neo-ninja Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 HI All, If like me you are nervous about parking your ZED, as you find it difficult to judge how much room you have going back, and the massive lack of visibility, you might be looking at parking sensors. I looked around and found I had three options. 1.)Cheap sensors that require drilling of your bumper and painting of the sensors themselves, leaving you with those ugly holes in your bumper, and a massive chance of making a drilling mistake... - £50 cost estimate 2.)A reverse parking cam through the tow eye, however you need to have a screen so after a nurrish kit or car pc, or double din aftermarket stereo, again you need to drill your tow eye but its easier. - £50-500 cost depending on if you have the stereo/nurrish system already. 3.) Parking Dynamics reverse sensors, completely hidden no drilling needed, very easy to install no chance really for mistakes and actually very effective. Although a higher cost then normal sensors - £80 The first two options for me were no goes, I personally don’t like drilled parking sensors and think they would spoil the rear looks, the second option was very tempting but at the time didn’t want to get a new head unit, or nurrish system and really couldn’t afford it. So I went with option 3, the parking dynamics system. They are quite pricey in comparison to normal parking sensors, but are very easy to install and require absolutely no drilling and really some very basic wiring. This is the option I went with. Get them from here: http://www.parkingdynamics.co.uk/ I was sceptical that their website was too good to be true but having fitted them I am very impressed, and I now find I can park anywhere with no worries. Here is my very quick guide for how to fit them: You will need: The parking sensors from parking dynamic - not the ones with the display, it looks cheap and nasty Paint wipes - to remove oil, dirt etc and prepares the surface for the sensors Current tester - to check which wire is the rear reverse light so you can splice in the parking sensors control box Duct tape lots of it! This guide for how to remove the rear bumper: http://www.350z-tech.com/zwiki/Rear_Bumper_Removal Solder plus iron. Start of guide. Start by following the bumper removal guide above, once this is done you need to gently rest your bumper on a soft cloth or duvet. In order for the sticky roles of sensor tape to stick really well to the inside of the bumper you need to insure you wipe down the whole inside with your paint wipes. Use a few and make sure you get it really clean, if yours is like mine it was relatively clean however after several wipes of one of the wipes you notice its not as clean as you thought. After you have done this you then need to work out roughly where you want your parking sensors to warn you about, I decided I want them to warn me about only the very rear of the car and a little of the side of the bumper in case I was reversing round a wall etc.. Once you have done this take your sensor tape from you kit and slowly place it on the bumper, in two strips, one at the top of where you want the sensors to be and one at the bottom, (mine are perfect so use the picture as a guide). Ensure that you DO NOT TEAR THE SENSOR TAPE, if you do you can place another piece of sensor tape over the top but parking dynamics do warn you it may cause interference etc... So if you do tear the tape start again! (You get loads of sensor tape). Ensure when you get to the end nearest your reversing light that you leave yourself a good 6 inches or so of tape not stuck down, so you can connect your connectors again given to you in the pack. I also used some of my duct tape, to tape down both ends of the sensors just in case in future they might start peeling. Then use some of the duct tape round the sensor tape you have hanging out of the end of the sensors to give it some strength and ensure it won’t break! (See image below) Once you have done this move your bumper to the side somewhere safe and scratch free. Grab your gaffy tape and start covering your crash bar, cover it with at least 4 layers of tape - the reason this is done is to ensure that it does not interfere with the sensors and give false readings. It looks messy but don’t worry it will never be seen. Once this is done its now time to remove the interior of the boot. There are guides for this but tbh its very very easy, the seal just pulls off, don’t pull it completely off but just enough that you can then unclip the back panel of the boot, just give it a gentle pull away from you. You can see in this image here: And here the rear interior panel pulled away. Once this is done, go to the back of the car, and where you have the rear parking light connection cut and strip down the green wire, you can see here, my car is a UK 05 model if you have a different model, you can get a friend to start the car put it in reverse and then use your current tester to check which wire is the correct one for the reverse light. Once this is done this is where you need to splice in the sensor module, however you need the sensor module and mini speak (both supplied with the kit from parking dynamics, to be hidden away somewhere secure. Go back to where you removed the interior panel and stick the sensor box below the inner boot line and next to the polystyrene tire holder stuff. Use the double sided Velcro sticky pads to secure it. (Again supplied) Take the power cable from the sensor and run it through the grommet that all the rear lights run through, it can be a squeeze so if it is use some of the gaffy tape to tape the wire to a screwdriver and push it through the grommet. When that’s done splice it into the green cable you cut earlier and solder them all together, then wrap tape around them to ensure they stay dry and tight. Then use the screwdriver technique to do the same for the sensor cable to get it through the grommet. The end of my cable had a connector on that did not feel very secure so I resoldered it on and used tape hence to pic below: Once this is done you are then ready to connect the two sensor wires together, (the one sticking out the back of your car and the one on the bumper just make sure again you are careful when sticking them together and replacing the bumper not to tear the sensor tape. Replace the bumper using a few of the bolts. Test the sensors by getting a friend to put it in reverse while someone walks up to the back of the car. It should be working, so properly fit the entire bumper (if it isn’t working you need to test your connections) Before you put the interior back together again you just need to double check where you want your parking speaker mounted, it is tiny so can go anywhere I didn’t want mine too loud so put it with the sensor box so it would be hidden and under some of the internal panels. Which makes it the perfect loudness, although you do obviously need the stereo volume turned down! Once happy put all the interior panels back on and hey presto! You now have a ZED with parking sensors, and no one will ever know! