Retro fitting front parking sensors

rum4mo

rum4mo

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My 2011 B8 S4 has got rear parking sensors but no front parking sensors, as my wife's current Polo has both front and rear parking sensors, I've finally got round to thinking that I'd like to get front parking sensors on my S4!
Trouble is, I have yet to find a proper VW group retro fitter up here in Scotland, or anyone else that looks like they would retro fit using VW group parts.
Has anyone in Northern Britain used anyone to retro fit this using VW group parts?
Maybe I'll need to take this job on myself if I can find somewhere to cut two holes in the front bumper and align and bond the mounts using the correct kit of bits as buying what might be a suitable hole cutter looks to be quite expensive.
Anyone fitted their own using a kit made up from VW group parts?
 
I would also be interested in this and from Scotland.


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Bump!

Also to expand discussion on this update/task, can anyone that has used VW group parts and aftermarket cableforms to carryout this mod, confirm which side of the car the parking controller cableform runs on UK cars?
This is really aimed at DIYers as it is not too fair to ask retro-fitters about this, though I find that living "up North" really does mean either doing it yourself or travelling a serious amount of miles.
I have found maybe 4 threads on forums covering this, which does help but seems to indicate that most cableforms supplied in kits are too short, which is a nuisance as they would need opening up and lengths or wire spliced into them - if this is true.
Also, VW group parking sensors, the sensors specified in the Audi parts catalogue seem to have "in-line" connectors whereas I would have thought that having "right angled" connectors would save space behind the bumper.
Any useful comments accepted, thanks!

Edit:- just one other comment, I am talking about the normal Audi "retro fit at dealers" kit as that is just Cobra parts which will be good quality but do not integrate with the car's systems or look like the factory fit sensors on the bumpers! I did spot a VW Polo on Monday, same age and colour as my wife's Polo, but it had "retro fit at dealer" rear parking sensors - which most "non car" folk would miss!
 
Well today I collected a pair of Platinum Grey PDC sensor brackets to fit into the front grill of my 2011 S4 as I am very keen to keep this retro-fitting of front sensors same as factory, so maybe "game on"! One other thing, while waiting for a parts person to deal with me, I read the latest Audi Driver and it has an article in covering fitting an Audi kit - as sold as a kit by Audi dealers and made by Cobra, this was being fitted to a TT, but what it shows is, outwardly, this Audi kit leaves the bumper looking as though it had these sensors fitted at factory - which surprised me, so anyone not being fussy about what is fitted might just find this kit is okay, though it will never work integrated into the car's systems. Next stop could be to order in a kit and then a hole cutting/punching kit maybe with backing plate alignment mandrel ?

Edit:- oh, one other thing, someone seems to be breaking a 2011 blue S4 and selling its parts on ebay, I considered buying the front grill as it has PDC sensors, but now that I have bought brackets to fit my 2011 S4 front grill, I don't have to think about maybe needing to pay £200 for a used front grill! So has anyone on here done something bad to their blue S4? Seems like all four wheels are okay and all four doors and the front bumper, so I wonder what happened to it.
 
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If anyone is interested in the kit that Audi sell for fitting to cars, maybe look on the Vodaphone site as they (now) own Cobra and that kit is shown on there so it might be cheaper to buy direct from a Vodaphone agent/dealer than Audi if fitting yourself, it is the 17mm new version that can be adjusted to be flush to the bumper face. I completed reading the article in Audi Driver today while ordering in the next few small bits that I'll need to fit the proper Audi kit to my car. Also been to VW to order in some suitable PDC sensor mountings - quite costly for what they are!
 
Interesting thread @rum4mo. Keep us posted on how you get on.

Surprising how expensive some things are to retrofit. Looking at my invoice I paid £325 for Parking System Plus which included the front sensors and the display. No disrespect intended just surprised original fit can be good value. :)
 
@scotty76, I totally agree with you there, but in my case I bought this car secondhand, and it was my first car with parking sensors - so it was fine until my wife bought a new Polo SEL which came with front and rear sensors, I'm probably just trying to end up with both cars having the same extras!

Your way of thinking extends a lot further, when you "build up" a lower spec'd car to have the extras that a higher spec'd car has, even if selecting these extras in initial factory build, it is always more expensive, I suppose, in part that is why I picked the S4 over a suitably spec'd A4 - and got lots of other bonus bits as well, ie performance!

I must admit now to having a very poor record of committing myself to buying "upgrade" parts for cars then not fitting them!! Well maybe I'm being unfair to myself, as it is really only my previous car, a 2000 VW Passat 4Motion that has left me with a big collection of expensive parts unused due to me being, at the last moment, unwilling to hack saw sections of the built in "single DIN" ICE cage out of the dash and attempt to retro fit the stand alone ICE cage from a later car - along with all the associated trim and dash mounted multi CD player from VW!! Oh and lots of bits bought to try to fit lower grill mounted front foglights, as initially offered as a Votex afterfit option!
 
