garage parking sensor....

CliffA

Well-Known Member
Dec 29, 2009
4,712
Lake Norman, NC
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2001 Sea Ray 340DA
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i finally got around to cleaning out my garage to see if my 'new' 2007 Silverado 2500HD Crew Cab truck would fit inside.....well the good news is does fit but the bad news is i have about 6" clearance in both front and rear of the truck to the garage wall and garage door....this requires me to be VERY careful while parking the truck in the garage to insure it is inside and to not hit the wall....

instead of using the 'ball on a string' method as a parking aid i decided to try one of the parking sensors from Home Depot like the one shown in the attached link.....it was cheap ($20) and very easy to install and set up....however at first it did not work well....the instructions clearly state that there must be at least 1' 4" between the sensor and the vehicle to operate correctly but i ignored that and thought the minimum range may actually be closer....at first i had the sensor set up to read the distance between the wall and the front bumper of the truck.....however the front bumper is only about 6" from the wall when the truck is parked in the correct position....the sensor did not work well with this set up so i decided to move the sensor down close to the floor and read the distance from the wall to the front driver's side tire....this worked like a charm since the front tires are more than 1' 4" away from the wall....the sensor has a 3 color illumination....when the truck gets around 8 ft to the sensor the green light turns on....when the truck gets to around 3 ft to the sensor the yellow light turns on...when i slowly edge the truck forward to the ideal parking position the red light turns on...this puts me in the exact spot every time...i tried it probably a dozen times after the install this past WE.....the red light turns off after a few seconds....

i have no affilliation to Home Depot or the manufacturer of the parking sensor......if anyone else has a tight parking situation in their garage with their tow vehicle this may be something to consider....

cliff

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Park-Zone-Precision-Parking-Aid-PZ1600/202545442
 
My wife had a habit of pulling too far in, so I had a tennis ball on string set up for a while. It worked, but was in the way when the car wasn't there. I bought the laser indicator that ties into the garage door opener. I parked the car where it should be and positioned the laser to shine on a specific part of the dash that we could notice instantly. Seemed to work good, until the garage got so full of crap we can't park in it right now.
 
:grin: My long bed F350 Crew Cab fits with 6" clear in the front - I use the very reliable "bump the back wall" system. Hitch fits through the hole made into to my tool room perfectly. :grin:
 
I bought the laser indicator that ties into the garage door opener. I parked the car where it should be and positioned the laser to shine on a specific part of the dash that we could notice instantly. Seemed to work good, until the garage got so full of crap we can't park in it right now.

I use the same thing and it works great. I think it was roughly $20 as well. Easy install. Only comes on when you open/close the garage door and turns off within a few minutes.
 
Tennis ball and string for us. That's pretty hard to miss seeing when you're coming into the garage and you don't have to take your eyes off what you're doing to look at a sensor.

Cheapskate GFC
 
I did a bicycle flag on the fiberglass stick in a coffecan of concrete on the floor
ex wife got so distracted by looking at the tennis ball she didn't see ANYTHING ELSE that might have been left in front of the truck.
the flag was in her straight visual field.
 
I did one of the sensors for my wife, worked well until the battery went flat, then she started hitting the wall again...i had tried flags, tennis balls, etc etc.

I now have some rubber stoppers bolted to the floor that the wheels hit.
 
Laser lights as well. Mine are 1st generation. Mounting was critical. Newer ones are on goose neck mounts and far more forgiving. I've had mine for over 10 years. Work great!
 
I use parking chocks...just pull in until the 'burb stops when I make contact with the chocks and I'm in perfectly. Very low tech, reliable and fool proof. I marked the location with a sharpie on the concrete floor just incase I have to move them.

if only docking in a heavy tide and crosswind were that easy!:smt013
 
i put dock bumpers in front so my wife doesn't bump her bmw into my workbench.
 
:grin: My long bed F350 Crew Cab fits with 6" clear in the front - I use the very reliable "bump the back wall" system. Hitch fits through the hole made into to my tool room perfectly. :grin:
:smt043This has always worked for me as well.
Got tired of repairing the drywall so I installed a sheet of plywood and painted it to match the wall. No problem now.
 
:grin: My long bed F350 Crew Cab fits with 6" clear in the front - I use the very reliable "bump the back wall" system. Hitch fits through the hole made into to my tool room perfectly. :grin:

i will likely have to start backing into my garage....i have ordered a nice 'hitch step' that is spring loaded and folds down if you need to step on it to reach inside the bed.....i think it is going to stick out too far from the hitch to be able to pull straight into my garage and still be able to close the garage door....i have a utility room off of my garage and the door to this utility room is aligned pretty well with the trailer hitch on the truck....if i leave the door to this room open i should be able to back into the garage with the hitch step sticking through the doorway to the utility room and still be able to close the garage door....

cliff
 
We use a golf ball on a string. But we have 10' of clearance, not 6"... I would probably use a block bolted into the concrete if I only had 6"...
 
i put dock bumpers in front so my wife doesn't bump her bmw into my workbench.

I now have this picture in my mind of a nice Beemer driving down the road with dock fenders tied to the front...
 

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