Ultra precision parking

[Joe Reed]

I used to use the tennis balls in my garage but they were a nuisance when the cars weren't in there. Now I use a short piece of 2x6 on the floor....drilled two holes through the board into the floor....two bolts through the board for pegs. Just pick it up when you're doing something else in the garage, drop it back in place when you're done. It's always in the same exact place and doesn't move...

 

[wssix99]

This is really tight. I was in your same situation and solved it with a landscaping timber on the floor. I then built a frame with 2X4 studs to lay on the floor between the timber and the wall.

The timber acted as a chock for the truck tires and the frame kept it the optimal distance from the wall. It can then be lifted off the floor for cleaning or other uses.

The nice thing about this is that the constant force of the truck hitting the timber is transferred to the sill plate of the wall, which is strong and no damage is done.

I also put a laser across the door opening that illuminated with my garage door opener light, so I could double-check to make sure my bumper was clear of the door - but the landscape timber was so reliable, I was never off and sticking in to the door opening.

1. Overhead laser (depends a lot on the vehicle cant/angle each time)

You are too tight for this and it isn't a spouse-proof solution.

2. Stoplight Style sensor (can't be set that close)

You are too tight for this and it isn't a spouse-proof solution.

4. Very soft/no marring bumper on wall to rest against and stop there.

You are so tight that over time, you'll end up clocking the wall and either knocking the wall down or denting the heck out of it.

 

[Dustball]

Get a driveway marker used for marking the edges of the driveway in the winter. Drill a hole in the concrete just a bit bigger than the diameter of the marker a couple inches deep and an inch from the wall. Drop the marker in the hole and it'll stand up on its own. Being an inch away from the wall means it won't get in the way of anything and it'll flex when you bump into it before you hit the wall.

The only issue is if your drill will allow you to get within an inch from the wall.

 

[Cobra5150]

...and a 20'10.5" garage....

Have we overlooked the obvious???? Get a bigger garage.

 

[LandofRath]

Mirror would be pretty easy to setup, wouldn't need a very big one.

 

[Jazz1]

Hang a tenis ball from the ceiling. As soon as it touched your windshield your good

My neighbour hung his balls for 50 years. The string broke one day and his wife almost took out the rear wall of garage. She told me all she ever watched for pulling into garage was Herberts balls

 

[Power Sedan]

Haven't read every post here, but you could purchase a 4x8 sheet of 1"or 2" closed cell foam board, and mount it to the wall. You can always paint it, if you didn't prefer pink or blue foam board.

 

[Kpaige]

I had this same situation with my van. If I touched the wall the door would clear by 1/2" bet your garage was made in the 80's America was going economy cars.

What I did was use a small flag like a utility marker attached it to half a tennis ball and to the wall where it would just squish when the bumper was at the wall. So when I pulled in the flag would move when I was at the wall. It worked well.

 

[6S1284]

+1 for the Laser. I am real tight with my Expedition EL and have it mark to the very end of your dash as explained above. Works all the time. My wife even loves it.

 

[bczygan]

OP could add a bump out that increases floor area, or one that doesn't, and starts a few inches above grade. Frame it out like a big bay window or a simple box. Make it a faux window for camouflage Or hide it with a trellis on the outside.

At the very least, the OP could remove inside drywall and insulation (If there) and reframe the area so there is no framing where the front of the vehicle will go. This will gain 3 1/2 or 4".

Bill

 

[bob15]

Remove the bottom 3-4 feet of the studs on the back wall and put a header across higher than at least the bumper.......that will give you several more inches (allows for a slightly crooked backing up). Then use a wood stop to back the rear tires up to with the scrap studs.

I had to do the stud removal for my 2006 Silverado. I still only have about 3-4" of clearance between the front bumper and the garage door.

 

[DPG]

I use a 2x4 x 18" long. It's enough to stop the car and give me and the wife piece of mind that we pulled in far enough to close the garage doors. I also took a sharpie and drew the outline on the floor so it goes back in the same spot after it gets kicked to the side when doing something in the garage. I tried fixing it to the floor but it became a tripping hazard and was always in the way.

Exactly what I do.

 

[Stuart in MN]

You essentially have to have the front bumper up against the back wall to get the truck inside - just nail a piece of old carpet to the back wall and call it done.

 

[Falcon67]

I have OSB walls in tge shop. I back the F350 in until the rear bumper bumps the wall. The F150 is tight in the house garage and i just use a mark on the wall and the window edge on the passenger side.

