Not sure. Why? Is there a difference in the PLA sensor brackets between the 7 and the 7.5?
7
PDC Retrofit Question
- Thread starter Fraysa
- Start date
Not sure. Why? Is there a difference in the PLA sensor brackets between the 7 and the 7.5?
IWMTom
Autocross Newbie
- Location
- North East England
That's my best guess!
I've seen a video of a MK6 Golf Cabrio, one of a kind in Israel a few days ago - someone imported it from Germany. Surprisingly enough, it had PLA from factory. The guy shot a video of the exterior and the rear also seemed to have "inner" side sensors rather than flat.
IWMTom
Autocross Newbie
- Location
- North East England
Dunno then!
Easy enough to swap the brackets over if you'd like to. I find the flat ones actually end up looking better hahaha.
I have to redo my rear sensors anyway (get rid of the AliExpress brackets and put the new genuine ones) so I will swap it.
lijetta18t
Passed Driver's Ed
- Location
- Island of Long, NY
I was thinking of retrofitting PLA/PDC on my 7.5 wagon/variant/estate but after seeing the troubles you have been having with just using the brackets, I may just stick with front/rear PDC and skip the PLA. Otherwise, glad to see you getting everything up and running!
If you're doing the hassle of retrofitting front/rear PDC, you might as well do PLA as it just adds 4 extra holes. The brackets issue is not for PLA but for all PDC sensors. Using the double sided tape brackets from AliExpress is a bad idea, but you should definitely go for the PLA version!
lijetta18t
Passed Driver's Ed
- Location
- Island of Long, NY
Gotcha! I was thinking I would be using the Kufatec kit over the AliExpress kit after hearing about how many issues you are all having with it. I know a local who did the retrofit on his now late Golf R a while back which I assist with but he did most of the work but he does have the correct punch tool for the normal PDC sensors. I believe he used the kit from Carsystems.eu which worked out well for him. As of now, this is not high on my list of stuff to do on this wagon I have due to cost but it is on my list for sure. I do miss them from my previous car which had them stock.
IWMTom
Autocross Newbie
- Location
- North East England
FWIW I had no issues barring a simple pin swap.
Cuzoe
Autocross Champion
- Location
- Los Angeles
I haven't powered mine up but I expect no issues. Based only on @Fraysa's issues I did inspect the terminations of pins at every connector, didn't find a single issue. I did swap the pins going to the rear sensors because I ran the harness along the right side of the vehicle, per OEM drawings.
As we figured out this harness is built to be routed on the left side and is pinned accordingly. That matches the instructions of the carsystems install PDF. This suggests to me that they are the same harness, which means I'm buying from whoever has it cheapest,
.
As we figured out this harness is built to be routed on the left side and is pinned accordingly. That matches the instructions of the carsystems install PDF. This suggests to me that they are the same harness, which means I'm buying from whoever has it cheapest,
.I haven't powered mine up but I expect no issues. Based only on @Fraysa's issues I did inspect the terminations of pins at every connector, didn't find a single issue. I did swap the pins going to the rear sensors because I ran the harness along the right side of the vehicle, per OEM drawings.
As we figured out this harness is built to be routed on the left side and is pinned accordingly. That matches the instructions of the carsystems install PDF. This suggests to me that they are the same harness, which means I'm buying from whoever has it cheapest,
I'm pretty sure carsystems is just a rebranded AliExpress.
From now on, going to use Kufatec harnesses in my car/genuine OEM parts. No more AliExpress haha.
IWMTom
Autocross Newbie
- Location
- North East England
Can confirm it's absolutely not. I've bought a few things from CarSystems before I started buying them from AliExpress.. definitely genuine EU market goods.
Take the RVC for example.. all the RVC looms on AliExpress require you to put a couple bare pins into a bare connector yourself for some reason. Didn't have to with CarSystems.
Also, all AliExpress RVCs have the Asia market P/N, but mine from CarSystems didn't.
LED Tails were also EU market goods.
Cuzoe
Autocross Champion
- Location
- Los Angeles
I've had good luck with the AliExpress harnesses. They are cheap, convenient and tend to have extra length. I've been lucky I guess that more often than not the colors have matched the Erwin drawings. It's certainly worth taking the time to do thorough visual/pin security and continuity checks of the harnesses before install, although this is a good practice in general. With time I'm at a point where I could source parts and build harnesses myself but I'll pay for the convenience of not needing to determine wire lengths or terminate in the car. Wrapping in tesa tape is also really annoying, haha.
My heated seat harness is from Kufatec (it was the first retrofit harness I ever bought) and it is higher quality wire than anything else in the car (besides the harnesses I built with mil-spec wiring), which I like. All the wires are gray but they are marked with their destination plug/pin. My only "issue" is that there is basically zero extra length. I ended up extending some wires even though I followed OEM routing as closely as possible. I always prefer some extra length on each end is at allows for routing variations and gives you the opportunity to re-pin (without splicing/extending wires) if necessary.
My heated seat harness is from Kufatec (it was the first retrofit harness I ever bought) and it is higher quality wire than anything else in the car (besides the harnesses I built with mil-spec wiring), which I like. All the wires are gray but they are marked with their destination plug/pin. My only "issue" is that there is basically zero extra length. I ended up extending some wires even though I followed OEM routing as closely as possible. I always prefer some extra length on each end is at allows for routing variations and gives you the opportunity to re-pin (without splicing/extending wires) if necessary.
lijetta18t
Passed Driver's Ed
- Location
- Island of Long, NY
Funny you mentioned Kufatec harnesses being short. That is certainly not the case with the footwell light harness I used as I had at least 2-3ft left over near the BCM with plenty of slack on each side and wiring was run with the factory wiring harness. I had to wrap it up and tesa tape it so it didn't rattle.
Cuzoe
Autocross Champion
- Location
- Los Angeles
I actually read about the Kufatec heated seat harness being short before I bought it, few years ago at this point. And sure enough when I finally installed mine a few weeks ago it's just long enough. Can't speak to any of their other harnesses... until I buy the external sound actor, haha.