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Retrofitting parking sensors

Hughb

Well-known member
Joined
15 Jul 2019
Messages
80
There's not been much on this forum about parking sensors for a while.

My 2003 C2 does not have them and I am missing them, rear only would be fine.

Is a complete no-no to fit an aftermarket set? I am thinking of the holes in the bumper issue. Having said that the aftermarket ones look pretty good these days, flat to bumper and colour matched. Any experience/advice/ recommendations?

If the above is a proper no-no, then I could buy a genuine Park Assist controller secondhand on ebay for modest money and then I think the sensors could be acquired cheaply too as they are Bosch ones and look pretty common.
Does anyone know how the Park Assist module gets connected upstream? ..and does it need coding? (presumably so).

Yes I could 'go to the indie' route but I quite like the more circuitous 'get to know your car' route (currently on the cruise control retrofit!).
 
If you are considering changing the head unit, then consider a reversing camera as an alternative?

I did the cruise control upgrade this summer - such a worthwhile upgrade :thumb: Where are you getting the coding done?
 
When I bought my car from 911virgin I asked Tom if he could arrange to get some fitted and he got a modern aftermarket version fitted, if they are happy to do this (he used a company that did all their cars when they were required) I don't think there's any problem with using non-Porsche ones (and they look so much better....
 
Yes, but I have the Porsche original satnav, (not very user friendly but functional) and that takes up most of the head unit space. ... only the cassette rack is spare.

Haven't really thought where the bleeper might go ( I thought I saw a sounder/bleeper on the back of the instrument cluster which I had out this w/e for the CC retrofit) ..but to use that would mean using Porsche kit and coding, I am guessing)

Coding: ..ah see you are in Somerset,... some time ago I had located, via this site, an PIWIS owner who is relatively local, but I will pm you too, to see if you are around the corner!
 
Yes, the original endearing warts are rather fetching, ..for me it was certainly going to be flat/level with the bumper or not all.

but now you have given me another avenue of research ... I'll be back!

(as opposed to Arnie in the latest Terminator film who, before he embarks on what he knows will be a suicide mission, rounds off the Terminator series with the line "I will not be back" !)
 
I've seen many aftermarket rear park sensors fitted .. the speaker tends to be in the rear and velcroed to the rear quarter panel ..

The wiring is often pretty basic and is never run that well but it does the job .

From my point of view i would prefer more professional installation but that would probably cost more if done via an Indy .. i would certainly make a better job of it shall we say .

Either way they work .
 
I am back! Yes, there are some 'no drill' options for rear parking sensors. It appears to take the form of a continuous band/tape which is stuck on to the inside of the bumper. I am not sure how they work. I would have thought that there would be some severe attenuation of the detecting signal by the bumper plastic... more research required to satisfy my curiosity. The prices are astonishingly cheap. I may well give it a go on the basis that no boats are burnt (ie holes drilled) in the installation and no material cost is at risk.

DeMort, can you give me a pointer to the location of a suitable feed-through hole for the cabling? (I read on an earlier post that it is in a pretty inaccessible place.) Also can I assume that taking a power feed from the reversing light will not upset the canbus? It seems like a good idea, if not a necessity, to mount the electronics in the cabin rather than the engine bay. Hopefully I can stow the electronics box under the carpeting somewhere.

Still interested to hear from anyone who has retrofitted any Porsche oem parking assist kit.
 
I've had and tried a combination of Camera, behind bumper foil strip and aftermarket (drilled in bumper) kit on different models over the years. IMHO the camera is a nice back up, the foil is unreliable in operation, especially in the rain (google it).
The Vodafone kit currently fitted to my daily and 996 is excellent and has great reviews. Cost about £80 from flea-bay and £100 to fit and paint
 
Here are mine:

42453677201_9e92f2f0db_b.jpg


Nice and subtle, beep when you're near things - not as useful as the visual display I have in the other car tbh, but fitted more as a way of stopping valet parking (I'm looking at you, Heathrow) from reversing the car into things.
 
Mun802 ..... thanks for the recommendation of the cobra/vodaphone kit. The kit appears to be the R0394 Parkmaster for those who are interested. Looks good enough to drill (well, punch, actually) some 17mm holes in my bumper.

Dammit .. can't argue with the quality look of your sensors.....are they Parkmaster, by any chance? If not then whose? Great, if they are, then I don't have to make a decision! (The Parkmaster may be branded either Cobra or Vodaphone on the control box if you can locate it.... or maybe you remember, because you fitted them yourself)

Any advice, anyone, on fitting? Like where to feed through into the cabin, locate the box and sounder and where to pick up the power from? (Reversing light I presume?)

Did I read somewhere that the recommended locations for the sensors are moulded on the inside of the bumper?
 
I had the Cobra Parkmaster in my old A4 and it works great! Power can be taken from the taillights and signal from the reversing light. I'll be fitting one to my 996 over the winter when I'm having my rear bumper resprayed.
 
thanks POtential for the recommendation. Cobra Vodaphone is definitely on the shortlist.

More research reveals the necessity to make the hole with a hole punch rather than a hole saw .... because the edges of the hole are on display with the OE flush fit sensors!

I have also been recommended Steelmate PTS 400EX with flush fit sensors @ £68 (or £92 with colour matched sensors) with the bonus that a hole punch is supplied with the kit.
 

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