Parking assistant

[Toe Rag]

Hi everyone,

I picked up a new 162 Highline today. Love it so far!

My dilemma is that that I have a very narrow driveway. When I drive in past the gates & side fence I have a combined clearance on the sides of the car of around ~450mm. In other words 100mm on one side and 350mm on the other, depending on how I park.

At this point the parking sensors are useless when I'm driving in as they show red & do a continuous tone. The 3D camera is also unhelpful as the objects become too close. See here: https://imgur.com/XzGQhXU

I'm obviously worried I'll misjudge it one day and scrape the side of the car. Is there anything I do to help guide myself in safely? eg: Adjust parking sensors to be closer, or put something on my driveway to aim for?

[ope126]

Welcome, nice ride...

I am curious to know what you did with your previous vehicles, did you misjudge and scrape the sides of any of them?

[Toe Rag]

I think the previous one was a bit narrower. But ahem yes, the mrs did - twice It wasn't a particularly good car though.

[Beedub]

My grandparents painted a white line on their driveway about 30cm long (and parallel to the car) on the driver's side just near the gate and they just lined the car up with it when reversing out and driving in.

Is that something you can do?

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

[Toe Rag]

That's a great idea! My driveway is white pavers, but I could definitely do a subtle black line on the outside / footpath side of the driveway. Coming in at night time I think I'd just park it on the street. There's a tree on my verge that at certain times of year drops black sap so that's why I'm hestitant to leave it there permanently.

[RaID]

I have a similar issue except in an underground garage. I have rope with a weight hanging off the garage door to guide me in. If I don't hit the rope when driving in, it means that I have space on the passenger side of the car.

As you say the parking sensors are useless at that proximity

[iDiesel]

I picked up a new 162 Highline today. Love it so far!

Congrats on the purchase and welcome to the club!

My dilemma is that that I have a very narrow driveway. When I drive in past the gates & side fence I have a combined clearance on the sides of the car of around ~450mm. In other words 100mm on one side and 350mm on the other, depending on how I park.//imgur.com/XzGQhXU

I'm obviously worried I'll misjudge it one day and scrape the side of the car.

I have ~75mm either side of my mirrors when I reverse into the garage.
I just make sure I'm always very very careful backing in.
I don't use my sensors, only ever use my mirrors.

[Ozsko]

Using mirrors you can put a car in very tight spaces easily but getting out is a problem. We used to do it in the army with maybe a 100mm between the trucks and climb out through the roof hatch.

[Toe Rag]

Yes that's a brilliant idea. (not climbing out of the sunroof but the mirrors) I'll get a convex mirror (~$50-80 on ebay) and hang/mount it at end of the driveway. I think the issue is in my old car I was able to see & judge exactly where the two front corners of the car was whereas now I'm a bit blind. No doubt I'll get used to it but for the meantime an external mirror should solve that.

[iDiesel]

I have ~75mm either side of my mirrors when I reverse into the garage.

Sorry, just to clarify the 75mm clearance is as I pass through the garage door opening.
Once in the garage, there's plenty of clearance.

[Toe Rag]

Yeah likewise with me. Once I’m through the gates there’s unlimited space to my right (to open the door & get out), I just need to edge up close enough to the left side to leave enough room on the other side to be able walk past through the gate to get in & out.

I consider myself lucky though, most people in the inner city don’t even have off street parking.