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spursmaddave Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 Nice write up I posted a while back thinking about these, might just get my arse into gear now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neo-ninja Posted February 5, 2011 Author Share Posted February 5, 2011 Nice write up I posted a while back thinking about these, might just get my arse into gear now Thanks man, they are very good, tehy take a little while to get used to as initially you cant beleive that you can go back as far as they are telling you! But its amazing once you get to know them, and infact i would be tempted from now on to always put on a car that i am uncomfortble to park. Especially when this is a few hours work, £80 and your done, in comparison to actually hitting a piller or something needing a new bumper getting a respray etc... £400+ Only thing I should add is they sometime get confused if you are parking over or under grating, for example at work i park under grating and they say i am about to hit something when i know i am not. But normally quickly putting in neutral then reverse will sort it. And tbh that is the only place it happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ebized Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 I looked at this when I first got the 370 but chickened out as there were no guides as to the removal of the 370 bumper and I was not about to entrust that job the Dymanics who admitted to not having installed on a 370. Nice write up for the 350 guys though Just one query. I had understood the 2nd antenna was for use with cars like ours that have the crash bars to avoid false readings, but you do not mention that and opted for the gaffer tape - something you queried and decided to play safe? "if your vehicle has a metal crash protection bar and the antenna will be within 3 cm's of this metal bar (once the bumper is re-fitted) you can install a 2nd Antenna (included with all PD1 sensors) to prevent any reduction in detection range or insulate the metal crash bar. This is only required on a small number of vehicles but the option is available if required." link to the item: http://www.parkingdynamics.co.uk/Access ... or-Antenna Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neo-ninja Posted February 5, 2011 Author Share Posted February 5, 2011 Good question, so after doing some research, it turned out that the crash bar is further then 3cms away and on some other forums i visit everyone just recoomended covering the crash bar in gaffa tape just to be same. It works a dream, you could if you wanted to only use one row of sensor tape and it will be less sensative, however i figured i would rather be slightly over then under. So my final warning is around 20cm away from impact, and it starts beeping around 45cm away from impact then obviously as you get closer the beeps change. The good news is that at 20cm from impact you know you have a little more you can go back. I have heard with only one strip the final warning is more like 10cm, but that was too close for me! Any more questions just fire them over. NEO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 Great write-up. If I could get rid of the JDM reverse beeper I would install this system myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spursmaddave Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 I think if I do go for it I will get the front and rear kit with the warning lights and put them in my cubby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choptop Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 Yet another use for that great stuff...........................gaffer tape! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neo-ninja Posted February 6, 2011 Author Share Posted February 6, 2011 I think if I do go for it I will get the front and rear kit with the warning lights and put them in my cubby I just thought the lights looked a bit cheap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
un1eash Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 Looking at fitting this to our new car, are the 2 stripes one continuous loop or just 2 lines linked at the reverse light end with the connector? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neo-ninja Posted March 26, 2011 Author Share Posted March 26, 2011 Looking at fitting this to our new car, are the 2 stripes one continuous loop or just 2 lines linked at the reverse light end with the connector? The two strips come on two sepoerate bits of metal tape, then you wind them together when you want to end it and put them into a crimp exactly as you said at the reverse light end. You can kind of see on the picture with the bumper on the floor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
un1eash Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 Ok cool, werent sure if the other end to the reverse light was linked also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neo-ninja Posted March 26, 2011 Author Share Posted March 26, 2011 Ok cool, werent sure if the other end to the reverse light was linked also. Nope, god knows how they work, as interms of electric circuits etc it doesnt make sense, but they do and imho look a hell of a lot better then the drilled circles in your bumper. Any question let me know Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
un1eash Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 Cheers, i had the nissan fitted sensors on my 350Z. Have just order a kit, these are actually going on the fiancee's new Tigra. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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