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I never thought I needed front sensors until I saw them on my Dad's Passat and thought "that's handy". Prior to that I was terrible at nosing into spaces. I'd get out and find I was still 2 feet from the wall. :)
 
audi upgrades
Well, seeing as ebay has just informed me that the PDC fitting (tool) kit price has dropped by £5 for a day and a few hours, I've jumped in and bought it!!

Parking, or getting out of a parking space, well seeing as you have mentioned that, while I was out at my local VW dealer ordering in a couple of Passat B6 PDC mounting brackets, I returned to the car (daughter's late 2009 Ibiza 1.4 SC) and reversed back out of my space - into what appeared to have become an empty space in the row behind, no it was a newly emptied space with a lowish blue and white parking cone in it! Zero out of 10 for observation on my part, anyway, as luck would have it, the Ibiza SC has a plain black plastic rear skirt that slopes outwards, so that was what made light contact with the cone, marks just rubbed off, could have been worse if it was the painted bumper - a lucky escape!
 
I am also looking into this and currently have the 4 sensors and brackets sourced and the correct 8 channel module. If you search for the right module then it will be prepped for rear facing camera too, an easy upgrade to add.

Only missing parts now: loom from the module to the front crash bar (I have the loom from the sensors to the crash bar by the radiator) and buzzer.

I'd recommend running the loom inside the offside wing as per the original spec as that'll probably be the easiest route.

Extending the wires isn't too much hassle if that's the only hurdle.

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Audigit, that is good info there, ie wrt which side the factory wiring would be run. Did you buy a genuine used front wiring cableform and, how far does it run before the connection with the main (new) cableform from the boot mounted controller? I've bought a few bits and bobs now, including a hole punch and alignment tool (probably overkill but I did not want to make a mess of the bumper), I'm waiting for prices for the controller, switch and maybe buzzer before deciding which way to go, ie Kuratec kit, CarSystems kit or Kuratec cables (x2) and parts sourced from the parts guy here or used parts on ebay.

Edit:- I was thinking that re-coding a used controller would be easier than coding a new one from scratch? Also I'd reckon the gateway and radio/MMI will also need their coding changed a bit, time will tell!
 
Audigit, you seemed to have missed out mentioning getting a new switch, are you just going to leave that out?

I've now given up on getting a price for the Audi parts new from "our" forum parts source, and bought a used controller + switch assembly + buzzer - so now it is just down to buying a couple of cableforms from Kufatec and seeing how that looks. I've submitted a parts request for an Audi spray paint kit and should probably get a couple of sticky pads ordered in from VW just in case I need to use them to position the sensors distance wise within the bumper holder.

Edit:- just another thing, have you bought in the rubber washers/seal that fit over the sensors, they cost next to nothing and were in stock at my local Audi dealer, and, the rear seat base will need to be removed, going by what I've read, the anchor/grommet that locks it down in place will be destroyed when you lift the seat base up, so they will need replacing - so I've taken that on board and bought in again in stock at local Audi dealer and very cheap, roughly £1.69 as opposed to the "bargain" prices of about £6>£7 offered by etraders!
 
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Just an update as I've ordered everything that I need so can say that the overall price to procure all the parts is £348, that is from buying the cables from Kufatec, some parts new from Audi/VW, some parts NOS from ebay and the controller+switch+buzzer secondhand from ebay, might still need to buy some double sided tape and glue for the two brackets and cable ties, but that will be small money if indeed I don't have enough already at home. The items that I spent more than I'd like on were the two pre-painted grill sensors - but there again I did not need to find and paint them Platinum Grey flat finish myself, they came from a company in Germany that seems to fit or provide retro fitting kits. The cables from Kufatec will not arrive until the end of the month at least, so nothing will get done until the warmer weather as I don't plan to work on taking off any of the plastic trim until the temperatures are higher (3 inches of snow on the ground at present!).
The only painful purchase so far has been the kit for cutting the holes in the bumper and alignment tool for placing the mounting brackets correctly - it was either buying that kit or taking the bumper to a coachworks for them to create the two outer holes to the standard of what Audi do at factory, then kick myself when they made some marks on it - maybe not kicking myself as much as I'll do if I mess it up!

Edit:- every thing that I've bought is genuine Audi parts as would have been fitted to that car if that option had been spec'd prior to factory build and some VW parts where Audi do not sell these parts - obviously except the cables.
 
Apologies for my laziness in replying, a bad habit I have ha ha.

I omitted the switch in error, I do plan on adding it in as I want the set up to be factory spec, as with all my other retrofits.

