Narrow garage solutions?

Mick_12Nismo · 05-18-2019, 04:05 PM

I have a little different take on the tennis ball suggestion mentioned above. Park your car in your garage exactly as you want it positioned. Then tack or nail a string to the garage ceiling and hang the tennis ball from the string so that it barely touches the center of the windshield at the attachment point of the rearview mirror (you can use any other point you want but using the mirror makes it easy to hit the exact same spot every time). Before you back the car out of the garage note how the ball appears while sitting in your seat. When returning to your garage just pull in straight, put the ball in the same position and you'll be good to go.

masahiro · 05-18-2019, 08:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mick_12Nismo

I have a little different take on the tennis ball suggestion mentioned above. Park your car in your garage exactly as you want it positioned. Then tack or nail a string to the garage ceiling and hang the tennis ball from the string so that it barely touches the center of the windshield at the attachment point of the rearview mirror (you can use any other point you want but using the mirror makes it easy to hit the exact same spot every time). Before you back the car out of the garage note how the ball appears while sitting in your seat. When returning to your garage just pull in straight, put the ball in the same position and you'll be good to go.

The issue was the risk of scraping the side when entering the garage. So that wouldn't really help me (or others with the same issue) in the end.

Tick64 · 05-18-2019, 09:00 PM

Mick's solution would work in your scenario if you were to hang one tennis ball down on each side of the car, touching each side window at the very entrance of the garage (ie. just inside the garage door).

Start by parking the car centered exactly where you want it to enter the garage, hang the tennis balls so they touch the side windows, and voila! Perfect park every time.

You could go one step further and have another tennis ball centered on the front windshield at the end of the garage (as described earlier) so you have a destination point. Totally works... in my mind anyways!

CRiZO · 05-18-2019, 09:25 PM

He's already installed mirrors, an elegant solution for a more civilized age.

Mick_12Nismo · 05-19-2019, 01:58 PM

I've been doing it that way for as long as I've had my Z and have never had an issue despite my wife's misguided belief that the garage is hers and she can pile her crap in it wherever she likes! LOL.
If you don't like the tennis ball try this one on for size - this assumes you have wifi available in your garage. Get ahold of a Wyze camera ($25 or so on line), set it up in your garage so that it is positioned with the view you want. With the Wyze app installed on your smart phone you can watch the video on the app on your phone in real time to make sure you are clearing everything you are concerned about.
Wyze cams are great. I've got 5 of em that I use for other purposes and they blow the doors off of my much more expensive Nest camera

cv129 · 05-19-2019, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mick_12Nismo

I've been doing it that way for as long as I've had my Z and have never had an issue despite my wife's misguided belief that the garage is hers and she can pile her crap in it wherever she likes! LOL.
If you don't like the tennis ball try this one on for size - this assumes you have wifi available in your garage. Get ahold of a Wyze camera ($25 or so on line), set it up in your garage so that it is positioned with the view you want. With the Wyze app installed on your smart phone you can watch the video on the app on your phone in real time to make sure you are clearing everything you are concerned about.
Wyze cams are great. I've got 5 of em that I use for other purposes and they blow the doors off of my much more expensive Nest camera

Never thought of that, I think my wife would like this idea.

BettyZ · 05-19-2019, 02:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cv129

Never thought of that, I think my wife would like this idea.

Be sure to share the URL so we can all watch you park

Tick64 · 05-19-2019, 03:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CRiZO

He's already installed mirrors, an elegant solution for a more civilized age.

My liege, I am fully aware of his mirror installation. I am merely presenting an alternative approach to said predicament. Other members of our illustrious community may benefit from my humble guidance

gbhrps · 05-19-2019, 08:15 PM

Guys and Gals,

In my two car garage the Z parks on the right and my Bride's Lexus gets the left. She invariably takes more of her share of the floor making it necessary to be very athletic for me to get out of the Z, if her car is parked inside.

What I've done in order to get as close to the right side wall as I can without scraping the right front fender, is to fasten two 2x6's together, some 10 feet long, making them 3 inches wide collectively.

I then glued those black rubber stairs treads (they're about 3 feet wide, so you'll need at least 4 for the 10 feet) to the one side of the boards such that the overhang section of the tread (2 inches) wraps over most of the top of the boards.

With this board standing on its edge right next to the outside wall of the garage, rubber side to the center of the garage, and my shallow steering angle towards the outside wall, even if my front tire rubs against the rubber covered boards, there is no damage to the tire or wheel, and the front fender can't contact the wall.

Then, once parked, I reach behind the seat and extract a two foot section of the insulation foam that you wrap around copper pipe to prevent them weeping in humid weather. The foam comes with a split down its length.

I open the driver's door about 6 inches, slide the foam over the rear edge of the door, open the door as far as it will go holding the door against my wife's car, and do acrobatics to get out of the Z. Pop the foam back into the Z, and good to go.

It works for this old guy.

Gene

BettyZ · 05-19-2019, 10:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gbhrps

Guys and Gals,

In my two car garage the Z parks on the right and my Bride's Lexus gets the left. She invariably takes more of her share of the floor making it necessary to be very athletic for me to get out of the Z, if her car is parked inside.

What I've done in order to get as close to the right side wall as I can without scraping the right front fender, is to fasten two 2x6's together, some 10 feet long, making them 3 inches wide collectively.

I then glued those black rubber stairs treads (they're about 3 feet wide, so you'll need at least 4 for the 10 feet) to the one side of the boards such that the overhang section of the tread (2 inches) wraps over most of the top of the boards.

