DIY- Install a Parking Sensor

This weekend My frined tackled his terrible parking by isntalling a universal parking sensor kit, purchased for all of US$26 from a online shop. Nothing fancy, no screens, just a simple beeper and sensors affair. This is how I fitted it, along with lots of help from Nev of course.cheers fella! He told me this story as following.

The kit is simply, only 4 sensors, a beeper, control box and it even came with its own holesaw for the sensors. I suggest you test the kit prior to attempting to fit it, imagine your mood if it was faulty!

Step 1. Bumper removal

There are 2 x 18mm bolts that hold the bumper on, along with 6 other screws around the rear wheel arches. The bolts can be found under small foam covers underneath the bootfloor roughly where the back of the rear light clusters are. The 6 screws around the rear wheel arches can be a pig to get to without removing the wheels..but a pair of mole grips locked with a suitable stubby bit at 90 degrees did the job very nicely. Or even better if you have a flexible drive, use that!. You don't need to remove the mudflaps, just the screws in the bumper.
Step 2. Dismantle and drill the bumper

There is a large aluminium section that needs to be removed, as you dont really want to be drilling this. It is simply clipped top and bottom to the plastic bumper section. This was a very fiddly job, and really needed 2 people and some decent flat bladed screwdrivers to help. Once off, there is a foam chunk underneath, that is the bit you will need to drill. Be aware of where the aluminium section that has to go back, I personally drilled upwards, so that all wiring would come out above where it would be. For the 2 middle sensors, I also drilled through the upper plastic that clipped to the aluminium section, this way all 4 sensors could be wired along the top edge.

Next, mark your sensor positions ready for drilling. I marked 1.5 inches down from the trim strip all the way along the length. With the middle 2 sensors, take into account you may wish to put a tow bar on in the future, leave enough room for this. Once your happy with the positions (check at least twice) be brave and get drilling!

Step 3. Sensor fitting and cabling

Before you attempt to fit anything, check the cable lengths of the sensors, ensure they are all equal, if some are shorter, then place those nearest where your control box will be in the boot. To pull the cables through the holes, I used a screwdriver, and taped each sensor plug to it and pulled it through. That polystyrene can be suprisingly tight to feed things through! Make sure that the hole edges are nice and clean before pushing the sensors home. I had to trim the foam back a little on the sensors on mine to ensure it was a snug tight fit against the bumper skin. Once all sensors are in place, tidy the wiring and reassemble the bumper. I strongly recommened you lubricate the foam that the aluminium goes back to, or you will struggle to get the clips back on.
Step 4. Bumper wiring and refit

Firstly, find a suitably stiff piece of wire with which to pull through the sensor wires into the boot. There are a couple of options as to where, I chose to wire it into the boot via one one the bolt mounting points. Once all cables are through, then its time to pop the bumper back on a-la Haynes refit is the opposite of removal. It did need a bit of tweaking in order to get it sitting right, but it went back fairly easily in the end. The live feed for the reverse light is the GREEN wire as shown in the picture, attatch the live wire from the control box to this, and the other to any neutral wire.

Now plug all sensors in, along with the beeper and give it a whirl before you tidy it all up. He placed the beeper under the back shelf, and the control box was stuck behind the carpet near to the boot wiring loom.He is so clever and carefull to do it.A backup sensor fitting is well done by him now!!