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Can You Drill Glass For Car Phone Aerials?

Abo Bob

By Abo Bob,
in New South Wales

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Abo Bob Grand Master

Abo Bob

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Two of my bosses have Audi A8's. They have terrible mobile reception and we've found out that it's because the glass has a thin film of aluminium in I think for UV rays or something. It stops their e-tags working too.

Anyway, one of them wants me to get his roof drilled for an external aerial but I am concerned about creating a place for rust to start. I know there is lots of aluminium in these cars but surely there is steel too?

I thought it would be better to drill the glass. Can this be done? Does anyone know where I can get it done?

Thanks.

Beer Baron Grand Master

Beer Baron

Posted
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doooood! don't drill any holes anywhere. the external aerial just sticks on the outside of the glass, then you just need to feed a thin wire through a panel gap, seal gap or make a small gap and do through there. there is usually a way. drilling a hole in the screen you can't do as cracks will propogate from the hole, drilling the roof is pretty drastic too. call one of the mobile phone install guys I'm sure they can figure it out easy.

D_I_F Grand Master

D_I_F

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Well we tried one who installed an external aerial but it still goes through the glass without wires and it doesn't work.

Baron is right though. You can get external aerials that have the wires that run to the car kit. I think there is one in the merc.

nuttsHunglow Mentor

nuttsHunglow

Posted
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Well we tried one who installed an external aerial but it still goes through the glass without wires and it doesn't work.

Its broken get another my friend had one for ages and is still working now anyway car phone? who has them anymore

Xmetal Mentor

Xmetal

Posted
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It stops their e-tags working too.

There should be a dotted section on the windscreen near the rear view mirror - this section doesn't have the metal film and they should place their eTag brackets there. :P

GoldZilla Grand Master

GoldZilla

Posted
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Two of my bosses have Audi A8's. They have terrible mobile reception and we've found out that it's because the glass has a thin film of aluminium in I think for UV rays or something. It stops their e-tags working too.

Anyway, one of them wants me to get his roof drilled for an external aerial but I am concerned about creating a place for rust to start. I know there is lots of aluminium in these cars but surely there is steel too?

I thought it would be better to drill the glass. Can this be done? Does anyone know where I can get it done?

Thanks.

As far as I know, Adam, the A8 has an all-aluminium body, because it's their flagship model. This could be another reason why the reception is compromised. Then again, it does reduce the risk of rust if they were to drill into the body.

There should be a dotted section on the windscreen near the rear view mirror - this section doesn't have the metal film and they should place their eTag brackets there. :P

True, I'm pretty sure all manufacturers leave a small section of windscreen "unprotected" for this purpose, and it's usually right under the rear-view mirror.

Abo Bob Grand Master

Abo Bob

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There should be a dotted section on the windscreen near the rear view mirror - this section doesn't have the metal film and they should place their eTag brackets there. :)

Yeah apparently they figured this out just after this model.

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