With this board standing on its edge right next to the outside wall of the garage, rubber side to the center of the garage, and my shallow steering angle towards the outside wall, even if my front tire rubs against the rubber covered boards, there is no damage to the tire or wheel, and the front fender can't contact the wall.

Then, once parked, I reach behind the seat and extract a two foot section of the insulation foam that you wrap around copper pipe to prevent them weeping in humid weather. The foam comes with a split down its length.

I open the driver's door about 6 inches, slide the foam over the rear edge of the door, open the door as far as it will go holding the door against my wife's car, and do acrobatics to get out of the Z. Pop the foam back into the Z, and good to go.

It works for this old guy.

Gene

Lol @ "invariably."

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

axmea? · 05-25-2019, 05:04 PM

LOL

05-18-2019, 04:05 PM	#31 (permalink)
Mick_12Nismo Base Member Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Western New York Posts: 104 Drives: 2019 C7 Grand Sport Rep Power: 13	I have a little different take on the tennis ball suggestion mentioned above. Park your car in your garage exactly as you want it positioned. Then tack or nail a string to the garage ceiling and hang the tennis ball from the string so that it barely touches the center of the windshield at the attachment point of the rearview mirror (you can use any other point you want but using the mirror makes it easy to hit the exact same spot every time). Before you back the car out of the garage note how the ball appears while sitting in your seat. When returning to your garage just pull in straight, put the ball in the same position and you'll be good to go. Rusty likes this. __________________ [SOLD] 2012 Metallic Black NISMO 370z #499

05-18-2019, 09:25 PM	#34 (permalink)
CRiZO Track Member Join Date: Nov 2017 Location: Dallas Posts: 672 Drives: in traffic Rep Power: 20698	He's already installed mirrors, an elegant solution for a more civilized age. BettyZ likes this.

05-19-2019, 01:58 PM	#35 (permalink)
Mick_12Nismo Base Member Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Western New York Posts: 104 Drives: 2019 C7 Grand Sport Rep Power: 13	I've been doing it that way for as long as I've had my Z and have never had an issue despite my wife's misguided belief that the garage is hers and she can pile her crap in it wherever she likes! LOL. If you don't like the tennis ball try this one on for size - this assumes you have wifi available in your garage. Get ahold of a Wyze camera ($25 or so on line), set it up in your garage so that it is positioned with the view you want. With the Wyze app installed on your smart phone you can watch the video on the app on your phone in real time to make sure you are clearing everything you are concerned about. Wyze cams are great. I've got 5 of em that I use for other purposes and they blow the doors off of my much more expensive Nest camera __________________ [SOLD] 2012 Metallic Black NISMO 370z #499

05-19-2019, 08:15 PM	#39 (permalink)
gbhrps Base Member Join Date: Sep 2016 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 213 Drives: 2016 RDSTR TS 6spd Rep Power: 7996	Guys and Gals, In my two car garage the Z parks on the right and my Bride's Lexus gets the left. She invariably takes more of her share of the floor making it necessary to be very athletic for me to get out of the Z, if her car is parked inside. What I've done in order to get as close to the right side wall as I can without scraping the right front fender, is to fasten two 2x6's together, some 10 feet long, making them 3 inches wide collectively. I then glued those black rubber stairs treads (they're about 3 feet wide, so you'll need at least 4 for the 10 feet) to the one side of the boards such that the overhang section of the tread (2 inches) wraps over most of the top of the boards. With this board standing on its edge right next to the outside wall of the garage, rubber side to the center of the garage, and my shallow steering angle towards the outside wall, even if my front tire rubs against the rubber covered boards, there is no damage to the tire or wheel, and the front fender can't contact the wall. Then, once parked, I reach behind the seat and extract a two foot section of the insulation foam that you wrap around copper pipe to prevent them weeping in humid weather. The foam comes with a split down its length. I open the driver's door about 6 inches, slide the foam over the rear edge of the door, open the door as far as it will go holding the door against my wife's car, and do acrobatics to get out of the Z. Pop the foam back into the Z, and good to go. It works for this old guy. Gene BettyZ likes this.

05-25-2019, 05:04 PM	#41 (permalink)
axmea? A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: SoCal Posts: 6,235 Drives: WELL ZED PW 6MT Rep Power: 53241	LOL BettyZ likes this. __________________ >MyZ's Album< NISMO Convert/ECUTEK/Takeda CAI/F.I. HFC NR CB Carbon/F.I. 34 Row Oil Cooler/4.08 Final Drive /Powertrix+Swifts/Hotchkis/SPL/Whiteline/TWM/Zoom Engineering/EVO-R/AeroJacket Vented CF Fenders + CF Spoiler/Avant Garde-WORK/NST/Morimoto Halo/STi Clear Lenses/Carbon Signal Automotive/RJM Performance/ZSpeed Clutch Flywheel CSC delete Last edited by axmea?; 05-25-2019 at 05:07 PM.

05-18-2019, 09:00 PM	#33 (permalink)
Tick64 Enthusiast Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Vancouver Island,Canada Posts: 341 Drives: '11 370z Nismo MB Rep Power: 2478	Mick's solution would work in your scenario if you were to hang one tennis ball down on each side of the car, touching each side window at the very entrance of the garage (ie. just inside the garage door). Start by parking the car centered exactly where you want it to enter the garage, hang the tennis balls so they touch the side windows, and voila! Perfect park every time. You could go one step further and have another tennis ball centered on the front windshield at the end of the garage (as described earlier) so you have a destination point. Totally works... in my mind anyways!

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