Retrofit rain sensor & auto dim mirror
 

Hi yous,

I am toying with the idea to retrofit a rain sensor and an auto dim mirror in my V50, 2008 2.0D R-Design and as such opening up a can worm 🐛!

Can someone shed some light as to how much could it cost? is it possible? Is it worth it?
Is there anyone out there who done this?

I just don’t wanna go and take the car apart and find that the wiring harness is not there. I would not wanna go to that distance. Just not worth the hassle IMHO!

Thanks in advance for your input
Greg

Plenty of threads about installing the auto dim mirror. Just make sure to get the right one a) for the year of you car (pre or post 2008), and b) whether you have a rain sensor or not (2 different wiring harnesses). If you're doing it, you might as well get the one with the digital compass. They're very expensive new, but very reasonable secondhand.

Which leads on to installing the rain sensor. I really doubt it's possible. You won't have the wiring, the button on the stalk and probably won't have the cutout for it in the black part of the windscreen. So even if you managed to get the wiring (which in itself is unlikely), the new stalk (unlikely you have the wiring for the button) and a new windscreen, you won't have the software. I doubt it's even possible to get the software from a main dealer, but even if it was, it would cost hundreds.

So even if it was technically possible (which is unlikely), and even with second hand parts (can you get a second hand windscreen? Will insurance pay for a rain sensor one when your car doesn't have it?) it would cost a lot. Which is probably too much to pay for the small convenience of not turning on your wipers yourself.

That said, it it a feature I use daily. And when I got my car, it didn't work, as the previous owner replaced the windscreen, and they forgot to fit the clear silicone pad over the sensor. I fitted that bit myself, and it's worked great ever since. But aside from that, I wouldn't have gone to any great effort to get it if the car didn't have it installed already.

Interesting that you want to fit the rain sensor.

I've had this in previous Volvos yet my current car doesn't have it and I absolutely don't miss it!

The fact that when in "rain sensing wipers" mode, the scroll wheel allows you to adjust the sensitivity of the rain sensor kind of defeats the point in having the sensor in the first place!

I would always be adjusting the scroll wheel on the sensor because I could never get it it quite right, at which point you may as well just use the normal intermittent wipers and use the same stalk to adjust the frequency of the swipe.

I did have a rain sensor in a Peugeot 406 years back and that (surprising) worked REALLY well, because A) there was no sensor adjustment and B) There was no manual intermittent setting. It was either Wipers OFF or Rain Sensing Wipers ON, or Wipers on full.

Volvos system seems like overkill to me.

Maybe it's just me but I find the Volvo one great.

I did a 3 hour journey on the weekend in all kinds of rain, I just have the adjustment 3 clicks up and leave it on auto, it handles the different speeds spot on for me.

Personal preference of course. I wonder how many times they updated the software for it and how much that altered the usage.

Okay, I guess you kinda answered every of my questions never asked.
I defo think the weakest link in this whole is the windscreen.

TBH its a new car for me, never had a V50, and wanna bring it up to my standard. Just kinda measuring up the devil how much it can hurt.

Others on my list is the heated seat, auto folding mirrors, and tow bar. these are on top of my list.

OH, and to fix that flippin' mic on my BT. for whatever reason does not work.
Grr...

I miss rain sensor wipers in my C30 but not enough to buy a new windscreen etc to sort it. Just one of those things you'll eventually get used to not having I guess.

True dat!

I reckon I'll have to get used to it too.

I may be wrong, but upgrading these cars is next to impossible as everything g has to be programmed to the car in some way....except the tow bar, fitting one of those should be straight forward enough 😉

Funny enough you said that. I need one of those as well. But not even sure as yet if I can! I shall figure it out soon. Is the tow bar prep present in every v50 or should I look for something specific?

With all the stuff you want to add to the car, it might seriously be worth considering selling up and buying a V50 R-Design Lux instead (my SE Lux has all of these gadgets you want). This is probably the cheapest, quickest and most hassle free way to get what you ultimately want.