will not cover the installation of the BMW Sirius Satellite Antenna and you should follow the instructions supplied with the BMW Sirius Satellite Antenna Kit if you decide to go that route. I found no signal loss or weak reception with the antenna being in the spoiler and would strongly recommend if you want to be stealth and do not like the obtrusive shape of the BMW Sirius antenna on your roof.

You could also try to mount the BMW Sirius Satellite Antenna in the spoiler, but it is too big to fit in there. I attempted to remove the antenna cover to make room, but could not pull back the weather stripping to expose the torx screws. Pictures of the BMW Sirius Satellite Antenna are attached in the last section to show you more details. Cost wise, the Terk SIR3 and SIR-SP splitter cost about $65 plus sales tax and can be purchased from Best Buy, Circuit City, Crutchfield, Sound Advice, or your local audio shops. The BMW Satellite Roof Antenna is retailed at $125.00 and can be purchased for as little as $93.60 from Pacific BMW, Circle BMW, or Crevier BMW. It takes me about 3 hours to complete the project, and the bulk of time was spent on mounting the Terk SIR3 antenna on the spoiler and fishing the antenna lead through the rubber grommets (about 1 and ½ hours!). But I also wanted to take my time and do it right, especially not rushing through the procedures and kink or crimp the antenna leads

Recommend Tools and Additional Parts
• Torx-30 screwdriver
• 8mm, 10mm, and 13mm sockets
• Dremel or hand saw
• 3/8” wrench and 4” extension
• Sheet of felt tape
• Black electrical tape
• Measure tape
• Philips screwdriver
• Small metal strap

REMOVAL OF THE ROOF SPOILER
Remove the spoiler by unscrewing the five (5) Torx-30 screws from the underside of the spoiler. As you can see from the photos below, four (4) of the Torx-30 screws are located on the left and right sides, and one is in the middle of the spoiler. One of the screws on each side is hidden under the black, round plastic cover. Use a thin-blade screwdriver to pop the cover off, and remove the screw underneath. Take your time and be very careful removing this screw. You do not want to drop it in the hatch compartment because it would be a nightmare to retrieve it (if at all possible)

MOUNTING OF THE METAL BRACKET FOR THE TERK SIR3 ANTENNA
Many people argue about the fact that the antenna must be mounted on a metal surface. As a result, I decided to mount the Terk SIR3 antenna on a metal part. Since there is no metal part in the spoiler (the spoiler is made of fiberglass in case you did not know), I bought a piece of metal strap from Home Depot for $0.39 and bent it into a Z-shape bracket. One end of the bracket is secured with one of the hex bolts in the spoiler (one bolt on each side – see previous picture.) As you can see from the pictures below, I still need a lot of practice. It is in a very crude form, but it serves the purpose! I put some double-sided adhesive tape under the bottom of the bracket to mount it onto the spoiler body. The Terk SIR3
antenna was then mounted on top of the bracket. The magnet is extremely strong and you do not have to worry about its moving around in the spoiler.

After the lead is fed through the opening in the spoiler, I removed the rubber grommet located right at the right edge of the spoiler and inserted a wire tie to fish the antenna lead through it. As you fish the lead, make sure you do it very slowly in a push-pull fashion. This will make the whole process easier and faster. I did not want to use the metal wire hanger (as you will see in the next step) for fear that it might puncture and tear the grommet

Download BMW X5 E53 Navigation Sirius Receiver PDF Installation Guide