DIY BSM calibration radar reflector

Just trying to put some information out that may assist someone in the future that wants to save a little money.

I made my own radar reflector for calibrating my BSM after I accidentally messed up the calibration.

To make a reflector of your own for use with the techstream software you will need the following things:

-sturdy cardboard
-aluminum foil
-tape
-Marker
-ruler
-knife/razor
-something sturdy with a stand to support the reflector

Note: the goal of the reflector is to reflect radar energy back to the source, so being precise as possible is a must.

I made three right angle triangles with a width of 9" at the opening and 4.5" deep. Wrapped them in foil with the shiny side out and then taped it together. The end result looks something like this:


I then cut a triangle out of another piece of cardboard to hold it in place and made a rough center line mark across the back of it for setting the height later on. It looked like this:




Then I got myself a 48" ruler from harbour freight to attach the reflector to in addition to being able to set have a ruler to set height off the ground. Then placed it into one of my jack stands to hold it. It looked like this:


After making the reflector, follow the steps on the FSM and setup some reference points to place the reflector behind the vehicle and using techstream, check the beam angle until you get it in a spot that's within tolerance(-3.5deg to 3.5deg) to set the calibration. Once you have it setup correctly and you have the correct angle, run the calibration on both the master(LH) and slave(RH) sensors and you should be good to go.

Note: i raised mine over the factory 20" height to better alighn the reflector with the sensor due to my lift, but this is unconfirmed to be correct.



Again I'm not a certified mechanic, just someone with training on basic radar theory and I'm cheap enough to try this myself to save a buck.

Hopefully this helps some of you who wish to do the same and remember to never rely on fancy electronics in place of what you actually see. If any issues arise later from this I will try and update the top of this post.

 

Just when you think you’ve seen it all on this site. My hat is off to you sir

 

I might try this when I replace the rear bumper with a high clearance one. I have an Idea on where I can mount the sensors in the bumper I am considering. @Weirich what is the cheapest way to get techstream and do you need the subscription to re-calibrate the BSM?

 

I got techstream years ago from some post on the forums, I can't really day if it still works though.

 

You can get it from this post
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/ecu-tsb-update.562550/

 

Thank you! Hopefully this works!