Need photo of rear bumper - with parking sensors

[deilenberger]

Folks,

I'm sort of planning on a DIY install of a parking-distance-sensor system on the rear of my truck. I've found an Ebay source that makes a system much like what Porsche used, they even have the sensors in a color that looks similar to my Iceland Silver (ice-water-blue).. I'd like to install the sensors exactly where Porsche put them, so.. a photo perhaps with some identifying markers (like so far from XX) would be greatly useful.

Will likely document for a DIY..

TIA!

[mudman2]

Here you go

Edited May 26, 2011 by mudman2

[deilenberger]

Here you go

I don't think the photo made it...

Ah - now it did. Thanks!

Edited May 26, 2011 by deilenberger

[deilenberger]

So far this project has gone about nowhere..

I'm torn between a camera, the hole-less electromagnetic proximity systems and the ultrasonic systems.

I did track down the reverse light power source - it's the blue/black wire going to the taillights. I've taken apart the wire duct going from the tail-gate to the body.. there is room on the passenger side one for another wire or two.

Decision points:

Camera:

1. It's gonna be a PITA to mount and wire
2. I've looked at wireless - and ones that work (and apparently many don't) - still are a bit marginal in performance, and the ones I found mount to the licence-plate screws. Which is a problem because it puts the camera in the way of the rear-hatch release handle. They also still require at least a power feed into the vehicle, and there simply aren't any handy holes going through the tailgage, and I'm not about to make any.
3. Looked at one that's being sold on Ebay - camera alone - that replaces one of the license plate lights (and it even has a plate light built into it.) Still requires a power feed and a video out feed - that would then have to be strung up through the duct that surrounds the hatch-hinge, down through the body and all the way up to the front.
4. They all use a remote monitor - which really looks added on if it's plopped on the dash. I thought about putting one inside the sunglass cubby overhead, which would be a pretty neat spot since there is also switched power available in the roof console (for the Homelink unit.) BUT - if used with a wired camera - still have to get the video cable up there and down and all the way to the back to the camera. That's a lot of taking stuff apart to run that cable.
5. Prices - I found the AudioVox - which got almost decent reviews for $100 on several websites. A place local to me has it for full retail - $150. BestBuy may or may not have it in stock. This is a wireless one, but it only comes with the license plate mount camera. And it apparently comes with a hard-wire cable in case the wireless doesn't work. http://reviews.cnet....7-33520636.html
6. Wonder how the camera would work through the rear window? Probably not all that great since the tint is fairly dark..

Electromagnetic induction units: (http://www.sportsimp...nbuelsekit.html)

1. Seem like a good thing, no holes in the bumper. Easy installation (or as easy as it gets - which isn't awfully easy.) Have to remove the bumper - biggest part of the job.
2. Problem is - reviews on their performance have been uniformly miserable. Most of the reviews I saw suggest they are simply a bad idea that doesn't work. There are known problems with having the real bumper in close proximity (the large metal one under the bumper cover.) It might be possible to mount the antenna for this type far enough away that it might work.
3. No visual display - simply different beep patterns - but I'm used to that from our BMW so that's OK *IF* it works.
4. Price - found this one for $10 with free shipping at one website. I might just order one because it's so cheap.. http://cgi.ebay.com/...r-/310315976656 Walmart actually has this system in some of their stores. Dunno if that's good or bad. Also dunno the price from Wally - it's not priced on line.

UltraSonic sensor systems:

1. This is what Porsche and every other manufacturer uses.. must be a reason for that. It likely isn't strictly price driven since the electromagnetic would be cheaper and simpler to manfacturer and install. There was the option with the Cayenne to not only have this - but also have the tailgate mounted camera system (double-bagging)..
2. Requires drilling holes in the bumper. I've installed these before (on a BMW M3) - and the first hole is the scary one, the rest aren't so bad. Bumper must be removed.
3. One place I visited that installed this sort of system (an auto-audio store, called.. AutoAudio..) claimed this wasn't possible on the Cayenne since the real bumper is so close behind the cosmetic cover. I did some careful looking - and they were FOS. The factory mounts the sensors in the flattish band near the top of the bumper (shown in the photos above), laying under the car and actually looking - that is a clear area ABOVE the real metal reinforcement. Plenty of room for the sensors.
4. Colors - found some on ebay with sensors in various colors, including one "ice-water silver" - which looked a lot like Iceland Silver.. so that would be OK except it was coming from China, and they allowed themselves about 30 days to deliver it. My attention spam isn't that long. I couldn't find any in the US that had the range of colors available on Ebay.. but did find some that could be painted. Problem there - I can't find a car touchup spray that is even close to Iceland Silver (it also took extensive research to even find a Porsche touchup kit for this color..)
5. Noplace near me carries these - except the place that claimed they wouldn't fit. And theirs are in black, and they claimed they couldn't be painted. And they wanted 10x the amount for the kit then it cost on Ebay. So that's not a winner.
6. This would not require any wiring inside the tail-gate, or through the hinge assembly - which is a GOOD THING. All the wiring would be stationary - from behind the bumper, into the body cavity on the right side where the Bose amp and CD changer live. Backup light wire is available right there..
7. These are available with "wireless" and an LED display http://www.sportsimp...sensor-kit.html or much simpler with just the beep-beeper http://www.sportsimp...di4flmobas.html - I'm much more likely to get the simpler one, just because I've had the other one and the lights were pretty much a distraction. More for bling then use..

