Boy... you ain't kidding Jason - pain in the a** is right...
I opted to remove the trim pieces:
- remove rear grab handles (two philips screws each, under plastic tabs)
- remove seat bottoms (flip up and pinch mounting pins toward centre of seat)
- remove head rests
- remove seatbelt tethers (cover flips up; 17mm bolt w/washer and spacer)
- remove rear parcel shelf (disconnect 3rd brake light, remove child safety tethers, pop up 3 clips along front of shelf and carefully pull forward)
- remove side panel trim beside seat (unscrew plastic nut at bottom, pull out plastic retainer at top)
- remove C-pillar trim (we had side air bags to deal with: pop out lower and middle clips, use small screw driver to lever metal clip off top pin, then pop off)
- pull door gasket off from C-pillar to B-pillar
- pull headliner off metal lip (just start in one corner - it comes off very easy... just to spite you...)
- an extra set of hands is handy here - my friend pulled down the headliner enough that I could easily see and get a 22mm socket on the retaining nut for the antenna
- unstick the cable, which goes off toward the pssgr side, from the sticky foam, and unplug it (pull the larger barrel against the spring, while pulling out the small (antenna) side of the plug)
- remove antenna from outside
- reassemble in reverse order
Some people have mentioned running the cable through the centre of the retaining nut... not recommended, IMO, as that will prevent you from using a socket to loosen/tighten the nut. There's a space for the wire to run through, and I see no advantage to running it through the centre of the nut.
Reinstalling the headliner is an absolute pain. There is absolutely no stretch or give to the headliner. I made myself a tool out of some pretty heavy gauge strapping material, about 3/4" wide, and put a curved hook on the end. This let me reach in and pull/pry enough to get the liner going on in one corner, and then work it across with the tool. It was a pain - no doubt about it. Removing the other bits in the headliner (front grab handles, sun visors, etc.) *might* give more play to make it easier.
For the top connector on the C-pillar, if you have side airbags, put the metal clip on about 1/3 of the way with the flat side facing out (but not far enough on to block the square hole). Push the panel onto the upper connector, then reach in with a small screwdriver to "push" the pin down and lock it in place. A flex-light was a useful tool in being able to see and figure out some of these things...
It was about 1.5 hours, start to finish.
And yes, it fixed the AM reception problem my friend was having. :thumbsup: