Our new Ioniq 6 is long. So much so that it barely fits in our 1 car garage. In order to help my wife park consistently, I need a parking guide/stop solution. At our old house we used the tennis ball on a string but I'm hoping for a solution that doesn't involve hanging something from the ceiling. Has anyone had good luck with something? Laser guides? A parking stop? A pad like this one?
We have two tennis balls on decent rope and play punch ball games. Or ceiling rebound games (swing ball to hit ceiling 3x)
Put up the tennis ball - you'll like it.
I put a 2x4 or a brick on the floor in the wheel track, with some wax pencil marks on the floor for where it should be. Works well and is as cheap as it gets.
dyintorace said:Our new Ioniq 6 is long. So much so that it barely fits in our 1 car garage. In order to help my wife park consistently, I need a parking guide/stop solution. At our old house we used the tennis ball on a string but I'm hoping for a solution that doesn't involve hanging something from the ceiling. Has anyone had good luck with something? Laser guides? A parking stop? A pad like this one?
For me?? A 2x4 or a tennis ball.
For you? Those parking pads would be perfect.
2x6 chock/stop works great for me. Add Pencil or Sharpie marks in case it gets kicked while the car is away.
My in-laws have a ceiling mounted laser and it's awesome. It's easy to position the car within a fraction of an inch. It's aimed so that when the car is in the right spot it's pointed at a factory feature on the top of the dash. I Never had any trouble parking the car where they want it but it's even easier with the laser.
In my NY shop I bolted a piece of scrap aluminum bar to the floor so my wife wouldn't run into the milling machine and that was effective but I kept tripping over the darn thing when the car wasn't in there even after I painted it bright orange. It also did nothing to help get the car positioned left to right.
For me, I get dual use out of my parking stop. I know you said not hanging anything from the ceiling, but mine's a bit different. I use a retractable extension cord reel mounted to the ceiling. I set the stop so that the rubber plug touches my Miata windshield when retracted. Not only can I position my car perfectly, but I have convenient power, with or without the car parked there.
An engineer friend has a tennis ball on a string that somehow gets pulled when the door is closed, using some kind of pulley-type system and attached to the garage door. It's genius.
Garage door open? Tennis ball hangs down at exactly the right height.
Garage door closed? Tennis ball retracts to above the garage door track height.
I've tried to create this four times with two different cars in two different garages and can't make it work. I know it's just leverage and pulleys and all that. Gonna have to have him over for dinner! I bet the GRM brain trust could figure it out in 20 minutes...
(I also use the pictured parking stop pads and like them.)
In reply to BoulderG :
Eye bolt in the ceiling where you want the ball to sit with the string tied to the top edge of the door? The travel of the door is likely too far so you could put an eye bolt beyond the open position of the top edge so as it first closes it lowers the ball then proceeds to pick it up as it passes the eye bolt in the ceiling.
APEowner said:My in-laws have a ceiling mounted laser and it's awesome. It's easy to position the car within a fraction of an inch. It's aimed so that when the car is in the right spot it's pointed at a factory feature on the top of the dash. I Never had any trouble parking the car where they want it but it's even easier with the laser.
Can you link to it, or explain more? Sounds cool- but is it hardwired to the door opener or something?
Go look up the "park ranger"
It works on the same principle as iron sights.
I used 2x4s for a few years, then splurged on a pair of the parking pads as in the first post. Now I don't have to worry about the slow migration of the lumber anymore. They just work, they're out of the way, they're cheap, they're easy to install.
My parents use a tennis ball. It works, but I like the actual stops better.
Parking pad user here, too, as we cram three cars into a not-huge, two-car garage.
I use the parking pad to kinda fit the M3 in its place–up enough to be all the way in the garage but leaving enough room to get my bike out of the garage. (My bike is hiding in front of the M3.) The gaffer tape failed, but I marked the pad with a Sharpie. Then the cross piece of tape lets me know if the M3 is over to the left enough so I can rotate the Miata and get it out of the garage and to the right enough that I can open the pedestrian door. I have almost an inch of wiggle room. It’s not perfect, but it works.
9000kw said:APEowner said:My in-laws have a ceiling mounted laser and it's awesome. It's easy to position the car within a fraction of an inch. It's aimed so that when the car is in the right spot it's pointed at a factory feature on the top of the dash. I Never had any trouble parking the car where they want it but it's even easier with the laser.
Can you link to it, or explain more? Sounds cool- but is it hardwired to the door opener or something?
I don't know if this is the exact unit but here's an example of one https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0008D6NK0/ref=as_li_ss_tl?imprToken=6QMeXNnXHpY4cu8jZzm81g&slotNum=4&ie=UTF8&linkCode=sl1&tag=allgaragefloors-20&linkId=dd26fdde0d97e00bb8b277f913fbd186&language=en_US
Thanks for the recommendations. I ordered a parking pad last night.
I use a parking pad like shown in the first post - I really like it!
Hard part was getting initial placement (trying to get my car close to garage door to maximize my floor space)
Took a few tries. Then I put some duct tape around the edges so if I pull it up to sweep I know where to put it back to
And as wide as it is, I can park more one way or the other to give me more space to get out or more room on pass side if Im moving hockey gear around etc
David S. Wallens said:
This picture may represent the most perfect GRM sports car trifecta ever assembled in one garage....
I pull up slowly till I see stuff in front of the car moving then backup an inch.
gsettle said:I pull up slowly till I see stuff in front of the car moving then backup an inch.
I did that and forgot about the borrowed rototiller and then the handle broke the headlight.
No problem until the local dealer tells me I have to buy the whole headlight for $1400. Online Chevy guys ask $900-$1100.
Then the online eBay and junkyard guys want $700-$800 with a tab or two missing.
Then the Chinese made $400 headlights come out and they suck compared to the General's HL but it fills the void.
Get the tennis ball.
nocones said:David S. Wallens said:
This picture may represent the most perfect GRM sports car trifecta ever assembled in one garage....
Thank you very much. And the Civic Si is in the driveway.
PS: And that’s a 21x21-foot garage so not that huge.
David, I understand completely. During bad weather we move FroGR86 in with the Outlaw Bug.
In reply to Purple Frog (Forum Supporter) :
Yeah, I hear ya. I knew the garage wasn’t huge going in, but we love the house and the neighborhood. (I mean, we have a spiral staircase in the living room.) We can’t expand the garage to the side due to setbacks. Technically we could expand towards the front or the back, but then we’d change the look of the house or lose deck space. So, for now, we’re okay.
I bought a parking stop off Amazon. It literally looks like the concrete ones you see in parking lots but it's made out heavy duty rubber. I probably should've bolted it down to the garage floor but it's heavy enough it doesn't really move all that much...
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