Garage Parking assist using Parking Mirror and Garage Images

Added a Parking mirror in garage (sort of a DIY)

Problem 1:
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Utilizing the width of the garage while maximizing ingress and digress ease necessitated a turn while backing in the garage.

Problem 2:
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Parking perfectly straight on red carpet is just hard, even in a spider. So I was sometimes going for three attempts, and then it was usually a little off. The reason is that I need to back in at an angle to allow for both doors to open fully, so I can not back straight in.

Solution:
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I bought a ~$30 parking or driveway mirror and mounted it on the garage door rail, so it could be seen with the door open. This provided the third person visibility to perform the turn and straight parking on the first attempt 93.4% of the time.

Source:
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Amazon or WallMart

Effectiveness?:
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9 out of 10. I have to look backwards and use my side mirror, but now I can also glance up and see my absolute alignment and make quick adjustments in the last foot or two backing up.

What my neighbors do?:
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They keep storage shelving on both sides of the cars and just back their cars in straight. This means there is 3 inches between their cars. The inner doors can not be opened resulting in the left car being removed before the right car can be entered. I do not believe this to be optimal.

Notes:
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The yellow line is my parking path. The green lines are to extend the front garage opening into the drive way.
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Yes, my top is always down. Even if its raining lightly, as long as I am driving. When parked I play chicken with God (assuming he controls the rain) and leave the top down most of the time, it keeps life exciting!

One of my neighbors called my cell to tell me someone had likely stolen my F430 because he saw it driving with the top up LOL. (true as well)

My top fabric and plastic look fine after a day or so of being left UP, like during long term non-use, ~1 week or more. I have left my Boxster top down for the last 10+ years almost always, and the fabric looks as-new, and the only damage to the plastic window that plasticX wont easily remove, are cracks from when I was living in San Jose CA for a few years and put the top down at 45 deg F (or so) and it cracked.

As I have previously stated on the subject, the top can only be actuated N number of times before mechanical failure. So your choices are;

A. Always actuating the top when you get to your destination: The top mechanism will eventually fail.
B. Almost Always leaving the top down: the chance of a creased top / window.
C. Almost Always leaving the top up. Not attractive IMO and you lose the open air driving. I live in Central FL where it is now 79 deg F and sunny (winter can be hell), and in the summer it is usually in the upper 80s and rarely breaks 93. So I cant come up with a reason to have it up unless I need to drive in torrential rains, but like most of us I have other vehicles for adverse weather driving.
D. Removing the top assembly entirely to save weight. Note that the roll bars are part of said assembly and I like my head. I am sure one of the 16M guys have seriously thought about saving that 250 lbs. You know who you are
E. Leave the top up for long periods of inactivity. I do leave the top up in the garage if the car will not be used for a while. It will not significantly increase the lifetime actuations and it makes the car smell of leather which is real nice.

*I have inadvertently volunteered to be the test subject on the effects of leaving the top down 99.9% of the time. I have two years of top down so far. I can put it up and post pics, and someone else with a 2006 spider who leaves the top up most of the time can do the same. Then we will have more data on the top fabric and plastic window. It wont help us on the MTBF.

 

Wanted to add an image of the "neighbors" garage to go with the dual mustang pictorial. This is the typical 2 car configuration in my area for those of us shackled by a 2 car garage.
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On the F430, opening the doors;
The doors first stop is ~18"
The second stop and full open is ~38"

I have 24-26" of clearance, so in between the first stop and full open. Because I have a 50" long by 6.5" high yellow rubber bumper on the wall (you can see it in the images), I can open until the door connects with the bumper+wall and climb out just fine. The door usually stays open at the 24-26" extension even though there is no stop, but sometimes requires minor pressure. If there was just concrete or another vehicle I could not make contact, and thus could not put pressure on the door, making it a gymnastic move.

I will admit my ingress and digress involve upper body muscle moves without stressing the bolsters at all. I was thinking of shooting a video of how I recommend getting in and out of vehicles without using the bolsters. They are really not for that purpose and the results of using them as leverage and support in the process are the primary reason they wear faster than the seat proper.

I prefer to leave the lions share of room in between the car because:
1. The LEFT car gets room for the driver door to fully open.
2. The RIGHT car gets room for the passenger door to fully open. Thus a "lady" will be unable to ding the Porsche with the Ferrari door.
3. The LEFT car is not used for dates as much, but when it is I have to pull out first, and then help her ingress in the driveway. A little lame, but its the best I can do with my current space.
4. Because I am the only driver of the RIGHT car, and I can get in and out just fine with 24" of clearance, its no big deal. Now when I get older, or stop going to the gym, my plan might have to change.
5. I like a large space in between the cars for:
--a. trash can and recycling, yes they are HUGE, (in images)
--b. So the kids are less likely bump the cars while bringing their bikes in and out.