I recently purchased a 2016+ Forester shark fin antenna to replace my broken antenna mast on my 2015 Forester 2.5i Premium (non-nav). I read through the discussion thread to see if there were any pictures of how to get to the antenna, but the only helpful post was from someone saying most of the trim in the rear of the car has to come out.
They weren't wrong.
What I ended up doing is removing all of the trim from the passenger side rear seat all the way to the trunk, pulling down there rear and passenger side of the headliner, then shoving my hand into the unknown cavern that is above the headliner to swap the antenna.
Pictures:
1: broken stock antenna mast
2: start by removing the bottom seat cushion in the rear. Do this by pulling the tabs to unclip the front of the seat, then push down and towards the back of the car to unhook the seat cushion.
3: one of the tabs that keeps the seat cushion attached to the car.
4: one of the hooks that holds the seat cushion.
5: remove the passenger side door/floor/threshold trim by first pulling up at the Christmas tree clip towards the rear of the car.
6: open the trunk/hatch and remove every loose trim piece, then pull up on the threshold trim piece in the middle. You can see it with the 4 Christmas tree clips.
7: remove the rest of the trunk trim on the passenger side. I didn't take too many pictures here, but there are 3 big pieces that need to be removed.
The bottom black trim: there are 2 hooks near the bottom of the bottom trim (one near front and one near rear of car) that are screwed in using a 10mm screw, then a single Phillips head screw in one of the grocery bag hangers that you'll need to remove, then the circular hook towards the front of the bottom trim that simply unscrews. After you remove those 4 screws, you should be able to pull that bottom trim piece towards the center of the car.
Upper D pillar trim: Now you can unscrew 2 screws holding the upper trim and pull that trim piece as well.
C pillar trim: You should then see 2 pop clips holding the side/rear window trim. Undo those pop clips then pull that upper window trim down.
Finally, you can undo the 3 Christmas tree clips that are holding the headliner to the roof on the rear edge of the roof to pull the headliner down about 4 inches.
8: peeking through the headliner into the roof cavity, you'll see the nut that holds the antenna base onto the roof as well as the cable and plug(s) for the antenna. You'll need to reach around to the front (of the car) side of the plug and squeeze on the driver side (pull the front towards the rear of the car), then pull the plug towards the passenger side to unplug the antenna cable. This part took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out.
With the cable unplugged, you can undo and remove the nut that holds the antenna base to the roof. I ended up using a 7/8" socket which fit well enough.
Push the antenna base through the roof while squeezing the plastic clip that will invariably get caught in the hole in the roof. You'll see...
9: freaking success!
10: install the new (to me) shark fin antenna. I found that the antenna plug is keyed opposite how my stock antenna was, so I took a razor blade and cut off the key. Make sure you reinsert the plug during installation of the shark fin antenna.
11: reinstall everything.
I've also uploaded the pictures here: https://imgur.com/a/z4cP4iV
They weren't wrong.
What I ended up doing is removing all of the trim from the passenger side rear seat all the way to the trunk, pulling down there rear and passenger side of the headliner, then shoving my hand into the unknown cavern that is above the headliner to swap the antenna.
Pictures:
1: broken stock antenna mast
2: start by removing the bottom seat cushion in the rear. Do this by pulling the tabs to unclip the front of the seat, then push down and towards the back of the car to unhook the seat cushion.
3: one of the tabs that keeps the seat cushion attached to the car.
4: one of the hooks that holds the seat cushion.
5: remove the passenger side door/floor/threshold trim by first pulling up at the Christmas tree clip towards the rear of the car.
6: open the trunk/hatch and remove every loose trim piece, then pull up on the threshold trim piece in the middle. You can see it with the 4 Christmas tree clips.
7: remove the rest of the trunk trim on the passenger side. I didn't take too many pictures here, but there are 3 big pieces that need to be removed.
The bottom black trim: there are 2 hooks near the bottom of the bottom trim (one near front and one near rear of car) that are screwed in using a 10mm screw, then a single Phillips head screw in one of the grocery bag hangers that you'll need to remove, then the circular hook towards the front of the bottom trim that simply unscrews. After you remove those 4 screws, you should be able to pull that bottom trim piece towards the center of the car.
Upper D pillar trim: Now you can unscrew 2 screws holding the upper trim and pull that trim piece as well.
C pillar trim: You should then see 2 pop clips holding the side/rear window trim. Undo those pop clips then pull that upper window trim down.
Finally, you can undo the 3 Christmas tree clips that are holding the headliner to the roof on the rear edge of the roof to pull the headliner down about 4 inches.
8: peeking through the headliner into the roof cavity, you'll see the nut that holds the antenna base onto the roof as well as the cable and plug(s) for the antenna. You'll need to reach around to the front (of the car) side of the plug and squeeze on the driver side (pull the front towards the rear of the car), then pull the plug towards the passenger side to unplug the antenna cable. This part took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out.
With the cable unplugged, you can undo and remove the nut that holds the antenna base to the roof. I ended up using a 7/8" socket which fit well enough.
Push the antenna base through the roof while squeezing the plastic clip that will invariably get caught in the hole in the roof. You'll see...
9: freaking success!
10: install the new (to me) shark fin antenna. I found that the antenna plug is keyed opposite how my stock antenna was, so I took a razor blade and cut off the key. Make sure you reinsert the plug during installation of the shark fin antenna.
11: reinstall everything.
I've also uploaded the pictures here: https://imgur.com/a/z4cP4iV
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