garage parking aid

[imported_tuffluck]

so i just moved out of a condo with my girlfriend that had tandem garaging whereby one person had to park behind the other. very spacious but a pain if the person in front had to get out.



we moved into a regular 2-car garage this past weekend which is more convenient, but a tight space to park in. the condo behind us is very close so we can't pull in the garage straight. we don't have a problem with the front wall (the hanging tennis ball trick is usually a suggestion here), but the bigger issue when pulling in at an angle is hitting the side wall and/or the other person's car.



for the other person's car concern, i put up a cone in the front middle of the garage near the large garage door. this way we bump the cone before bumping a car IF we get too close (ideally let's not bump anything!).



getting too close to the wall and having a guide there is not as easy. i've thought about liquid nailing a guide board of about a 2x2 dimension so that if my tire hits it, i know i have gone far enough otherwise inching forward anymore would cause me to hit the wall. also along this line (pun intended), i considered hanging plastic golf balls from strings on the ceiling about 4-6" away from the wall. this way as i pull in, if i hit a hanging ball, i had better start over before i bump the outermost wall. do you guys have any suggestions?



then again the obvious autopian question--will lightly brushing a cone or a plastic golf ball hurt my paint? obviously the idea is to bump nothing, and the cone i can see being easier to avoid than the golf balls, but it is a valid question for those of us with pristine paint to maintain!



thanks for any help.

 

[Ron Ketcham]

Never considered anything like this before.

However, old, retarded, retired guys do still think,some times.

So, don't know if this would work, but less chance of marring.

Foam insulation tubes!

The ones that are split down the middle so you can put them around pipes.

My question is "what would happen if you used that material in place of the balls, cut them in, say 24 inch length's, string on each end, then space them out along the area, at about one to two foot apart.

Directs you as you come in, easy to follow guide when pulling in, and, if sat at the right height, very little chance of producing marring.

Who knows?

I don't, never done it, just a mind exercise.

Grumpy

 

[Nth Degree]

What about mirrors? Either cheap flat ones that you can get at Wal-Mart or get some of the convex ones for seeing around corners. Mounted in the right locations you should be able to see where you are without waiting until it's (almost) too late.

 

[C. Charles Hahn]

What about mirrors? Either cheap flat ones that you can get at Wal-Mart or get some of the convex ones for seeing around corners. Mounted in the right locations you should be able to see where you are without waiting until it's (almost) too late.

Agreed. That's probably the easiest way to go.