Looong car

Zarwin · Mar 23, 2015

I don't have a whole lot of free space in my garage and always am extra careful to get the car backed in just right. About a foot clearance in front and two feet in the rear. No parking sensors so I just eyeball it and usually get it pretty close. I always walk around the front and double check before closing the door. Tonight I was in a hurry and had groceries in the back, walked straight to the back to unload and while unloading my wife was nice enough to close the garage door for me. Luckily I had backed in far enough, but by less than an inch. That was CLOSE!

hadfiiw · Mar 23, 2015

I am afraid of the same thing. A friend is going to bring his over and test it out before mine arrives.

pgiralt · Mar 23, 2015

I bought one of these precisely because I was afraid of doing that:

http://smile.amazon.com/MAXSA-Innov...72162?ie=UTF8&%2AVersion%2A=1&%2Aentries%2A=0

Zarwin · Mar 23, 2015

pgiralt said:
I bought one of these precisely because I was afraid of doing that:

http://smile.amazon.com/MAXSA-Innov...72162?ie=UTF8&%2AVersion%2A=1&%2Aentries%2A=0

Thanks. Didn't know this existed, at least not in an inexpensive form like this. I'll probably go this route or stick with my original plan to raise the safety sensor beam already there. That beam goes just slightly under the car so if I raised it up a few inches that should keep me from doing something stupid. Then again, the parking sensor would help me not back in too far. I've never backed in too far, but there is so little 'room' for error.

Hell I'm so paranoid about that damn garage door that I cut the power off to it completely when I have the car partially backed in (which is rare but does happen on occasion). I'm afraid I'll accidentally close it somehow, or someone else in the house will instinctively close it going in the door in the garage. Hmm, raising the sensor will prevent this from happening also. Perhaps both options!

Cyclone · Mar 23, 2015

Zarwin said:
Perhaps both options!

This is what I would do. Moving the sensor covers 85% of potential problems, the laser another 10%. Not bad for $20 and some of your time.

llavalle · Mar 23, 2015

3 feet of extra space is enormous!

I have around 14inches total in my garage.. Even the new parking sensors can't help me as I need to park halfway in the "red STOP" zone

mmh · Mar 23, 2015

I have the same problem in my garage, I used a more... low tech solution, duct tape, mans greatest invention.

llavalle · Mar 23, 2015

Yeah, my problem is that I have to almost always get the front in.

I think I'll install a small bump on the floor. 100% effective.

Cyclone · Mar 23, 2015

mmh, I'd be terrified opening the driver door in your garage! Thankfully, my SUV can fit in both spaces with plenty of room, and it's only inches off in size to the Model S. Plenty of room for us.

cgiGuy · Mar 23, 2015

MrClown · Mar 23, 2015

Zarwin said:
I don't have a whole lot of free space in my garage and always am extra careful to get the car backed in just right. About a foot clearance in front and two feet in the rear. No parking sensors so I just eyeball it and usually get it pretty close. I always walk around the front and double check before closing the door. Tonight I was in a hurry and had groceries in the back, walked straight to the back to unload and while unloading my wife was nice enough to close the garage door for me. Luckily I had backed in far enough, but by less than an inch. That was CLOSE!

I put one of these on each of the lower horizontal supports of the garage door that could ever contact the car:

http://www.lowes.com/pd_21411-1410-S10XB/6_4294765361__?productId=1060001

It is self-adhesive (sticks to both the top and bottom side of the support) and took about 5 minutes to apply each one plus some cleaning/prep. It's hard to tell from your picture if it would work on yours but it's cheap enough to try.

CHG-ON · Mar 23, 2015

Ha ha! I feel the same way. I have 18"...that's it, to fit my lovely girl in her boudoir. I glued a 2x2 board down to stop me at just the right point, which I back into and it works perfectly. I have only 1" of clearance to the door, so I always check. Works great, except when the car is out of the garage and I constantly trip over the damn thing. Haven't killed myself yet!

megawhizz · Mar 23, 2015

Same problem for me, a low(er) tech but very effective solution: http://amzn.to/1CLjwVu - works great even if the car is not completely straight, and if the backup camera is dirty with poor visibility

Larry93428 · Mar 23, 2015

Zarwin, wow! That is close. There are some good suggestions above.
I took a short string of Christmas lights, mounted vertically on the wall for a target. (Wish I had a photo.) I line the "T" of the rear hatch and back up until I hit a 2 X 10 that is on the deck. The lights are tied into the opener and come on when the door is open. It is a good target.
~Larry

Rheazombi · Mar 23, 2015

MrClown said:
I put one of these on each of the lower horizontal supports of the garage door that could ever contact the car:

http://www.lowes.com/pd_21411-1410-S10XB/6_4294765361__?productId=1060001

It is self-adhesive (sticks to both the top and bottom side of the support) and took about 5 minutes to apply each one plus some cleaning/prep. It's hard to tell from your picture if it would work on yours but it's cheap enough to try.

This. I would definitely do this at least as a precautionary measure. Considering how many hundreds of times you park in your garage, if you mess up even 1% of the time/garage door closes, it would be nice to have a little bumper where it might have scratched the car.

paulkva · Mar 23, 2015

megawhizz said:
Same problem for me, a low(er) tech but very effective solution: http://amzn.to/1CLjwVu - works great even if the car is not completely straight, and if the backup camera is dirty with poor visibility

I bought two of the same item about 3 years ago for our previous cars. Simple, effective, and yes, low-tech. Only two downsides: (1) if the car isn't in the garage you can trip on it (as CHG-ON noted with the 2x2 board solution), and (2) you can't move it easily once it's set, so changing cars can be ... challenging. (I tried several different adhesives after the tape that came with it, and frankly I don't even remember what ended up working.)

Whenever I have to make a change in the garage that would require me to move the AccuPark, I'll probably go for a laser-based solution.

Canuck · Mar 23, 2015

This works great for me -- a ball hanging from a string -- when it touches the windshield you stop...

brucet999 · Mar 23, 2015

I use a black Magic Marker. Get the car parked far enough in to clear the garage door, open the car door, identify some landmark on the door sill, make a mark on the garage floor directly under that landmark, Draw a line about a foot long through your mark. Thereafter you simply drive in with door open until your landmark is over the line and you're done.

No tripping hazard, no scaring the bejeebers out of you when you walk into a hanging tennis ball...and it's cheap.

Kbsilver · Mar 24, 2015

brucet999 said:
I use a black Magic Marker. Get the car parked far enough in to clear the garage door, open the car door, identify some landmark on the door sill, make a mark on the garage floor directly under that landmark, Draw a line about a foot long through your mark. Thereafter you simply drive in with door open until your landmark is over the line and you're done.

No tripping hazard, no scaring the bejeebers out of you when you walk into a hanging tennis ball...and it's cheap.

I see the hanging tennis ball has already been suggested. In the past I have used a vertical black line on the wall (magic marker) that lines up with a reference inside the car. I've used the door lock handle in other cars, but as the Tesla does not have that sticking up, the edge of the door or side view mirror might work.

RDoc · Mar 24, 2015

I've got a bit more space than some of you guys, but am hoping that the auto-parking system will work to back the car into the garage such that the nose is very close to the closed door. We'll see how accurate the system is in a few months.

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