How to stick straight in to the garage?
 

I now own the largest fargin vehicle I have ever possessed - a Toyota Sienna. Much like my penis, it just BARELY fits where it needs to go.

In order to fit it in my garage, I need to fold in the mirrors and drive straight into the center of the garage opening. I have maybe three inches of clearance.

I need some sort of sensor that I can mount on the far wall (shelves) that will let me know if I am not exactly where I need to be. I see lots of electronic versions of the tennis ball on a string - something that keeps me from going in too far. But I need something that helps me get in position laterally. I don't want to bust of my (folded in) mirrors.

Any suggestions?

no suggestions yet, but i knew you were skinny and all, but how do you get out of the car with only 3 inches on either side

...much like his penis, he only needs 3 inches :thumbsup: (just joking,clavus :rose:)

I figured for sure the thread title was metaphorical, and you were talking about mama's hot garage, but anyway....

How about parking it perfectly, staying in the vehicle and finding a fixed point in the garage where you can put a brightly colored marker that lines up with a part of the car in your visual field?
Then you will have that for a point of reference as you pull in and if it's not where it's supposed to be you try again?

I was thinking along those lines, eribrav. But the seat position is never going to be the same. My wife and I put the seat in totally different places, and I'm sure I won't put it back to the exact same spot every time.

I was thinking about spray painting lines on the garage floor too.

---------- Post added at 09:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:15 PM ----------

Much like my penis, it's a tight squeeze to get it in, but I have room to move around once I'm past the opening.

I'm not talking about the opening of my penis, either. That's off limits. You ever get an STD test, and have them jam a Q-tip in there? God, that so wrong! How did we even got on this subject?

I had to abandon my new garage and park outside. The truck I drive is just too long to actually fit in my garage, the door closes on the tail gate. I just park it outside with a tarp over it and use my garage as storage now.

Stick soft rubber (or foam or whatever) flaps on the sides of the entrance of the Garage that stick out so that your mirrors will touch them just right when your alignment is correct.

Your answer......

why not use electric eyes (the ones that buzz when you go into a shop). If you placed these just right you, it/they would buzz if you weren't aligned properly...

Damn, no minivan jokes?

Lasers are the answer. Pair them up with photodiodes and a simple circuit, you can make it play a tone if you're on track. Or you can just line them up so that they're just outside where your mirrors ought to be; if you see the dots, you're off course.

Course, it'd be easier to use some sort of a simple visual indicator, but you seemed to want high-tech.

Bonus points if you rig them so that they turn on when the garage door is open and shut off when it's closed.

Jeez, Martian... I was gonna suggest those 6' foam floaty things kids use in the pool and a little bit of 1" PVC.

I have tiny convex mirrors mounted on my side mirrors that allow me to see where my rear wheels are going. Then I simply reverse into a space - these mirrors allow me to reverse with much much more precision than driving straight in ever could, and I can simply make sure I am dead centre of wherever I am reversing into.

You said you had seen electronic versions of the tennis ball and a string. How about a system of a BUNCH of tennis balls on strings? Park your car inside the garage with the assistance of someone else to get it in straight, then hang tennis balls. You can get it to a point that you create a halo of tennis balls that would tell you that you're parked in the right spot. =)

staple up some carpet sections all the way along. You know you'll come in angry/tired/rushing one day and .....ouch

Hhmmmm