AAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

I drove my car into the garage but for whatever reason did not pull it forward far enough. Using the automatic garage door opener I closed the door which then proceded to skim down the back of the trunk lid. Then it hit the bumper and reversed, skimming back up the trunk. Now I have half a dozen vertical scratches on the rear of my car.

AAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

 

Oh man. Sorry to hear that. This is my biggest nightmare. You'll get it fixed and it'll be as good as new in no time. Here's what I do to prevent this from happening. Next time you pull your car into the garage, after making sure that the car is in the correct spot, put a brick on the ground in front of one of your front wheels so that whenever you pull in you'll always hit the brick and know that you're in the right spot.

Sorry again.

e

 

For next time you park>>http://www.topoftheline.com/garage-park-smart-mat.html

Sorry to hear about that.

 

Man, that sucks. Sorry about that. I came within about 2" of doing the same thing today. I was driving my wife's 350, because I was taking it in to have the XM installed. I went into work for a couple hours and then ran home before going to the dealer. When I pulled into the garage, I pulled into my side, not hers.

I setup one of those roof top laser devices that shines a laser on the dash to let you know when you are in your spot. However, my side is aimed for my Subaru Forester. I pull in, hit the garage button, and as I see it going down past the trunk, I say "Oh ____" and frantically try and hit the button again. When I finally stopped it and then got out, the car was barely in far enough. There was about 2" between the fender and the garage door.

I know how bad I felt 'almost' doing it, so I know you must feel really bad right now.

This is what I have by the way. It works well, when you pull into the correct side of the garage.

http://www.autosportcatalog.com/inde...id=3386&cid=19

There are some other parking solutions here:

http://www.autosportcatalog.com/inde...vance&show=ALL

 

Reading this post makes me even more confused as to why our Lexus Park Assist didn't come with just two more sensors directly at the front of the bumpers. Having those would be a real big help for pulling into the garage and being able to correctly judge the distance.

The GS and LS has the front sensors, but our ES only has the front corners. I feel your pain dreyfus, I've done the same on my old car and its definitely no fun at all.

 

Yep, full blown parking assist on the front, with a warning at 4 ft sure would have been nice.

 

Ouch....

Here is a helpful hint in case a Cro-Magnon approach - -of brick on the garage floor doesn't cut it for you.

Go get a small red or orange rubber ball and some string. Once you have your car exactly in the spot in the garage you want it, then tack the string into garage ceiling just where ball touches windshield at the lowest point on the windshield glass possible on driver's side right in front of where you'd sit and where pulling in the ball clears hood. This of course after first using nail to poke a hole through rubber ball so you can thread the string through it.

Each time you pull in the garage, you advance just till ball touches windshield glass. No more garage door scrapes.

 

I brought up the same question in Post #10 of this page> https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=253630
I even went so far as to call Lexus Corporation as to why they didn't put center sensors in the ES350. Long story short....I never got a straight answer from them.

 

Hah! I was going to say the same. But a tennis ball will work as will a golf practice ball that already has holes in it.

I wish I could still use my garage.

 

Yes, a tennis ball works just as well.

Almost forgot, no need to thread through the entire diameter either, just a half or 3/4 inch worth to thread the string through.

Tennis ball suspended attracts the cats who think you have created a new play thing for them that they can leap at, dual purpose.

 

Want to avoid the possibility of this happening in the future?

If you have a fairly current garage door opener it has a pair of sensors about 6 inches above the floor, one on each track. Move those sensors up to bumper height so they are blocked until the bumper clears them. The door CAN'T close until the car is clear.

The sensors will still act as a safety device to prevent objects from being contacted.

Try it! You'll never have the problem again.

 

^^^ Good idea!!!! With the sensors higher, you can possibly catch more stray cats too! Usually they trip the sensors and the game is up.

Anyway, I've used the ball to get the wife safely in the garage, but the kids thought it was for baseball practice... What I normally do is just get a "sight picture" in my head with something fixed in the garage. In my case there's something mounted to the wall and when I pass it with the passenger rear view mirror, I'm in far enough... Even so, there's times when I'll run to make sure the door clears the car.

 

Me too. I frequently "take a peek" at the back of the car just to make sure. Especially with a new car with different dimensions than I've been used to.

 

Here's a little known fact. The later, more advanced Neanderthal man was actually the first to use bricks. It was the earlier, less sophisticated Cro-Magnon man that used string and *****.

Sorry to get off topic, Dreyfus.

 

I really wouldn't recommend doing this. Those sensors are positioned that low for a reason. If you have small kids that aren't walking yet, I would definitely recommend AGAINST doing this. Just the other day, there was a story on the news about someone backing up into their 18 month old on the driveway. This had nothing to do with the sensors because the car was in the driveway, but I'd rather have a scratched bumper than something much worse.

e