Reverse Parking Sensors

[Spud1]

I'm sure most of you know what these little gadgets are - basically some sensors that are attached to the back of your car (at manufacturer or after market), and they feed information about how close you are to objects behind you (trees, other cars, shopping trolleys etc). The information is usually passed to you by way of a series of beeps which get louder/faster as you get closer to an object.

I had previously thought that these things were both a) expensive and b) kinda useless if you actually know how big your car is, and are capable of driving properly...but today I was in a Tesco Extra (Stockport) and noticed a 2 sensor wireless kit (including all fittings/transmitter/receiver) reduced from £60 to £13.50. The street that I have just moved to can be hell to park on late at night (almost *always* only a tiny spot left that I usually can't get in to), so I figured that for £13 quid I may as well give them a try.

Fitting took about an hour, and basically involved drilling 2x 20mm holes in my rear bumper for the recessed sensors (scariest part hah), running a few cables into my boot, and then splicing a couple of power cables from my reversing light "on" feed to the transmitter unit (which I have mounted in my boot). That was it really..aside from a few issues locating the correct cables to attach the transmitter to (damn multiplexed cars grrr) it was really simple to do Sadly the sensors are silver, and my car is black, so I will need to spray them at some point, but its not difficult to do...and actually the silver sensors don't look so bad on the black car.

Very impressed with the system (hence this post!), it really is very accurate..I did a few test parks with my father watching the back of the car, and each time I could get within half a foot of where I needed to be. When I got home tonight I found only a tiny space left, which I would usually give up on..but decided to give it a go. I found it so much easier to park in that space using the sensors..I found I could reverse much much closer to the car at the back (without having someone watch me in), so obviously that gave me more room to manouver.

Anyway point is that I have totally changed my mind..parking sensors really are a great invention, and I recommend them to almost any driver..makes your life much easier. FYI, the kit I bought was a "streetwise 'Easy2Fit' Wireless 2 sensor kit", and my car is a 2005 Peugeot 206.

[digit]

I struggle a lot with parallel parking especially knowing how far I am from the car behind, so might have to look into these. Not sure i'm overly keen on drilling holes in the bumper though

[Parm]

Fitting took about an hour, and basically involved drilling 2x 20mm holes in my rear bumper....

I was pretty interested until that bit.

[Funkstar]

I've seen a few adverts for JML kits on TV recently, I would imagine they works as well as these but do not require you to drill or cut into anything, it's all wireless.

[Spud1]

Well you can also get stick-on sensor kits as well which require no drilling, or you can buy mounting brackets to attach to your bumper so that you do not have to do any drilling, but neither of those solutions looks anywhere near as good, and neither of them works as well (you lose out on accuracy and minimum measurable distance from what I can tell.)

The JML Kit that Funkstar mentioned is of the stick-on type..still has wires to run from the sensors to the control unit but no drilling required.

I can understand you not wanting to poke a couple of holes in your pride and joy tho =) The way I saw it was that a rear bumper is not that expensive to replace if things go wrong, or if I come to sell the car and the modification reduces the value..however this is for a 206, other makes/models may not be in the same situation.

[Parm]

I was probably a bit too negative in my previous post. I definitely don't want to drill holes into my first car, but I have driven other cars that have a parking sensor.

My brother has a Lexus RX300 and it has a parking sensor and camera that shows up on the car's dash - it's awesome and so handy for parking bigger vehicles like jeeps.

I was at first contemplating getting Honda to put their parking sensors and sat nav into my civic, but it's ridiculously expensive. Got myself a TomTom and figured I'd have to live without the parking goodies.

[Funkstar]

Or just learn to park properly.

Tiggerai and Agent can attest to how easy you can squeeze a car into a tight space

[dave87]

I thought that, and partly still do.

I do, however, accept the propensity for the council to install bumper height barriers increases with your inability to see them (rear view in the Civic is dire, can't see anything), and as such the parking sensors could potentially save a new bumper/tailgate.

[Betty_Swallocks]

Useful tip. Thanks Spud1. I'll see if they've got them in my local Tesco.

My car is an MX5 which has fantastic rear vision when the roof is down but it's not so good with it up especially as it's an 18 year old car with a very old hood and an almost translucent rear screen. I tend to avoid tight parking spaces.

[megah0]

Parking sensor?

Thats what the towbar is for!

[Betty_Swallocks]

Arse! They have them in my local Tescos but they're £54

[Agent]

Or just learn to park properly.

Tiggerai and Agent can attest to how easy you can squeeze a car into a tight space

Indeed. I wouldn't have tried to have fitted my bike into some of the places you've got into

[99Flake]

Parking sensors can be really helpful, especially if you have them front and rear, they can allow you to get into parking spaces that you really shouldn't be able to get into.

Very handy on large cars like Mercs and BMW's, wish that my Lexus had had them on!

[dangel]

Parking sensor?

Thats what the towbar is for!

Exactly why I love my old Audi 80...

[Moby-Dick]

I was looking at some for my parents , but none seem to resolve close enough - in order to sucessfully park in my parents garage they wanted one that would resolve down to an inch - it seems that most kits only go to 6 inches.

[99Flake]

I was looking at some for my parents , but none seem to resolve close enough - in order to sucessfully park in my parents garage they wanted one that would resolve down to an inch - it seems that most kits only go to 6 inches.

I think that is the problem with aftermarket kits, they have to deal with any make/model of car and maybe a towbar so they have a greater distance margin. The manufacturer equipped ones are calibrated to the car and resolve down to just under an inch.