LaCostaRacer

I like my house's rollup garage door for the most part, but have one big issue with it regarding what those hinges can do to a rear bumper if a car is not parked forward enough. I have a bump-stop that works great except when the kids inadvertently kick it. My car has suffered two situations in the 3.5 years of ownership and today's was the most severe- a 1/8" vertical stripe half way down my bumper.

This is mostly a rant, but I hoping other people have some worthy suggestions to reduce this issue in the future. Here's what I do and it's obviously not good enough:

1. use a big rubber Home Depot parking stop and place that on some non-skid material- this keeps it from creeping well, but it's not impervious to all things. In my case I have limited front/back clearance so proper positioning is vital for my car length in my garage. My TL is about 6" longer than I would like to reduce this issue.

2. mark the boundery of the bump-stop (with duct tape) so I know visually if stop has moved.

3. check the position of the bump-stop on occasion in case it has moved.


I guess I'll hang a cork down from the ceiling for a secondary indicator now- low tech but better than I have now. I would prefer not to epoxy the bump-stop to the concrete, but a less-permanent fastener may also do the trick too. Have any suggestions?

Anyway, I know this is a pretty common issue because I see lots of cars with the tell-tell vertical strips on their bumpers so I'm comforted in not being alone with this issue.

dallison

been there doing that. my dd has a few scars.

mrmako

Paint a line just in view at the front of the car on the floor with the car in the right spot (this requires 2 people). So now when you pull in, just look to the floor, and right as that line would go out of sight, you're in.

teranfon

I've just affixed tennis balls to light rope suspended from the ceiling. Low tech obviously, but it works great. One of my garages holds vehicles two deep, and I've had to hang them one behind the other.

Once you have the car positioned where you want it, hang the tennis ball so it meets the mounting point of the rear view mirror in the windshield. When pulling in, simply use the rear view mirror as a reference point, and stop when it makes contact.


Terry

Costco

just put some colored tape on the wall that lines up with your side mirror. My parents did this, and nobody in our house has yet to damage the rear bumper by not pulling in far enough, knock on wood.

our garage is cramped too. To walk past the front of the TL you have to turn your body sideways and sidestep. If that tape wasn't there as a marker we'd probably have dings on the front and rear bumpers sooner or later.

MiataNut

I've been lucky as far as the hinges go, my biggest worry continues to be a kid - or a wife - being too careless when opening a door of another vehicle next to one of mine. Nobody hates door dings as much as I do
....another pet peeve of mine is modern builders cheaping out on garage size....a minivan or a TL should be able to be walked around all sides in a garage, these are not huge vehicles, but nowadays they give you the bare minimum, both depth and width. I swear the 2 car garages in my parents subdv. (built in the '70s) have more square footage than my 3 car (built in the '00s). You could just about drive a car in circles in my parents garage.
If I ever build a house new, the #1 thing on my list will be what should be most obvious: build it so you can actually open the doors of the cars! Just a couple feet on 3 sides would make all the difference. I see a lot of houses in my subdv. where they did this, but our house was a display model and I guess the builder wasn't thinking.

As far as pulling in far enough, there is a golf bag in front of my TL's spot, and I draped a yellow towel over it (both for softness and visibility), so as I'm pulling in, when I see the towel just barely move, I know I'm in enough to clear the door. I keep meaning to do the tennis ball on a string thing, though.

LaCostaRacer

Happy New Year and thanks for all the tips! Our garage is a larger 70's garage but both sides have shelves and that requires my workbench to be in front of the TL. The longer other bay has our tent-trailer in it and the washer/dryer is in front of that. I would love to have a 3-car garage to keep our Pilot garaged too. We love our house so no move is going to happen for that reason anyway.

I'll spend some time this weekend touching up the bumper and doing the secondary hanging of a tennis ball. Hopefully, the bumper bu-bu will not be too noticeable after I'm done working my magic. I highly recommend paintscratch.com for touchup paint and materials.

Scrib

Or high tech...

http://www.amazon.com/Maxsa-Laser-Pa.../dp/B001JK1A4K

SPUDMTN

The 'rents have a LiftMaster version of these for all three car stalls...work like a charm. Just look for the blinking laser beam on the dash when you pull in.

