Goulton

I have a 2013 vRs and fitted the whole parking sensor system myself with a lot of help from my son. As others have said the control unit is fitted in the boot, the bleeper is fitted low on the B-pillar and wiring must be provided to the gearstick to register the car is in reverse. Also, a wire is required to the fuse box on the RH side of the car beside the steering column. To get the wiring in the passenger seat was removed (care need with the air bag connections) and it's a bit of a pain routing the wires behind the front dash panels but nothing too daunting if you are used to working on car electrics. I had to fit the complete system including the rear sensors. I didn't buy a kit but collected all the parts from various suppliers mainly in the Czech republic. I don't remember the total cost when it was installed in 2014 but all the bits were then only a few tens of pounds. When all the pieces are fitted you then have to tell the car they exist. This requires a program like VCDS installed on your laptop and the interconnect cable. The interconnect cable is expensive, I think about £250, but as at the time both my sons and myself had vRs models it was too bad spread over three vehicles and has proved an extremely useful diagnostic tool over the years. VCDS will also allow you to change the frequency and loudness of the bleeper if you wish. After all this is done the parking sensors will show on the radio screen when activated.

Thanks for all your comments. From what you say it seems there isn't one particular tyre that is so much better than the others that I have to go for that one. So when I need tyres I may well go for something cheap and then be prepared to change them in a year or two, three or four even if they still have good treads. At the moment I have Pirelli P Zero Nero fitted. I don't know if these were the OEM fitment but they seem to work OK at the level I drive the car. In a few weeks I will have the car on the Ford test track at Dunton so will be able to explore the handling at a higher stress. Not sure I agree with the earlier comment about tyres in hotter climates as the tyres are made with quite different material mixes. I destroyed a pair of Pirelli Cinturatos (made in Europe) in South Africa because they could not stand the temperatures. Local tyres we OK.

To answer the question above from goneoffSKi. "Gone off" in my terms means that the tyre material has lost its natural grip due to age. Due to the fact that I don't do a large mileage each year now I'm retired (although a much bigger mileage than when I was working) I can be running tyres that are over 5 years old but have done no more than perhaps 12k miles. So plenty of tread but not much grip. I have always assumed, perhaps wrongly, that there is a trade off between grip and tyre life and I was hoping to maximise grip and ignore the life.

Continental tyres are reported to wear out rather fast but do they perform well? I don't do a large mileage either in the vRs or on my bikes and I find that the rubber has "gone off" long before the treads are worn anywhere near their limits. And it hurts me to throw away tyres that still appear good (and would certainly comfortably pass the MOT).