Fitted the Parking Sensors to the V70 today.
 

Hi,

Fitted 2 sets of parking sensors today, firstly a genuine Ford set the '07 C-Max we've had for 6 months, they've been in box for 5 months so finally thought it was time to fit them. Not a bad job took about 2 hours, no need to take the bumper off so nice and easy....

Then after lunch, I found another set originally bought for a Toyota but seemed nothing manufacturer specific so thought they'd go nicely on the V70 I bought before Christmas. Whilst a bit more challenging than the Ford it wasn't too tricky, just the task of removing the rear bumper.

I think in my case it was just remove a rivet from each of the rear inner arches then undo the 5(?) bolts on the inside of the rear load space.

Some of these were hidden behind sticky foam but it's fairly easy to find them although some long sockets with flexible joints in them definitely made the task easier.

Once the bumper was off was simply a cast of measuring and marking out, we spaced them at 17 5/8" which seemed to be good spacing for 4 sensors.

Then drilled the holes and tied the cables into the bumper plastic making as good a job as possible. Had to then drill a hole in the back of the car to get the 4 cables through, this is where we found that Volvo has the hardest steel known to man!

Anyway once the hole was drilled we fed the cables through and plugged them into the control box for the system. We located the sounder inside the housing where the rear right speaker is located as there is a perfect space for it. We then simply fed the wire behind the plastic and plugged into the control box.

We situated the control box near to what we assume is the connector for the tow bar and located the reverse lamp cable and joined our box into this (the thin blue wire), then once earthed to suitable metal work we tested the system. Perfect...

All in all a bit harder than the C-Max but if you've got the right tools it's not too taxing at all.

Afterwards we were looking at some trade press and found these which are remarkably simple to what we fitter and can recommend them. The don't seem bad a £50 with a choice of colours. My V70 is dark blue so fitted black sensors and to be honest you can't tell really...

Hopefully I've attached a few pics of the work in progress.

C

Super !

For those of us on a budget, has anyone tried one of those fresnel lens jobs and if so, where did you buy it ?

Interesting to see you mounted your sensors in one straight line-my bumper was pre-marked on the inside where to locate the sensors and the two outer ones are higher than the middle two. Or did you not see the markings?

Hi,

Didn't see any pre-marked bits, I think we would have seen them if they were on the bumper though.

It looks likes a neat installation so am overall very happy with the outcome, it does help to have a little help though, the guy in the picture has worked in bodywork for about 45 years, and i think experience does count with these things especially when refitting.

I fitted a set in the summer from Maplin (currently on offer at £19.99 but were £14.99 when I got mine :-) ). Very similar experience to pictureimage - I didn't see any premarked locations (MY04) and just used a straight line just below the black trim. Routed the sensor wires (loomed together) to the n/s an found a hole below the light cluster to route through and mounted the control unit behind the boot side trim above the n/s wheel arch.

I wanted the radio to mute when I selected reverse, which was easy enough to do by building a small circuit which activates the 'mute' (actually powers down the radio) function on the handsfree kit cabling loom when the reversing light is powered (I introduced a small delay in this circuit as I have the Geartronic and didnt want the radio on/off/on when shifting the gears from Park!)

This kit has a head unit with LEDs showing distance and which side is closest to the obstruction which I've mounted on the dash near the driver's A pillar.

I painted the sensors to match and they blend in very well.

All in all a very useful addition to what I personally find an awkward car to judge the length of!

Only problem has occured after I was hit from behind by a BMW before Christmas - no visible damage (small scuff on the bumper) but then found the o/s pair of sensors are not working... suspect the cables have been damaged so will need to remove the bumper and check.