KaMLuNg

iTrader: (5)

i use tennis ball trick as well as i have 2X4 bolted to the floor of the garage as bump stops... its a detached garage so no real need to walk towards front of car after pulling in...

svtmike

I park both of my cars using an immovable reference. In my case, I pull each car in until the back edge of the garage door opener to my right is lined up with the back of the moonroof. If you don't have that the low tech tennis ball and wall mark methods are great too.

The laser thing is a waste of monetary resources to my mind.

The Dougler

iTrader: (1)

back your car into the garage, the rounded front bumper offers less surface are to risk contact with the door.

CLtotheTL32

iTrader: (3)

I hate my garage doors for this exact reason. My old ones had the handle on the outside, but the new ones have the handle on the inside. Luckily I haven't hit my rear bumper yet (knock on wood), but it's happened to my old car and my parents cars as well.

Legend2TL

Like some others use, I use red & white fishing float/bobbers hanging from the ceiling that are aligned with the top center of the steering wheel. Just aim for the bobber when pulling in and when it touches the windshield, the rear bumper is clear and the car centered. Cheap, effective, easy to use and install.

LaCostaRacer

Thanks again for all the comments. I wound up doing the Tennis ball solution today like I once had before my kids fouled that idea up thinking it's a teatherball game. So I now have double coverage: bump-stop + tennisball so I hope to be good.

Below are some pics of the bumper with touch-up along with a visual of tightness of my parking domain. I still need to apply the clearcoat which should improve the look even more.

Where are the issues? Hard to see now that they're touched up

<a href="http://s239.photobucket.com/albums/ff222/LaCostaRacer/Rollup%20Door%20versus%20Rear%20Bumper/?action=view&current=Nohintswhereissuesare.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff222/LaCostaRacer/Rollup%20Door%20versus%20Rear%20Bumper/Nohintswhereissuesare.jpg" border="0" alt="After Touchup no hints where issues are"></a>

Close up of first issue:

<a href="http://s239.photobucket.com/albums/ff222/LaCostaRacer/Rollup%20Door%20versus%20Rear%20Bumper/?action=view&current=IMG_3261.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff222/LaCostaRacer/Rollup%20Door%20versus%20Rear%20Bumper/IMG_3261.jpg" border="0" alt="Issue #1 - Sept 06"></a>

Close up of most recent issue:
<a href="http://s239.photobucket.com/albums/ff222/LaCostaRacer/Rollup%20Door%20versus%20Rear%20Bumper/?action=view&current=IMG_3260.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff222/LaCostaRacer/Rollup%20Door%20versus%20Rear%20Bumper/IMG_3260.jpg" border="0" alt="Issue #2 - Dec 09"></a>

Front view of bump-stop with new tennis ball:

<a href="http://s239.photobucket.com/albums/ff222/LaCostaRacer/Rollup%20Door%20versus%20Rear%20Bumper/?action=view&current=IMG_3276.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff222/LaCostaRacer/Rollup%20Door%20versus%20Rear%20Bumper/IMG_3276.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Scrib

Nice work!

It's Clutch

iTrader: (6)

I gotta do the same thing too. My 2g barely fits in the garage.

Nicky Pass

I have a laser on my ceiling....I parked my car where I wanted it and made sure that it hits the center of my dash. Now, when I pull in, the red dot is on the center of my dash, I know I'm good. I hate small garages.

LaCostaRacer

^Yikes, I just caught my 12 yr old wacking the tennis ball with my tennis racket! I think it's laser time- it would be nice if you can hook the laser to the garage door light timer so the laser isn't always on- guess I'll have to do some more research on that idea. It really disappoints me after lecturing the kids that the ball is not a toy that day#1 it's used as a toy when the car is out of the garage. I can't believe this crap!

Nicky Pass

This is the one I bought...

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...atalogId=10053

SPUDMTN

The LiftMaster ones for my parents' system wires into the light (activating only when the timer is on). Further, the laser pulses when activated, so it's not a steady on.

Not sure what kinda of garage door motor you have, but check what your manufacturer has available.