Thoughts? Anyone BTDT and want to share? I saw on 6-speed-on-line the chap (I think he posted here also) who modified his PCM to take a video in signal (with a $90 module from the UK) - which was pretty neat, but still requires mounting a camera somewhere outside and getting the wiring inside and up to the PCM.

Edited May 28, 2011 by deilenberger

[deilenberger]

Oh - another question. Anyone had the inside fuzzy trim off the tail-gate? I can't find any references on how it is removed. Some hints might make me start leaning toward the camera solution (I'm flipping and flopping on this..)

TIA!

[deilenberger]

Update - the Cayenne now has a backup camera.

"installs on vehicle in just minutes!" HA! :eek: - that's true if you count about 300 minutes as "minutes".. Start to where I am now - about 5 hours.

Advanced Auto sells several by Peak (the antifreeze makers).. I picked the one with the smaller display (2.5") since it would fit in the sunglass cubby - it's wireless and consists of a camera assembly, a transmitter that hooks to the camera output, and a reciever/display (with the 2.5" color display.) Cost is about $80,

Having installed it (and tomorrow gonna finish cleaning up the installation) my recommendation is - don't. What a PITA job. :censored:

Dunno what Porsche(VW) was thinking when they designed the interior - each and every panel I had to take off was held in place by a multitude of impossible to release fasteners. The typical fastener is an expanding steel one mounted to the panel that goes into a corresponding hole in the body. The dogleg panel in the luggage area where the small (3" or so) speaker is located has at least 12 fasteners holding it in place. That's just plain crazy. The fasteners do not want to release from the body and many of them pulled free of the plastic mount on the panel. The tailgate carpeted liner - well - that one is also crazy. There are three rows of the fasteners.. the bottom ones are the most difficult to get out. There is no way to really see where they are located, I ended up pulling out the red and white lights that are in the panel and working by feel. I also removed the trim around the latch assembly - since there is a fastener there.

I ended up with a license plate mount camera. Not terribly attractive (part of tomorrows cleanup is remounting it to a black license plate frame I have.) I did end up having to drill a hole for the wiring behind the license plate. Luckily I have some tiny metal hole saws, so the hole was as small as I could make it, and the metal was cleanly cut. I then treated the edge with paint to prevent rust, and used a body-panel plug that seals tightly against the sheet metal to seal it after putting a hole in the center of the plug for the wiring.

The wiring goes from there over to the right side (facing the back) where I passed it through the grommet that one wire bundle came out of behind the black trim wiring duct on the side of the tailgate. It's secured to the wire bundle in the duct with tiny tie-wraps. It goes from there to the hinge assembly. There is an extension of the duct that covers the hook shape bit of the hinge - and no way I could find to fish the wire through it, so.. it ended up being tie-wrapped to the side of the duct for that short distance. Seems to clear everything fine.

Next the wire goes into the roof area. There is a large rubber seal stuck to the roof that seperates the hinge area from the interior of the roof (this is found after removing the trim that goes from the headliner back to the opening - that has the trunk light in it..) That trim was also a PITA since it had 15 fasteners (3 rows of 5.. talk about overkill..) to remove. I was able to work these out by starting at the back, using a big screwdriver to lever each fastener out of the inner body.

I poked a hole in the rubber seal and fished the camera wire through it, then sealed it off with some self-adhesive rubber that I have. Next it routes down the C pillar around the dogleg at the back end of the rear side window and down to the chamber where the Bose amp and the CD changer live. This also has the wiring for the brake light assembly running through it, so it was a natural place to grab the power for the transmitter for the camera.

I mounted the transmitter above the opening for the compartment behind the plastic liner with some super velcro, plugged everything together, hooked up the power and tried it out.

It works.

Reasonably well actually - gives a nice view of the area behind the vehicle. It seems to work OK at night just by the light from the backup lights.

The receiver/display is suction cupped to the windshield at the moment. Tomorrow I'll start thinking about pulling the overhead console to mount it in the sunglass cubby and power it off the Homelink power feed.

The receiver has a standby mode - where nothing is displayed until the receiver sees a signal. Put the truck into reverse, the transmitter powers on, sending a signal that turns on the display and you have a image of whats behind you.

There are wedges provided with it to mount the camera to a sloping license plate mount. I found one set of wedges worked well with some extended bolts for the bottom license plate mount. The upper won't work since it would block the tailgate release switch.

On a scale of 1-10 PITA jobs - it ranks right up there at about an 8 - mostly due to German overengineering.. I've found the same thing on BMWs - an excessive number of fasteners for interior panels make it a real job to get to stuff.

I'll take a few photos of the finished results tomorrow. I was going to take DIY photos for the job, and quickly decided not to since I wouldn't want to encourage anyone to tackle this particular job.

Edited May 30, 2011 by deilenberger