Thread: Drilling holes in a D2 rear bumper

You could drill through anything in the bumper. Under the plastic skin which you see is just a fiberous/plastic absorbtion panel or something. There is nothing that looks particularly tricky or delicate.

What stops the D2a reverse sensors going off whenever you reverse a trailor?

Don't know about drilling holes in it, but some *&^%$#@!)(&^%* reversed into mine and cracked it today. Of course they were kind enough to drive off without leaving a note

Just what I need on the last day before going on holidays.

Might put pdc's in the next one.

Just finished installing the parking sensors, really easy once you get past the fear of drilling big holes in the bumper.

You need a set square or a set of calipers I reckon to have the best chance of cutting in the same points, I used a set of calipers.

I got some duct tape and stuck it to a sensor and cut around it to then place on the slight impression already made in the bumper with the calipers. It is a bit of rule of thumb doing this bit, if you were really picky you could measure for the exact middle point of the round piece of duct tape so it is perfectly centred. I didn't bother.

Anyway, slapped the round bits of duct tape where I was going to drill to make sure it didn't look way out of place to the eye and then took em off and started drilling.

Slunnie is right, there is a thick recycled plastic backing to the thin outher bumper but with perserverence you can drill through. I had to so that the wires had somewhere to go - the sensor was not so deep that it needed to go thru this backing but the wire did. Otherwise the sensors won't sit flush.

Took off the right-hand upper taillight to see where to plumb wires thru into the inner skin where the control unit and beeper are housed (need to go back and do this properly, put wires though upper outer edge of wiring loom grommet in situ but not confident this will be entirely waterproof for deep water crossings).

Then you just take off the right-hand cargo skin vent inside, find the green/red tracer reversing light wire that comes thru with the loom (so this is the loom furthest away from you, there is another green/red tracer wire in a loom close to you but that's not the reverse wire) and tap power from there. There is an easy earth point here too, bolted in the back wall of this inner skin area.

I used a Veba sensor kit form the UK as Autocar gave it a good rating in a test though I'm sure it's probably no better than any cheap ebay one. I also got this kit because it has angle collars like the factory kit, so you can better angle the outer sensors, which sit on the bumper corners. Not cheap at GBP60 delivered to Sydney, but an okay factory alternative pdc kit I think. If you want to go original, I've seen the kit on US Ebay for $150. How you'd match wiring esp to earlier cars I don't know.

I have been told the 03-04 factory system has a disable switch on the instrument binnacle but this is all too hard to wire up for me, esp seeing my '99 is unlikely to have the wiring loom all set up like later cars prob will.

I am just going to put a switch in my power tap lead in the cargo skin cavity for when I tow a trailer. It's not hard to rip open the plastic vent to get in there and I don't tow every week with the Disco anyway.

The beep is loud and clear even though it's installed in the cargo skin cavity, and while I don't think the beeps reacts to closing distance as quickly as current, good factory pdc, it's good enough for me when I'm trying to do a reverse park with a bus bearing down on me and though I am hyper cautious at my children's daycare carpark, but this adds another layer of safety to backing up with kids potentially around.

I was worried abt the spare wheel and towbar interfering with the sensors but they don't, and the flatline beep occurs when there is still abt 30-40mm between the towbar tongue and the object behind.

Sorry a bit long-winded but I thought it may help someone who was unsure abt doing this job as I was.