 

[taumac]

I thought about this as well, as it isn't so much that I need to be an inch from the front wall as much as I need to just clear the garage door. I figured I could just run another led from the sensor led and position it in the front wall where I could see it. Stop as soon as it lights back up meaning the truck is. I longer breaking the plane. Trouble is I have two vehicles of different heights so I'd need to add an extra set of sensors. From what I've read so far, that's not as simple as it sounds.

Here's my set up

I had a new garage door with hurricane bracing and opener installed so bracket wouldn't fit the door so made a bracket to fit to work with new door. Now my truck is a Sport Trac and wife's car is a Accent so I set the beams to my truck and I put mark on the bench for her. I just though about it and in theory it should be easy to add extra set.

I should add I back my vehicles in garage and put the eye that turns on and off on the truck side. When backing in its real easy to see from drivers set.

 

[Playwme]

It seems obvious that your garage is too small and needs an extension.

 

[Joe Reed]

OP could add a bump out that increases floor area, or one that doesn't, and starts a few inches above grade. Frame it out like a big bay window or a simple box. Make it a faux window for camouflage Or hide it with a trellis on the outside.

At the very least, the OP could remove inside drywall and insulation (If there) and reframe the area so there is no framing where the front of the vehicle will go. This will gain 3 1/2 or 4".

Bill

That obviously won't work IF the garage dead ends into the house (like mine)...

 

[Sanddancer]

Mirror would be pretty easy to setup, wouldn't need a very big one.

Genius. It's so easy to overlook the simplest of solutions.

 

[DUSTIN@STI]

http://www.elitegaragefloors.com/parking-spot-aluminum-13-25-w-x-22-l-small-cars/

 

[Kaizen]

Have we overlooked the obvious???? Get a bigger garage.

or the more obvious park in the driveway

 

[BCreekDave]

In my particular situation I used the laser spot device. I didn't want something solid on the floor and it was only 15 bucks. I tried the tennis ball and got tired quickly of walking into it. For the laser if you go this way, I put a white paint spot on the floor where the laser dot is as a quick visual reference to check that it hasn't moved. It never has yet in 3 months of use.


One thing I discovered was for precision parking is the driveline backlash (rollback) in the vehicle when put into park. Sometimes there is less than a half inch, sometimes it moves a bit more than an inch. Something to be careful of.


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[bczygan]

That obviously won't work IF the garage dead ends into the house (like mine)...

That depends on where and how.

You could take a bit of space out of a room in the house.

At least you could unclad an area of wall and reframe to gain 4".

Another solution could be to install a roll up door on the outside face of the garage.

Bill

 

[Off-Street Parking]

OP could add a bump out that increases floor area, or one that doesn't, and starts a few inches above grade. Frame it out like a big bay window or a simple box. Make it a faux window for camouflage Or hide it with a trellis on the outside.

This is the way to go.

Parking with an inch of clearance every single day is going to be a huge pain. Are there ways to do it? Sure. But you only have to get too comfortable and make a mistake ONCE and you have some expensive work to fix the damaged garage, garage door, and/or the truck.

The afternoon of construction and money spent on the simple garage bump will pay itself back countless times in convenience alone.

 

[Conniptor]

One thing I discovered was for precision parking is the driveline backlash (rollback) in the vehicle when put into park. Sometimes there is less than a half inch, sometimes it moves a bit more than an inch. Something to be careful of.

If you need to eliminate that variable movement in park, you can set the emergency brake before letting off the footbrake...

 

[lonestarky]

Double the lasers and have two dash top targets to ensure a positive true position of the vehicle, throw a 3 ring binder paper reinforcement on the dash, and make sure the laser is in the circle for both, that ensures depth and angle.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00006IBUZ/?tag=atomicindus08-20

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[roc_on_the_rocks]

Double the lasers and have two dash top targets to ensure a positive true position of the vehicle, throw a 3 ring binder paper reinforcement on the dash, and make sure the laser is in the circle for both, that ensures depth and angle.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00006IBUZ/?tag=atomicindus08-20

That sounds like a good idea. But definitely rules out any drinking before parking.

 

[taumac]

If you need to eliminate that variable movement in park, you can set the emergency brake before letting off the footbrake...

I do the same.