You are wise in getting the hole punch kit if you're not used to drilling exacting sizes. I have a background in, amongst other things, fitting parking sensors so I have drilled my holes prior to having the bumper painted (my car is poverty spec and I've purchased an S-Line front bumper to replace my SE one) so they will have paint inside the lip too.

With all rubber grommets and seals, I will review which ones are needed when I know I'll be doing the job but again it's wise to replace them seeing as you'll already be doing the work.

I wouldn't stress too much about the depth of the sensors short of having them flush with the bumper. They will still operate within tolerance for their function.

It's frustrating that Audi don't sell the brackets separately but I was fortunate to have the brackets randomly included with another purchase.

I too have bought nothing but genuine parts. Can't beat the OEM quality.

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Well now I have taken delivery of all the sensors, twin pack of spray paint, switch, buzzer, bought soft cable ties from Screwfix, small primer spray can and epoxy glue from Halfords - so only the controller to arrive along with a spare sensor - just in case! I've found a copy of the Kufatec instructions (in German) online and translated that using Google, they seem a bit rough and ready, I've also found a copy of the wiring schematics for this function online, this time in Dutch - but numbers are numbers in most European languages - so a bit of work needed there to draw out my own version and try to remember to check if a numbering error quoted online somewhere still exists on the Kufatec instructions.

One thing about the hole cutter kit I bought, it rolls/folds in the outer (painted) surface and the "top hat" seals that fit over the sensors project out into the hole cut in the bumper, so there should be no need to paint the "inside" of these holes - well that is the theory!

Just one last thing, reading the Kufatec blurb, it sounds like they supply either the "right angled connector" version of these sensors, ie 275 as opposed to 275A - or some other sensors completely, as they talk about chopping out sound insulation, which might translate into the foam behind the bumper cover?
 
rum4mo said:
Edit:- oh, one other thing, someone seems to be breaking a 2011 blue S4 and selling its parts on ebay, I considered buying the front grill as it has PDC sensors, but now that I have bought brackets to fit my 2011 S4 front grill, I don't have to think about maybe needing to pay £200 for a used front grill! So has anyone on here done something bad to their blue S4? Seems like all four wheels are okay and all four doors and the front bumper, so I wonder what happened to it.
Click to expand...

I would think the owner did not remove the fuse from the OBD port ;)
 
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Well I've now received the two cables from Kufatec and checked all the wiring which to be good and it agrees with what I'd drawn up already as the front bumper etc to rear mounted controller wiring. Kufatec use 10-way connectors and I plan to transfer the pins into a pair of 6-way connectors I bought via ebay, though leaving it with the 10-way connectors will not be a problem. Checking the Tyco website it looks like both the original connectors Audi fit and the 10-way Kufatec fit, use the same series of pins (Micro Timer II). I'm still waiting for the cable support elements that Audi use with their front bumper cables to arrive before starting this job. I kind of guess that Kufatec use a 10-way connectors to avoid clashing with VW group over supplying similar bumper cables? Only other difference between Audi and these cables will be that the connectors will be situated at different points, maybe under the centre point with the Audi cable and at the right hand end of the bumper with the Kufatec cables.
 
Well I've finally got my act together and retro fitted front PDS and OPS to my 2011 S4 that was built with rear PDS only. One thing, well at least on a B8 S4, the Kufatec front bumper cable is too short by about 4.5" at the section between the two inner sensors, I prepared myself for maybe needing to alter the cables by buying wire and wrapping tape. So far all I've done is to check that the sensors all work and are wired in the correct order, I thought that I would have needed to recode the Concert radio, but either I did that when I reprog'd the used 8 channel controller a couple of months ago, or that is not needed, certainly OPS does work!
Only thing new I discovered about my car was that there had been two leads spliced into the red/yellow and the brown wires to the OBD2 socket prior to me buying that car used at just over 2 years old.
 
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rum4mo said:
Well I've finally got my act together and retro fitted front PDS and OPS to my 2011 S4 that was built with rear PDS only. One thing, well at least on a B8 S4, the Kufatec front bumper cable is too short by about 4.5" at the section between the two inner sensors, I prepared myself for maybe needing to alter the cables by buying wire and wrapping tape. So far all I've done is to check that the sensors all work and are wired in the correct order, I thought that I would have needed to recode the Concert radio, but either I did that when I reprog'd the used 8 channel controller a couple of months ago, or that is not needed, certainly OPS does work!
Only thing new I discovered about my car was that there had been two leads spliced into the red/yellow and the brown wires to the OBD2 socket prior to me buying that car used at just over 2 years old.
Click to expand...
That's interesting, I'd guess at a tracking system being installed and removed from your vehicle prior to your ownership, was it an ex-lease car?

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Audigit said:
That's interesting, I'd guess at a tracking system being installed and removed from your vehicle prior to your ownership, was it an ex-lease car?

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Click to expand...

I meant to ask, have you done anything more about getting your front sensors fitted etc?
 
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