It was sunny, her indoors and the boy were playing tennis, so it was a good day to do some Rangey fettling.

The rear parking sensors were chipped and letting the rear end down, so a shameless shout out to Powerful for their 16mm parking sensor covers. These fit nicely onto the existing chipped sensor and do a pretty good job of tidying things up. Also, their video on how to remove the rear bumper was extremely useful and a five minute job, even for one man on his own.

I fitted the sensor covers, but as I have mechanical ocd, decided to take off the rear bumper, take off the sensors and paint them properly.

A few pics to follow showing existing sensors and the Powerful vinyl covers. The existing paint was stripped off with Nitromors and then sanded with 1000 grit to give a key for the paint.

A light dusting of grey primer and a couple of coats of my favourite satin black and they were looking peachy.

Whilst the bumper was off I took the opportunity to put some rust converter on the rusty tow hook area and once dried, I gave everything I could see that was slightly brown, a wire brush and spray with XP Rust Blocker.

Finally, once the parking sensors were reinstalled and the bumper back on, I fitted new rear mud flaps. I used number plate mounting caps to cover the screw heads and prevent future rust.

All in all a very satisfying couple of hours.

First pic shows the scabby sensors compared to the Powerful vinyl covers.



Painted sensors and dust seals



Installed in the bumper



Rust converted tow hook area drying



I have 4 spare Powerful sensor covers I won’t use, so the first person to PM me gets them posted out, free of any cost (incl zero postage)

Nb - I’ve spotted in the installed pic that the sensor seal isn’t sitting correctly, so off with the rear mud flap, off with the bumper, remove the sensor and install properly.

A job for tomorrow methinks.

Edit - thought I might be able to get my thinnest feeler gauge in and tease the seal out. Turns out I could get my hand in behind the bumper and access the sensor and pop it out. Some silicone spray on the seal and it all looks spot on.

Aside from test flying and fixing our balsa glider after a nose heavy crash, Sam and I got to work on making the media interface solution a little neater than have a cable trailing from the centre glove box/fridge unit to where the iPhone sits on the vent above the start/stop button.

Some head scratches and routing discussions, but we eventually settled on going through the top of the fridge (without compromising any fridge related bits/wiring), under the centre console and out where the top of the hockey stick meets the dash.













The cable tucks away nicely when not in use, but I will probably have it connected 99% of the time for charging, sat nav, music etc.

Ideally I’d have used grommets at every panel interface, but getting a drill of the right size in there without hitting something critical was proving tricky.

I now have all my music controlled by the touch screen and steering wheel buttons and the ability to switch to sat nav at any time.

where do you mount your phone? The only 'regressive' element of my change from L320 2007 to L320 2013 is the fact that my IPhone no longer has its own shelf in front of the satnav....

A magnetic mount shoved in the vent doesn't hold the phone at a useful angle, and is an aesthetic fail too ... at least in my eyes

I have a Yosh magnetic mount on the vent. The phone sits just above the start/stop button and is held at the same angle as the vent. It sits flush and very neat and the charging lead is the perfect length to go into the bottom of the phone, without having too much cable hanging loose.

Cheers, I'll check that out ... my vent mount doesn't seem up to the job of hanging onto an iPhone 12 pro max! Suspect it was an el cheapo from somewhere

I've been using Brodit mounts for well over thirty years and IMO they're the best on the market.

Here's a link to the mount you'll need, but you'll also need to add the specific holder for your phone.

https://www.brodit.co.uk/brodit/vehicles/l...78,ft_4_36

I'll take a picture of mine later for you if you want to see it although it's slightly different being a later model.

Second the Brodit mounts one of the best, used one to mount a portable tomtom sat nav as well.

Cheers
Col

Another for Brodie

I have the Apple mag charger mount for mine, Mag Safe case on the phone and it sticks like the proverbial to the blanket, not fallen off yet in 12 month of use.

That's the same one I use, so I don't have to take a picture now - thanks.

I use a Samsung phone so have a cradle, but it works really well as all my others have done.

I had to remove the Brodit sticker though, I thought it looked really 'tacky'. If it was an embossed badge, fine, but a sticker? Shame on Brodit IMO.

Here’s my Yosh magnetic vent holder and phone in place. Really unobtrusive and the phone has never fallen off.

The metal plate that attaches to the magnet is self adhesive and can be placed anywhere on the phone.










In order to get the phone to work with the head unit you need to convert the 12v supply to 5v, so the daisy chain works as follows - 30 pin media cable plugs into the media port under the central glovebox. This is converted from 12v to 5v with a CableJive converter. The converter plugs into a 30 pin to lightning adapter and this then plugs in to a female lightning socket to make lightning extension cable, which runs under the centre console as previously shown.

This set up allows full access to media, you can play YouTube audio through it and it charges the phone as well.

I used the other style brodit mount, obstructs the vent slightly but nothing drastic.



Cheers
Col

All, many thanks for the tips / pics on the phone mount ..... a little package from Brodit should be arriving today

I put a new battery in. Car hasn't moved since Christmas and it started immediately. Took a few miles to get any sensible brakes back!

Another Brodit fan here