How to NOT run into curbs and parking berms?
 

So I slapped one of these on the car:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1295457176.jpg

And I lowered the car so now the bottom edge of the front bumper is just shy of 4" off the floor. A friend of mine did the same with his 1st gen RX-7 and promptly hit a curb in the 1st week cracking it in half or so. I would like to avoid said embarrassing act!! :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

So I thought about curb feelers...

Amazon.com: Superior 26-6441 Adjust-O-Matic Curb Feeler, 10" Long: Automotive

But my friends laughed at me and called me ghetto :D :D

So I ordered this instead:

Amazon.com: SOUND AROUND/PYLE INDUSTRIES PLPSE4 Reverse Parking Curb Sensor System: Electronics
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg

~$35 all in. I'll give it a shot and see if I can mount it on the bumper in such a way as to detect parking berms and curbs. I opened the box and it seems to be of reasonable quality. I can mount the box in the front boot, out of the way and virtually unseen. It has a visual and audible notification. Not sure if or where I will mount the visual part. Certainly not on the dash as recommended in the installation manual! I may mount it at the top of the a pilar at the roof line. We'll see.

I may yet return to the curb feelers and mount them under the front bumper sticking forward. They would be pretty hidden at that point. Maybe paint them black.

How have you guys/gals solved this possible issue outside of just being extra careful?

-Michael

Just be aware and don't get to close.

If you have a Home Depot near you (or a spare grocery cart you can strip for parts), and a big azz drill, you could always try this classic solution:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1084885904.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1084885952.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1084885996.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1084886073.jpg

Oh boy. I remember that post.

There's no need to park that close to a parking berm. Car isn't that long in the first place.

Clearance for driveways is another issue. The bolt-on rub plates once sold/still sold by Perf. Products, as well as the skateboard wheel project are options.

Sherwood

this is second only to the guy that cut a big hole behind the rear seats to get to the back of motor for things not to do to a 911.

thats not going to stop you from tearing up the spoiler. do like i do, i dont pull up that far when parking and i DONT let my wife(your wife/girl friend) drive the car, actually she does not want to, but i like to think i dont let her.

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

What Joe Bob said.

Please know I am not judging or mocking a fellow Pelican. But you should be aware that if you put curb feelers on a purpose built sports car modified to be more precise for racing, there will be those out there that will do both.

I am not without sin. I will admit to "tapping" a curb in the past. But these older 911's are narrower and shorter tha the average car. So while it may feel a little weird, just park a little ways away from the curb. When you get out of the car you will most likely find that you are not protruding on the opposite side. If every once in a great while you have to get back in the car and move it a little, I would imagine you would suffer less frequent embarassment than you would comments about curb feelers.

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

Bob

Maybe just drive it and never park it? Or at least just park it in your garage when not driving it?:D

+1 on not going with the feelers, the alarm is kind of interesting, let us know how it works out.SmileWavy

John may be right. I just remembered I scraped the front valance this week pulling into a parking lot driveway.

You are going to have to be carefull on the street with that...

You get used to approaching a drive way on a slant. I also approach a parking space with a cement stop with care.....you get used to it after awhile. You also get adept at bondo/fiberglass repair.:eek:

Try driving with a four inch splitter extension. :p

Does this belong under the broad heading of "driving skills"?

Use curb feelers if you must, or park it in the garage.

Practice with the Lexus or an Alfa GTV with an unguarded oil sump.

Sherwood

+1

I say go for it. What the heck. Let's see how it works.

Did the same on another car and was extremely careful, which was like driving on pins and needles when parking and going up and down steep cuts. After coming out of a store drive way which looked like I could make it - Crunch. Even stock height spoilers get hit, but I guarantee no matter how careful you are you will destroy it. Recommend only using it for track or return it and find something less aggressive - you will be $ and frustration ahead in the long run.

Do like the electronic approach - hope it works.

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.

i agree with this. sometime i park and feel like i'm miles from the curb (and (sometimes i am.. ) but even being a foot or so away i still don't protrude into traffic anymore than other cars parked along the road with me.
i'd rather park conservatively, and move the car again if i have to, than hit the curb and have to repair something..

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.

I think many of you missed the point of what he's trying to do - he's not worried about how far away from the (side) curb he is - he simply doesn't want to ram into the curbs in front of him when he parks.

That being said, agree it's a driving skill thing, that you'll just need to get used to (quickly, especially with your friend's RX-7 experience fresh in your mind).

There's lots of things you _could_ do to these cars... Doesn't mean you _should_ though. I'd put this in the same camp...

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! :)

HAHHAAHAHAHAHAAAAA That may also happen to me.


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

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.

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 ;)

No way I am going back to Rally Look!!! N O eFn Way! :D 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*

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

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

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.

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.

Lindyhttp://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1295539543.jpg

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

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:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1332089223.jpg

Tapped and marked:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1332089308.jpg

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:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1332089406.jpg

Wiring was run through existing holes in the trunk so no drilling of the actual metal was required!!:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1332089455.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1332089477.jpg

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:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1332089557.jpg

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

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. ;)

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

:p

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 ?

Well executed Michael!

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

third times the charm...
 

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....

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.

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

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 ;)