mavisky

I agree with JHarris. This is a terribly driveway and it will cause problems for you, friends, and family forever. I'd simply find another house if that's an option. The entryway to my driveway being smooth and gradual with no major curbs was a defining factor for my home purchase. It's up to you to determine how much this means to you.

Aus430

I just moved out place with a driveway like that. Can see the LS is definitely not the first car to scrape there.

In my previous car (ford fairmont) I replaced the worn shocks and fitted new aftermarket 'standard' ride height springs which brought the ride height up enough to clear the drive hump no worries. With 15 years age/wear n tear the original springs had lost about 15mm in height compared to "as new" from factory.

My ls430 cleared it - just! So long as only the driver is in the car, and not too fast. Approaching at an angle did help a little. But entering/leaving in any sort of rush, or absolutely dead straight, or with people in the car and 'scrape'.

A set of new springs, or if you can find them slightly taller riding springs (not sagging from age/wear n tear) with new shocks may give you enough height to clear the drive. I'm sure a spring company could make you a set of slightly taller riding springs if there aren't any readily available on the aftermarket. Perhaps a word with a local suspension shop would be in order as they may well have a trick or two up their sleeves to increase the ride height 15mm or so.

If it is your own property (ie not a unit complex like my previous place), you could have the drive reprofiled (cut down the area that's visibly scraped), with a grinder or surfacer. From a legal standpoint it will depend on what the local laws/authorities say in your area are as to whether they'd allow you to cut into half a foot of the foot path section or not. Here where I live, they wouldn't allow it as it is considered 'public' land. The paperwork and permissions required would take 20 times longer than the job would take to do.

That said, if say around 15mm or so of concrete were miraculously (discreetly) 'vanish' from the top of that footpath section and the drive ramp one day (and it were left neat and tidy no trip hazards), they probably wouldn't care/notice (unless you had fiesty neighbour let them know who did it) that it had been modified. A builder friend is likely to have just the right machine and an 'invisibility cloak' with temporary fencing (aka high vis vest to look authoritative when job is being done)

With that said I don't miss my old driveway one bit. I was always a bit worried about accidentally running someone over when leaving the property. The is a 3 second moment where the nose of the car is pointed to the sky, where you can't see ahead or much to the sides until having crested the drive. It thankfully never happened but it came close one day with an food delivery rider on an ebike.

In a circular advice way, if you can't find a different house, talk with a suspension shop about increasing the ride height. If that is impossible/not easy then grind the concrete down where the scrape marks are. The last option will be better for other cars too.

infojunky

You need to protect your garden hose from being run over with something like this cable protector or speed bump place where your front wheels are in the picture... might provide clearance over concrete.

Rulefollow

Thanks so much for these ideas! Will work on all of the above!

jayclapp

This, or a variation of this looks like it might lead to a practical solution. One possible solution would be to install something like the speed bump in the garage and consider it as a ramp. Position them in the garage so they run parallel to the tires and you drive the car so the front wheels are always on the ramp. Depending on the height of the "ramp" it should prevent the car from scraping at the point where the drive changes angles.

If that tis too tricky to drive into the garage and keep it on the ramp, than one could consider pouring concrete on the garage floor to raise the height. That would remove any legal problems as it's your garage.

430SLOwner

How often and how badly does the garage/driveway flood? Is there a problem here...?

Aus430

Perhaps quick struts could give you the height increase - see this thread.

vernz

I filled a shallow 'ditch' from my driveway to the road using a couple of bags of QuikRete from Home Depot. I also helped my son-in-law with the same solution. I am 80 years old--in decent shape but not a weight lifter. From you photos, I could not determine if this would work inside your garage. But if there is a place you could place this concrete, it certainly is a low cost project.

911LE

Just put down a few pavers where the front tires are in the picture. This will lift the front enough so the center of the car will clear the crest.

Rulefollow

Good question. It seems to be dry. Can return after a rainstorm and see. Thanks!

Rulefollow

Interesting thought. Will look into it. Thanks!

Rulefollow

Thanks. Will look into this. Appreciated.

Rulefollow

Interesting. I called the Lexus dealership about this suggestion, and they recommended against any attempt to lift the vehicle. They said, amongst other things, that it might make trouble with the way the headlights are aimed.

jayclapp

This is basically the principle I was trying to say in my post #20. You just need to elevate the garage floor high enough to prevent the scraping. Using pavers is cheap and will let you know how much you need to raise the floor. But you must make place enough pavers from the very entrance of the garage to a length of the car so the floor of the garage remains level. You just need a track that the wheels will drive on. You could even consider a long 2 x12 board. Once you determine that this principle works, you are free to do whatever you want to the garage floor. You could even pour concrete to raise the floor level and you wouldn't have to drive on to two "tracks".

jayclapp

Multiple quote. Sorry about that.