Sleep_DEPRIVED_Sleeper

here's a better idea that improves on the "tether-ball" idea: use the garage door as the attachment point for the tennis ball string. Your garage door goes up when you need to enter the garage so if you measure accurately, the ball will goes down just enough you u can use it as reference. when you leave the garage/close the door, the string attached to the door will be pulled back and up as well as the tennis ball, not leaving it hanging low. good idea?

MR1

Happy New Year!
Replace the kid. A twelve year old is old enough to obey imho.
I just placed a vertical ink line on each wall that I use for reference.

synth19

I have a marker on the side that works well.

Legend2TL

That's the reason I used a fishing float or champagne cork. The floats also adjust easy, still not perfect as my cousin's kids were prone to also play with them when they were visiting.

Legend2TL

LaCostaRacer

^ Great ideas everyone! I knew you guys would come through with some great ideas.

I also have a lift-master so I might do the laser solution in the end. My wife is amused about the lengths I'm going to and thinks my TL is just a car and to deal with the issues. I'm in tough company since my family doesn't fully buy into my efforts to keep my car clean and prestine as much as possible. Anyway, I'll do what I can do within reason.

I like the retractable idea Sleep Deprived- that's a unique solution for when the door is closed. I made one tweak today for adjustment purposes by using a zip-tie to adjust the ball height by using the zip-tie between the loop on the string and the hook on the tennis ball.

Hey MR1- I just showed my daughter your thoughts and she had a good chuckle. I love her a bunch despite her mischievous side. I think she got the message now- I have a 10 yr old boy to deal with next and he would respond pretty well to a locking up of the Ipod or computer privileges for a day or two.

MR1

Glad you took it as it was intended.
I know it was really not my place to say anything like that.
We tried to teach ours what not to touch when he was young.
We had mixed results like everyone else.

When I had a tennis ball up to help the wife...she would hit it as hard as possible. She hated it. If she parks it where I don't want it I just have to move it myself.

carguyrob

I have the ceiling lasers from the Amazon link above for all 3 of my vehicles (a two car one for the two car garage and a one car laser for the one car garage). They work great and they actually have motion sensors so only turn on when the garage door opens or someone walks by in the garage. I highly recommend them!

RaviNJCLs

iTrader: (4)

+1 for tennis ball.

NSXNEXT

iTrader: (2)

Does your car even leave the garage?

Oh and I have the laser one too. Got it at TJ Maxx a loooonnng time ago for like $10.

The Dougler

iTrader: (1)

I'm actually really surprised by the amount of people that use assistance devices to park in a garage.

Street Spirit

It seems a lot of garages in the States are nice and wide, but very shallow. Our double car garages tend to be long enough, but not very roomy when you park side-by-side, in comparison.

The Dougler

iTrader: (1)

touche, our's sure are narrow, it's always a squeeze getting in and out.

Nicky Pass

The TSX...every day!
The Cobra is in a warehouse until April.

LaCostaRacer

I can't believe it, but in less than a week with tennis ball and stop another scratch occurred- it's more minor than the first one so it should be easy to repair- I just put the base coat touchup on it today.

This scratch was one inch to the right of last weeks and I surmise it's due to the bump stop moving and the curvature of my window- I must of parked one inch to the left and the stop got kicked again.

Ok I adjusted the ball so the car goes even more into the garage and edged the bump more as well. The new trick is attaching some duct tape (actually Gorrilla Tape) to the offending hinge. I'm hoping if my bumper ever meets that dang hing again the tape might help- just a theory that I don't want to see.

For my parking situation, 3rd gen TL is the maximum length car I could park in that garage bay- the 4th gen TL is another 6" longer and I couldn't consider it with the length and it's looks. Hopefully Acura will make a 3rd gen sized TL again when the 5th gen comes out or it will be a TSX or other brand vehicle next time. That's another thing nice about the European makes- they are more compact in length.

synth19

Here is my solution. Take a look at the long painters tape hitting my windshield. Same concept as the tennis ball idea.

Danil ACE

^Why don't you just pull up more? Looks like you have plenty of room.

1StGenCL

Damn! that car looks amazing even with the ghetto painters tape

Danil - I would guess he needs to walk by the front and who wants to risk the wif...errr someone dragging something they are carrying across the hood

synth19

it's in "winter mode." I intentionally left alot of room up front since the car won't be moving until March.