[squidlyboy]

Originally Posted by RSnic

Thanks for any ideas and allowing me to gripe some!

Wow... i had no idea. Sorry to hear about all the issues, but all this is definitely over my head. Hope you find the answers you're looking for.. I'm kinda leaning away from doing the surround view setup since it seems pretty complicated. That plus the fact that each camera is about $350 a piece, putting the camera costs alone over $1k

Originally Posted by steelerfan

I absolutely love this thread!!!! i've become obsessed with this project & have been for months. We just had our 1st child on 2/28/15 so finding time to work on this has been challenging to say the least.

hey steelerfan - congrats on the new addition to your family! Yeah, i'm surprised the wifey lets you out to do these projects with the new little one haha... good for you! I know these things will suck the time out of entire weekend for me I really appreciate the excellent write-up! What i love most about it is that you filled in a lot of the gaps that i had questions about after reading through roxxor's writeup. Between the two write-ups, a pretty comprehensive DIY is the result, and a lot of the details of the install process that were a bit hazy before in my mind is now crystalizing. Thanks again!! to both of you!!

Originally Posted by steelerfan

Rather than cut the OEM grommet as mentioned above, i actually drilled a new hole. I used a 1-3/4" hole bit for metal, but if I were to do this over again I would use a 1-1/2" bit b/c the 1-3/4" is just a tad too big to hold the new grommet securely. The Pilot hole drilled. I test fitted the previous bracket to make sure there was no interference before drilling

Thanks for this! This was super helpful. I'm usually not a fan of drilling new holes in the car, but man, your work here has such a clean OEM finish to it, i think i'm going to do that. I didn't realize until looking at roxxor's original parts pic that the grommet comes with the cable kit, so it looks like everything is there for a clean hole to be drilled, and wires managed properly to feed through the new hole. Incidentally, i found BMW's Rear PDC Install Guide PDF (attached it here), and it said this:

Drill out the punch point on the closing panel underneath the right rear light to 40mm with a step drill, debur the hole, and treat it with customary BMW anti-corrosion measures.

So the 1.5" diameter hole you recommended is spot-on with the install guide.

Originally Posted by steelerfan

Drilling the holes in the bumper was really nerve racking, but using a step bit is def. the way to go. Now onto the drilling bumper: Here is the bit i used. I applied some painters tape so i knew where to stop as this bit would be too big if I went all the way to the end. Holes came out super clean, the hole is perfect despite this photo. something in the background is making that hole not look completely round but trust me it is:



Now putting the sensor in the hole was tricky. The 3M tape they used on the clip grabs instantly. Would be nice to have some wiggle room to line up the sensor... I did 2 of the 4 good, not crazy about the other 2. That was difficult. I would suggest getting the bumper up to eye level like on a work bench so you could come in from behind at eye level. I tried to do this on the ground & I got inconsistent results

This Nice job on the drilling. Super clean and OEM look for sure! I'll be thrilled if mine comes close to being as clean as yours. And thanks for the detailed info here covering a lot of the gotcha's. SOOO helpful.. you have no idea. Some questions:

1. Do you remember what step level you went to with the drill bit before you stopped? I recall reading somewhere that these sensors are 18mm or that they required 18mm (0.70866 inch) holes. Not sure where i read that. But this would be is a tad smaller than 3/4". I was actually looking to get a metric step drill bit to do this work because i wanted them perfect. Being that you punched perfect holes with a standard step-drill bit, i was just curious what hole size you ended up with? Because they DO look perfect.
   
2. How is the 3m tape used in this situation? Seems the rubber decoupling ring that acts as a grommet to hold the sensor in place against the hole is enough to keep them in place...