The power antenna has never worked since I bought the car last October and GM doesn’t make the part any longer.  I also wanted to eventually remove the antenna altogether for a cleaner look on that quarter.  Not to mention I just simply became tired of only being able to catch 2-3 stations on the radio.  So I order a replacement solution that can be located elsewhere within the car.

Here is the Tune Trapper and the Metra adapter needed to connect it to the stock Monsoon head unit.  It is roughly 2 feet long, has a 6 foot cable and included sticky tape on the center mounting point.

So I go to pull the dash pad off in order to put this under it and snake the cable down to the head unit and everything just goes to hell.  Every single clip and guide post on the underside of the dash pad snapped off with little to no effort on my part.  Unfortunately I expected something like this to happen as it is a very common problem with these cars.  I was lucky to have had a crack free dash pad in the first place since tons of folks complain about their’s developing cracks spontaneously.  Along with the clips, it also began to crack lengthways down the dash and eventually a large chunk just broke off when trying to pull the pad out.

So the pad is pretty much fubar at this point and I have to decide what to do about it.  I don’t really want to get an OEM replacement since it would run me between $400-$500 just for the part.  I might be able to score a used one online if I wait around long enough but that’s also taking a chance that it would make it to me in one piece.  The other alternatives would be me trying my hand trying to repair it using some plastic weld, fiberglass cloth and plastic filler or I can pickup and aftermarket dash cover such as this one:

The cover would sit on top of the broken pieces and be held down with silicone adhesive.  The reviews on the cover are pretty mixed.

On the bright side, I now have a ton of radio stations to choose from 😛