How to NOT run into curbs and parking berms?

[euro911sc]

Originally Posted by john walker's workshop

dream on. i'd kill it in a week.

HAHHAAHAHAHAHAAAAA That may also happen to me.

Originally Posted by AZAirCooled

I appologize if I am out of line. I'm just trying to protect a fellow Pelican.

Bob

Bob, I can't believe you were so out of line!

Originally Posted by Joe Bob

You could also put it back to stock ride height and run it on the street like that.....bring the front end down when on the track.

Naw, too much work and I like the punishment! This is a 75% track car with the rest of its life spent driving to the track or on its once a week maintenance drive to work.

Originally Posted by jonesb930

I think the key is proper placement of the sensors. Have you tried to find data sheets on the sensors they are using? You could certainly mount two on either side of the cooler opening and two sort of facing out to sense curbs. You will need to find the best hight from the ground to mount them so they can actually "see" the curb and not false on the ground. I would suggest making a test rig out of wood that you can adjust up and down to find the best mount points. You could even take it to work and test it against the parking stops and curbs around town.

I still think my original idea (discussed in one of my emails) of using a backup camera would be best. You could mount it just under the bumper part facing down at an angle giving you a slight forward view and still keep the lower part of the spoiler in view. You could creep right up to the stop. The camera would be hidden.

Hey Bill! Yeah its all in the placement. I have already sketched out a test curb from scrap wood I have in the garage. I'll use it to test placement.

As for specs, they are pretty light. Built for 12V, with a display distance of .3-1.8m. Freq. used is 40kHz... that is it so not a whole lot to go on.

I have considered your camera idea and its pretty cool when you add in the track cam recording feature

Originally Posted by VroomGrrl

It took me awhile to get a feel for how far up to pull my car in various situations. Still, sometimes if I am not paying attention, I pull up far enough that my front plate bracket dragggggs over the curb. I HATE IT WHEN THAT HAPPENS. Of course all of yall have probably removed the front plate bracket to save some weight mine is still on there.

One other solution I have not seen mentioned - RALLY 911! JACK THAT BABY UP!

No way I am going back to Rally Look!!! N O eFn Way! No front plate required in FL

I'll try the parking sensors and see where I get. I am already a very careful parker and have various reflection techniques to see where I am. For the most part FL is flat with few places you could kill a bumper like this on ramped pavements, etc... Except for the closest entrance to my HOA! *sigh*

[Dr J]

My trick is to park next to a shiny car and look at the reflection off of its fender.

[Drisump]

Anytime I go anywhere of consequence in my car, I have to take a ferry ie. taking ramps of various pitches. I often need to traverse the on ramp and/or the off ramp. My car is Euro height without even a modest splitter. Despite being a fairly high 911, there have been times where upon careful exiting of a parking lot I've dragged a little bit in the front.....what a pis* of*! One time in LA, was a particularly bad time....on a long tour...fully loaded. I kind of wonder what what low cars do? I consider myself careful...berms can be avoided but some parking lots are far more threatening to those low splitters... I'm with JW on this one....Cheers

[BlkBird]

Adjustable air shocks, that's the ticket.

Pssshhhttt and your car goes up 3' like some monster truck on steroids. But at the flick of a switch and whooooossh, you're down on the tarmac. That's my suggestion. Sound affects provided free of charge. Let me know how it works out for you.

[lindy 911]

I have the same bumper / air dam as you and so far have had no trouble. I am careful and aware of where I am and pay attention. Racing a kart with 1.5" ground clearance trains you to drive a certain way on four wheels! I avoid routs that contain speed bumps and pot holes.

Lindy

[euro911sc]

Nice Car Lindy! But, it looks like you have at least 1-2" more height. I may have to raise mine up a little... We'll see. I certainly wont be driving it into the infield of Daytona! Kinda a bummer as I usually park in the Porsche Coral! No BMW coral...

-Michael

[euro911sc]

So... its been a year! Wow I work fast! I finally installed the park sensors in the front bumper. The inspiration was a hard look at getting the whole car re-painted. We'll see. Anyway, here are some pics or the results:

Taped Sensor in about the place it would be and used a low fold up chair as a test berm. Chair in its case was about ~4" tall:


Tapped and marked:


Cut and installed. The kit comes with its very own hole saw! I have placed the sensors such that 2 face forward and each side has one sensor that points out at a 30-45 degree angle. I believe it will look a lot better when it is all painted up:


Wiring was run through existing holes in the trunk so no drilling of the actual metal was required!!:




I have temporarily mounted the control box. After the car is painted I'll tuck it in somewhere. For now it works well and I can debug easily:


The display is a problem. It is not well suited to mounting under the dash or in some nicely hidden spot. I may just discard it, though it does give a nice distance readout. The buzzer is tucked up behind the tach and is easily heard over my M&K growl.

Performance, over the last week, is great. I mounted them lower than was spec'd in the instructions, but have no false signals. Coming up to a berm I get beeps at a great distance and can come right up to it with no worries as I watch the distance decrease on the display. It even worked well on grass and scrub when I parked at a friends house.

Overall I am happy with the short term results. We will see how it holds up over the next few years.

Enjoy!

Michael

[nesslar]

Just my opinion, but I think it's way too much "bumper/valance" for a 911, unless it's just for the track. What is really wrong with a more "stock" look? Our cars ain't ugly without these snowplow attachments.

[ivangene]

just my opinion - glad you are doing to your car what makes you happy

[yasir]

I alway back into the parking bumps as the rear usually sits higher than the front especially if the car is lowered and has a spoiler.

I am surprised for no one has mentioned this yet ?

[jonesb930]

Well executed Michael!

[Racerbvd]

Can you hear it over the radio??? I would just put a set of wheels with higher profile tires on for street driving..

[crossle05]

after about the third time you break it on a curb or parking strip and have had to remove it to repair it... you'll stop hitting the curbs....

[combatic]

Hmmm...How about just backing in? It is just habit now and all the club guys up here back in...like a motorcycle gang =) I learned the hard way a long time ago.

[Drisump]

But it's not just the obvious threats, I don't even have a front spoiler and I remember coming out of a hotel parking lot in LA (very carefully) and dragging....D'OH...any fibreglass aero additions would've been peeled off immediately. Entering the lot was no problem and there was no other exit. Those things just don't seem to be practical in the real world, unless you never go into unfamiliar situations. Cheers

[euro911sc]

This car is built for 75% track 25% weekly maint. drive to work. Backing in is fine, except the fixed back seats and 5pt harnesses make it tough to rotate around and see everything. Even so I think the rear of the car is so low that I would have problems there too. It is easy now to just pull into the spot and not be concerned as I have a meter to tell me. *shrug* I had considered using 1/2 of the sensors in the rear bumper.

One of the main drivers for this project was the fact that the bumper I am using is NLA. There are no others out there like it (the difference is the built up sections on the top surface that are designed to fit the OEM 911 smile and not a 964 seal) that I have found either so if I smack it up on a curb I'll be repairing it or have to fit an entirely new one. Not interested in doing that right now.

I suppose it will be useful for bumper drafting as well