Hello.

 

I'm looking at a used VRS and several don't have the rear parking sensors which I definitely need. Has anyone had them fitted from a dealer and know how much they would be (painted).

 

The garage selling the car I was looking at is a Vauxhall dealer and they said £350 but I don't know if that would be a SkodaOEM system or an aftermarket one (i would check before going ahead).

 

Thanks.

 

 

I imagine £350 would be aftermarket. I can't see the dealer giving much change from £500-600 as it's quite a lot of trim to remove & quite time consuming.

I fitted front & rear sensors from having neither to a pre-FL (but used a FL kit) for less than £200. That includes an updated CAN gateway which I needed to fit a Columbus.

Genuine Skoda sensors & controller. Full PDC & OPS. Two buzzers, etc.

Something like this kit should do it: http://www.carsystems.pl/skoda-octavia-2-park-pilot-front-anf-rear-w-ops,id438.html

Thanks. Not sure I have the skills to fit that myself. Just replacing a failed sensor on my last Octavia nearly killed me

 

So I guess the parts are the cheap bit, but the paint & fitting form a dealer would be the expensive part. Best be patient and wait for one with it already fitted. They are available just not in my price range or close enough to get. Must. Be. Patient.

 

I looked at one yesterday with full black leather but I think I prefer the normal half & half seats. It seemed a bit dark inside with the full leather.

The options as I see it are:

 

1) Go to Skoda, they will fit what they call an OEM Skoda kit (because it has a part number) for upwards of £300, audible warning only and no OPS.

2) Buy a £16 off eBay and DIY - I did this to my Focus and, even with my limit skills, I didn't manage to break anything. A good wire stripper is essential as you will need to splice into your reversing light. Surprisingly very good for the money.

3)Find a Cobra dealer that will supply the Parkmaster kit. When I bought my vRS I wanted parking sensors and didn't want the type that load in from the front, but the smaller, flush fit sensors. I paid £170 fitted for a kit that looks OE.

 

image by jonnyguitar, on Flickr

 

4) Either do what Karl did and DIY an OPS kit or find an OE retrofit company who will do it for you. There is a guy down south who does OE retrofits and can supply and fit rear OPS for £270. If I had found out about that before putting in my Cobra kit, I would have definitely gone down that route.

Cost me about £15 for the kit from ebay, zero for the paint and plastic primer (I already had) and about a day to prime, paint, remove bumper, fit and replace.

Why pay more?

You can try something like this too, no holes to drill. http://www.parkingdynamics.co.uk/Vehicle-Sensors/Toyota/Toyota-Parking-Sensor-Parking-Dynamics-PD1-Front-%26-Rear-Pack

Cost me about £15 for the kit from ebay, zero for the paint and plastic primer (I already had) and about a day to prime, paint, remove bumper, fit and replace.

Why pay more?

 

Because everybody's different and there are different kits. As said I had a £15 kit from eBay that I didn't have to paint as the colour was almost spot on. I personally didn't want the large, front loading sensor on the Octavia and went for what I considered (opinion) to be a better, more appropriate kit that was fitted and painted by somebody else. I think of late, there is a trend for modifying cars with OE parts, either from other vehicles or higher up the model range of your own car. For those people (and I kind of include myself) an OE mod such as OPS would be one such mod to do.

I fitted a set off ebay to my octavia,i painted them myself,total cost was £25. It took me around a morning to fit them (i didnt rush,it was easy to remove bumper & the holes are already marked on the inside of the bumper). i would of thought a garage would charge around 2-3 hours labour to fit them. 

It comes down to how OE you want it to be.

After market kits will tap into wiring in the rear lights and give you a buzzer in the boot.

OE runs under the interior trim to the fuseboard, taps into the CAN wiring and gives you a buzzer at the base of the B-Pillar.

F&R gives a second buzzer above the steering column. [if you do an OE rear instal, it's really not that much extra work to add the front at the same time.]

OE gives full integration with the car. And can be scanned by VCDS.

Aftermarket kits don't/can't.

It's really up to the OP to decide if the cost of OE kits & fitting outweigh the lower cost and lack of integration of an after market kit.

cobra a0358 every time. fitted a few sets and they are as good as oe

The OE rear parking sensors on the vRS are a bit pap. They for some reason are not flush mount;they sit in a plastic cradle so dont look as tidy as those fitted to the regular models. They inherently suffer from moisture ingress issues and false alarm occasionally.

Yes its nice they integrate into the car (with OPS on the HU and the ability to change the tone frequency and volume if you have maxidot) but if i were to need to retrofit id pay to have a decent set of flush sensors fitted.

That's exactly why I went for the Cobra kit and probably why Karl opted for a FL kit.

Correct. I didn't like the visible pre-FL brackets / mounts so opted for a FL set.

Although I didn't know it was a FL set when I bought it cheap on eBay! Conveniently already painted in silver.

I had aftermarket sensors colour coded and fitted by a dealer as part of the deal when I bought my VRS. The full price they wanted for it would have been £299 if I hadn't negotiated a discount as part of the purchase of the car. The sensors work a treat.

I got a RAC parkme system for SWMBO Seat as she was moaning about the one the dealer fitted. You don't have to drill the bumper as its a long strip that sticks to the inside of the bumper so you could look at something like that if you don't want to drill holes in your bumper. Can't say how good it is though as it's still in the box LOL