The small antenna on the rear glass is for satelite GPS for both navigation and teleaid. Very few C230's have either of these options so most don't have that antenna.
On the 05 that antenna is found if your car was "Pre-wired for the cell phone" which most were if the Premium audio system was ordered in a package. That means your car has the wires already installed for the phone antenna and the antenna and a hands free microphone and wiring leading to the front interior light cluster along with wiring leading into the arm rest compartment. None of the electronic modules supporting the actual phone are included so even adding the MHI so you can use Bluetooth is expensive. I used to think it was a worthless item added to drive the price up after finding most buyers never bothered with the internal phone hookups. My cousin got an 07 which did not have the prewire and since they are going to enforce hands free only in this state starting in July asked about adding the phone kit with the MHI on his 07 C230. The added cost of adding the stuff missing on the 07 that was found on most 05 models added almost $1000 more to the price someone with the prewired kit would pay because they gotta rip the interior apart to install the wire harnesses and replace the entire interior light fixture and rear view mirror assembly with one that has the microphone installed. He's going to get a Bluetooth handsfree speaker and mike that clips to the sunvisor and change his underware after finding what Mercedes wants for the install.
If you are thinking of getting rid of the antenna be aware that the black masking on the window glass does not extend under the antenna since there is an antenna coupler under there between the inside surfaces and the antenna on the outside. I would advise just leaving it in place even if you have no use for it. The GPS antenna for the Navi is not part of that assembly. On my 05 the OEM GPS antenna is on a bracket behind the instrument cluster looking up through the back of the instrument panel covering through the windshield.
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Buelwinkle: I'm not familiar with teleaid, but I'll check it out on the forum later.
n5160u: Wow, thanks so much for the extensive reply! Much appreciated. People like you make the forum worthwhile. Thanks! My question was one of those that could easily be answered by calling up the dealer (which I was gunna do today), but even then I wouldn't be satisfied with their answer. Seems like owners know so much more about the car than the dealers themselves.
I would still like to remove the antenna since I don't have use for it. I'm looking for a cleaner look and putting on a roof spoiler. Don't want to drill a hole in the spoiler if I don't have to. Would much rather remove the antenna since it's no use to me. Any ideas on how to rip it off?
I called up an independent shop and the manager told me it was for GPS. The radio antenna is in the bumper.
I called the same place again later and spoke with a tech. The tech tells me it has NOTHING to do with GPS. The antenna is for Tela-Aid only. Tech has no idea how the antenna can be removed and recommended me to an auto glass shop nearby. I'll swing by later and report back to the forum.
In the meantime if anyone knows how to remove it, please chime in. Thanks.
I'd just like you thank you all by the way for keeping on topic. I just finished reading a similar topic on the "other" forum and it was filled with people yelling at each other about unrelated topics. Even one of the moderators started arguing off topic. Good thing one of the more legit moderators tried to put it back under control. Either way, I'm glad this forum is so much more mature. Thank you all.
I will be visiting the auto glass store later this week to find out about removing the antenna.
Wow lots of misinformation being posted along with the correct info. As usual I guess.
Just to help clarify this mess:
That antenna on the back is for CELLULAR use. That's IT. It is NOT for the radio or for GPS. The radio antenna is built into your REAR WINDOW NOT the bumper!! You can see it - it's the two lines running up the window unlike the rest of the horizontal lines which are obviously the defroster.
The antenna in the bumper is for tele-aid. It's there so that if the car rolls over and the roof antenna is damaged the distress call can still be transmitted.
As far as removing it - I'm 99% sure that the antenna is simply glued or taped on somehow. I read that there is no mechanical connection and no wiring going to it. It uses some kind of inductance matrix to pass data through the glass.
Wow lots of misinformation being posted along with the correct info. As usual I guess.
Just to help clarify this mess:
That antenna on the back is for CELLULAR use. That's IT. It is NOT for the radio or for GPS. The radio antenna is built into your REAR WINDOW NOT the bumper!! You can see it - it's the two lines running up the window unlike the rest of the horizontal lines which are obviously the defroster.
The antenna in the bumper is for tele-aid. It's there so that if the car rolls over and the roof antenna is damaged the distress call can still be transmitted.
As far as removing it - I'm 99% sure that the antenna is simply glued or taped on somehow. I read that there is no mechanical connection and no wiring going to it. It uses some kind of inductance matrix to pass data through the glass.
The antenna coupler is a through the glass type that acts like a transformer with the glass window between the primary and secondary windings. There is no direct connection, only adhesive. If you remove the antenna the inside part of the coupling will be safe behind the glass but out there in plain sight since the black paint masking the edges of the wiring and coupler on the inside surfaces does not extend under the outside part of the antennas location.
One thing though, on my R170 the Tele-Aid system uses the same cell phone antenna for both and has an antenna coupler so the antenna can be shared by my cell phone and Tele-Aid. It doesn't make any sense to put the Tele-Aid antenna in the rear bumper to protect it from a roll-over since the car is far more likely to be damaged by being rear-ended. Early R170's had them in the bumper but after the facelift the antennas were moved to an external mount because the older design didn't work all that well since the rear bumper location was too directional due to signal masking by the car body. Are you saying that all Tele-Aid antennas are now in the rear bumpers?
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