Height of carparks?

[The_Hawk]

Following on from the lowering thread...

I know I am far more aware of these things now that I'm driving round in a Van just shy of 2M tall. I am very hesitant and usually avoid carparks unless they are 2.1M+

So are there any strange carparks you have noticed? Things that don't seem quite right?

For example... Has anyone else in Sydney noticed that Westfields in Liverpool seems to show 2.1M going in and up to the roof then all the down ramps say 1.9M??

[IN2VWS]

I regularly go into carparks with a 2.0m limit. Haven't had a problem. I do tend to duck my head though, as it does seem very close.

[transporterq]

When I had my T4 camper, I did not go into car parks unless they where 2.1 metres high, as the extra hand brake light moulded into the pop up roof made it about 2.06 high. We did visit Sydney a few years back and the car park you are talking about is the one I sure I nearly got stuck in. As you state, 2.1 on the in ramp and then when I when to leave on the left side of the underground car park, it was around the 1.9 high. There was a group of chaps washing cars, ran over to me to advise that there was another exit on the right side of the car park that turned out to be around the 2.5 height. Only problem was I had to back the van up, till I reached an area I could turn round. There where allot of unhappy shoppers trying to get out that had to move to let me pass. Will never forget it. On a final note, here in Adelaide, as I park my van in an underground car park at the Tea Tree Plus store, a lady came running up to me, they had followed me in and was positive was I was going to hit the roof, she said that see panicked that I was going to lose my pop top. Lol.

[wai]

Following on from the lowering thread...

I know I am far more aware of these things now that I'm driving round in a Van just shy of 2M tall. I am very hesitant and usually avoid carparks unless they are 2.1M+

So are there any strange carparks you have noticed? Things that don't seem quite right?

For example... Has anyone else in Sydney noticed that Westfields in Liverpool seems to show 2.1M going in and up to the roof then all the down ramps say 1.9M??

This is done because when you descend from a ramp on to the lower level, there is a reduction in the available clearance until the rear wheels also come on to the lower level. It is like straddling a V in the road.

[wai]

I regularly go into carparks with a 2.0m limit. Haven't had a problem. I do tend to duck my head though, as it does seem very close.

I used to do this with my Hiace that came in at 1.96 m high

[bxb]

My T5 twin cab is 197.5 at its highest point and I've found that not all carparks are created equal. Burnside underground (Adelaide) says 2metres clearance but I found a sewer pipe lower than me the hard way. Big mess in the tray to hose out. Maryatville Woolies underground is supposed to be OK but one section has their fire sprinklers at 1.9 metres and i took that out with the tool box when i reversed in. Frome street U Park says 2 metres but I bang the clearance bar when I enter but the rest of the park is fine, I do drive slowly in that one though. Best part is when you have someone new in the other seat, you drive in and say oh crap and you can see them tense up waiting for the bang and scrape.

[Tombi]

A pile of poo in your tray!

I have a builders rack on my T5 crewvan and there is only one basement park I've ever been able to get into. My T5 van with rack is pretty well 100mm higher than my old T4, which was only around 2060mm with builders rack. Never a problem.Tradie racks suck.
I did fit the Eibach sports springs to reduce the height a little, rides great, but still can't go underground.

[bxb]

A pile of poo in your tray!

I have a builders rack on my T5 crewvan and there is only one basement park I've ever been able to get into. My T5 van with rack is pretty well 100mm higher than my old T4, which was only around 2060mm with builders rack. Never a problem.Tradie racks suck.
I did fit the Eibach sports springs to reduce the height a little, rides great, but still can't go underground.

was a bit messy, went straight to the car wash, don't know how EPA regs would have handled it. Did crush a perfectly good aluminium ladder also when I forgot about it tied to the top of the toolboxes.

[The_Hawk]

This is done because when you descend from a ramp on to the lower level, there is a reduction in the available clearance until the rear wheels also come on to the lower level. It is like straddling a V in the road.

I understand the principle of going up and down ramps chancing the total clearance required,so understand that...

But call me crazy and all, but the whole point of the bloody sign and/or clearance pole thingy is to show you the MINIMUM clearance through the WHOLE carpark... especially the exit! In my case I drove around and looked at three different exit's before deciding to carefully (and very very slowly) drive down what I thought was the ramp I came up.


Note: I am happy to concede there are some area's (like under an AV vent or similar) where a few parking spaces are lower than that, but these are usually marked specially.

[wai]

I understand the principle of going up and down ramps chancing the total clearance required,so understand that...

But call me crazy and all, but the whole point of the bloody sign and/or clearance pole thingy is to show you the MINIMUM clearance through the WHOLE carpark... especially the exit! In my case I drove around and looked at three different exit's before deciding to carefully (and very very slowly) drive down what I thought was the ramp I came up.

Shortly after I got my Hiace, I had to go to a conference where the car park showed a 2 m clearance. I went in and going up was OK as you hit the approach of the ramp at an angle. Coming out was where the roof scraped one of the corrugated plastic signs warning of a height limitation!

When I lodged a claim, they said they measured it on the parking levels and not the ramps. Even then it was before fixtures had gone in.

Anyhow, they told me to get a quote for the work and they would pay it. As it turned out, the painter said it had caused no damage as the sign trailed and was plastic.

Thankfully my days of worrying about that are over as I traded the Hiace on a Caddy which while high should not cause any issues in car parks.

[Corey_R]

Lol... yep, I'm with you The_Hawk. That's just plain stupidity from car park operators to have 2.1m signs entering the carpark and going up the ramps, and then have 1.9m signs on the down ramps. If a specific area has a down ramp marked 1.9m, then the up ramp should be marked 1.9m too!

[irsa76]

Those from Canberra would know of the Manuka McDonalds drive through. Their height barrier USED to be 2.5 meters. I say that because I went through in my Sprinter workvan, 2.4 to the top of the UHF can antenna, and managed to pull the antenna out of the roof! Turns out they hadn't remeasured since they redid the driveway, since fixed. Lucky for me the damage to the van was minimal, considering it's already 2 antennaes, rear camera and highlevel brake light removed from the roof by previous drivers!

[Sunny43.5]

Hi guys don,t have this issue with car parks as I have an internal sliding sunroof in both our T5,s and if I am in doubt I just stick my head up through the sunroof and check progess works a treat . I do remember back in early 2005 we sold our old T4 which had two sunroofs in it the people we sold it to had it less than a week before they wiped out the rear sunroof , they had it in the tilt position when they entered a carpark here in Brissie he believed the height sign which was not a true indication throughout the carpark next thing cruuuuunch one partially destroyed sunroof ! Ouch !!

[The_Hawk]

Yeah, it's things like that which are plain wrong. Height signs are there for a reason... they *should* be accurate and if not I believe the carpark owner should be liable for any damage.


(mind you, all of this talk just makes me think more and more about a set of air bags in the Van ).

[swingn]

Biggest problem I've found is the actual entrance to the car park.

For instance, in my Caddy I went to a carpark down the Gong which was 1.8m clearance, which of course is no problem for the Caddy. BUT because of the speed hump & angel you enter the car park, it still managed to clip the roof (Just - No damage done).

Already investigating lowering the Transporter when it finally gets delivered just to give that extra few cms of clearance.