Home Repairs: Easy guide to parking a car?

[michaeld121]

I've got a short drive & my new car just fits. To save having to inch
up to the front wall of the house without bumping the car I'm trying
to find an accurate ‘tactile’ way of marking it, without attaching
something to the front of the house. (A visual mark never quite seems
to work quickly).

The drive is made of drab crazy paving (to be replaced)). I'd thought
of something like trying to screw / stick a broom handle onto the
drive for the front wheels to butt up to (… not attractive, but not
really visible when the cars there. I'm hoping some bright spark's
got a better way.

Michael

[Jules]

On Sat, 28 Mar 2009 15:55:19 -0700, michaeld121 wrote:
> I've got a short drive & my new car just fits.

You just reminded me of them driving the Minis into the bus in the Italian
Job :-)

> To save having to inch
> up to the front wall of the house without bumping the car I'm trying to
> find an accurate ‘tactile’ way of marking it, without attaching
> something to the front of the house.

If it's just for the one car, maybe buying one of those after-market
electronic parking sensors that fit to the car might be an idea? (might be
overkill, actually, because it sounds like you just need one sensor in the
middle of the bumper, rather than several front/rear)

cheers

Jules

[Newshound]

Strip of rubber sheet or carpet attached to wall and park by touch?

[Pete Verdon]

michaeld121@***********m wrote:
> I've got a short drive & my new car just fits. To save having to inch
> up to the front wall of the house without bumping the car I'm trying
> to find an accurate ‘tactile’ way of marking it, without attaching
> something to the front of the house.

My grandad used to use a block of wood on the ground, with a pole
sticking up with a tennis ball on the end. When the tennis ball moved,
he stopped inching forward.

Pete

[The Medway Handyman]

Rod wrote:
> michaeld121@***********m wrote:
>> I've got a short drive & my new car just fits. To save having to
>> inch up to the front wall of the house without bumping the car I'm
>> trying to find an accurate ‘tactile’ way of marking it, without
>> attaching something to the front of the house. (A visual mark never
>> quite seems to work quickly).
>>
>> The drive is made of drab crazy paving (to be replaced)). I'd
>> thought of something like trying to screw / stick a broom handle
>> onto the drive for the front wheels to butt up to (… not
>> attractive, but not really visible when the cars there. I'm hoping
>> some bright spark's got a better way.
>>
>> Michael
>
> Piece of string hanging from a hook on the wall - with a weight. Can
> be fine enough to be barely visible to anyone who doesn't know it is
> there. Slight nudge with car is obvious.

Many years ago I used to visit the Ford plant at Dagenham. Can't recall
exactly why, but when the finished cars were driven off the end of the line
some of them had to stop for a few seconds in a certain place, then move on.

The engineers considered photo cells, limit switches etc. One of the
fitters solved the problem by hanging a tennis ball on a piece of string
above the spot. When the ball touched the windscreen the driver stopped.
Total cost about 20p!

--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

[rrh]

> Park in the correct spot, open your door, look down and find a point on
> the door sill and make a temporary mark on the ground to line up with it.
> Now make the temporary mark on the ground a more permanent one - drill and
> fix a screw, chisel a mark, or mark it with an angle grinder.
>
I am disappointed that this thread attracted so many replies before an angle
grinder was suggested.

[PeterC]

On Sun, 29 Mar 2009 12:21:58 +0100, Invisible Man wrote:

>> The engineers considered photo cells, limit switches etc. One of the
>> fitters solved the problem by hanging a tennis ball on a piece of string
>> above the spot. When the ball touched the windscreen the driver stopped.
>> Total cost about 20p!
>>
> Been there done that in a short garage. Not quite so suitable for a
> driveway. Currently have a garden cane in narrow flowerbed between end
> of drive and house.

Tennis ball would be blown about by the wind, so combine 2 suggestions:
hang the house brick...
--
Peter.
You don't understand Newton's Third Law of Motion?
It's not rocket science, you know.

[Steve Walker]

rrh wrote:
>> Park in the correct spot, open your door, look down and find
>> a point on the door sill and make a temporary mark on the
>> ground to line up with it. Now make the temporary mark on the
>> ground a more permanent one - drill and fix a screw, chisel a
>> mark, or mark it with an angle grinder.
> I am disappointed that this thread attracted so many replies
> before an angle grinder was suggested.

My thoughts also. And Saniflo's weren't even mentioned.

[michaeld121]

Thanks for all of the replies. There are several main ones:

1. Tennis ball / bit of string: I remember seeing that one in an old
‘How’ annual when I was a kid. Thing is - it's a drive, not a garage,
so there's nothing to attach a tennis ball to. The string would
(IIUC) would cause problems for anyone going into the house.

2. Using a visual marker. I've tried that, but small variations in
the way you approach the drive or how you're sitting in the seat mean
that it doesn't really work reliably.

3. Electronic sensor: I’d need it to be accurate to within an inch or
2. My understanding is that they’re not normally quite that
accurate. It’s also expensive.

4. The housebrick is one I'd thought of. 2 points - i) It would
move, unless attached ii) I might not always hit the brick (there’s
enough width on the drive to miss it).

I'm thinking that a variant of 4 is probably the best idea - namely a
thinish tree stake stuck (glued &/or screwed) to the drive.

Michael

[The Natural Philosopher]

Steve Walker wrote:
> rrh wrote:
>>> Park in the correct spot, open your door, look down and find
>>> a point on the door sill and make a temporary mark on the
>>> ground to line up with it. Now make the temporary mark on the
>>> ground a more permanent one - drill and fix a screw, chisel a
>>> mark, or mark it with an angle grinder.
>> I am disappointed that this thread attracted so many replies
>> before an angle grinder was suggested.
>
> My thoughts also. And Saniflo's weren't even mentioned.
>
>
Well I hesitate to suggest that what you need if these methods all fail,
would, of course, be car body filler...