 

[BCreekDave]

Double the lasers and have two dash top targets to ensure a positive true position of the vehicle, throw a 3 ring binder paper reinforcement on the dash, and make sure the laser is in the circle for both, that ensures depth and angle.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00006IBUZ/?tag=atomicindus08-20

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Well, the title of the thread is "ultra precision parking"! I'm not sure I would ever get out of my car. I would be like Austin Powers driving the golf cart in tunnel.

I got lucky in my car. There is a split line on top of my dashboard where the two molded sections come together. As long as I am plus or minus a half inch or so of this line I am good. It runs the entire width of the dash and is pretty much a straight line. It gives me pretty good latitude for left-right.

In case anyone is interested, here is the laser I got:

http://www.smarthome.com/smarthome-select-single-laser-garage-parking-system.html




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[imagineer]

My brother in law has the same problem, too much truck, too little garage. While visiting them, I picked up a 'glue to the floor' low profile type park stop. We put his truck touching the inside wall, then positioned the park stop tight to the forward edge of the REAR wheel.

Next, we mounted a piece of 1/2" OSB to the inside wall sized and positioned to catch only the license plate. We stapled to the OSB , an old kitchen chair cushion.

Now when he parks, he gets the rear tire just over the park stop and just takes his feet off the pedals, and puts the truck in park. He's guaranteed to be in far enough to clear the door each time. That he rolls OVER the park stop prevents the truck from rolling back at all.

We did this in '07 and its still in use .

 

[jb3]

x4 on the mirror.

we had a similar problem with a van. Tennis ball method works great, but as said, its a clothesline hazard when the car isn't in the garage

Ultimately just took a cheap mirror designed to screw to the back of the door, and hung it so you could see. Also put some soft rubber foam along the wall.

drive in garage, hit foam at a crawl, done.

 

[61scout80]

I parked the car, put a piece of 4x4 on the the floor at the tire and outlined it in sharpie. I did this for all my cars and wrote the year and model next to each outline. When i needed to work I picked up the blocks and knew exactly where they needed to go when i was done.

It was also very easy to see when the block started creeping forward, and simple to reset.

 

[johninct]

I am putting 2 cars in a 1 car garage. I can't have a block of wood because for my elderly mother to get in the car, I have to first back out and then she can walk over to the passenger side and I pull back in. She would trip on a piece of wood. Both cars are angled. I am so tight that before closing the garage door, I take the remote near the door then close the door while watching if the door will hit the trunk. 1" clearance . I do this sometimes 3 times a day. My solution, as soon as the back wheels go over the garage door lip, I turn the wheel completely left and go really slow.

 

[CSRPenFab]

Well, the title of the thread is "ultra precision parking"! I'm not sure I would ever get out of my car. I would be like Austin Powers driving the golf cart in tunnel.

I got lucky in my car. There is a split line on top of my dashboard where the two molded sections come together. As long as I am plus or minus a half inch or so of this line I am good. It runs the entire width of the dash and is pretty much a straight line. It gives me pretty good latitude for left-right.

In case anyone is interested, here is the laser I got:

http://www.smarthome.com/smarthome-select-single-laser-garage-parking-system.html




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I have a similar laser set up, but twin beams for two vehicles, all of $20 on Amazon. Luckily my VW Touareg has a nice round molded plastic piece dead center of the dash. When the red dot hits that piece, I know I'm parked perfectly with about 2" behind my vehicle when the roll up closes. That way I still have a nice 4' walking area in front of my parked car.

 

[greenlizard]

Some good suggestions. Some silly ones too, not that I can offer better.
One thing I can promise you is that someone, sometime, is going to hit that garage wall. Eventually, everyone makes a misjudgement. You should prepare for that time with some type of non-marring wall covering. The hard insulation foam panel material might be the best bet. Then you can tell when the wall is bumped.

 

[Off-Street Parking]

Some good suggestions. Some silly ones too, not that I can offer better.

Oh, are silly suggestions allowed?


In that case, I say re-pour the floor, sloped in a low angle "V" shape, with a low spot where the front tires need to settle. Then you just get the truck "close" (within a foot or so), put it in neutral, and let it roll under gravity to the perfect spot.

Or get some of those motorized tracks like the automatic car washes use, so you can just park in the driveway and it pulls the truck in perfectly by itself.

Or retrofit an electric drivetrain onto the truck, and borrow some of that self-driving / self-parking technology from Tesla?