clavus

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?

__________________
Ass, gas or grass. Nobody rides for free.

dlish

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

__________________
An injustice anywhere, is an injustice everywhere

I always sign my facebook comments with ()()===========(}. Does that make me gay?
- Filthy

Shell

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

__________________
..."Say what you think. Those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind" ~ Dr. Seuss

eribrav

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?

clavus

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?

__________________
Ass, gas or grass. Nobody rides for free.

Wes Mantooth

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.

__________________

fresnelly

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.

__________________
Building an artificial intelligence that appreciates Mozart is easy. Building an A.I. that appreciates a theme restaurant is the real challenge - Kit Roebuck - Nine Planets Without Intelligent Life

Craven Morehead

Your answer......

spindles

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...

__________________
who hid my keyboard's PANIC button?

Plan9

Damn, no minivan jokes?

Martian

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.

__________________
I wake up in the morning more tired than before I slept
I get through cryin' and I'm sadder than before I wept
I get through thinkin' now, and the thoughts have left my head
I get through speakin' and I can't remember, not a word that I said

- Ben Harper, Show Me A Little Shame

Plan9

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

allaboutmusic

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.

zxello

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. =)

__________________
Old signature just wasn't doing it for me anymore, so now I have this new one. It's equally as stupid but at least it looks really long. I'm probably just going to keep typing until I run out of things to babble about and see how many people actually read this. I once ran down a hill, fell down and hurt my elbow; my mom said I would be ok, she kissed it and made it all better. I've run out of things to say now, so if you have read this whole thing, congratulations you get a gold star!

geeza

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

alvinz

Hhmmmm