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With several different drivers in the family with different levels of capability ... an unfortunately relatively common occurrence is the side of the car to get scratched by the garage door frame while pulling into the garage.

On a good day, it just leaves white paint on the car, on bad days it might actually scratch the side of the car.

Any suggestions on how to protect the door and garage frame when pulling into the garage?

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    I'd recommend driving school. Being able to judge the width of your vehicle is not an advanced skill, it is one of the most basic. Anyone without this skill is a danger to others on the road.
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Aug 27, 2016 at 10:58
  • @Tetsujin For a moderately-tight squeeze I'd believe you, but some car/garage arrangements only have 1-2" clearance on each side.
    – Ed Brannin
    Commented Dec 29, 2016 at 15:23
  • Buy an smaller (narrower) car.
    – Willeke
    Commented Sep 24, 2017 at 9:23

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Get a few tall traffic codes - the kinds that are tall enough to see from a car window, and tip over easily.

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Set them just inside the garage door frame on either side. When any of the drivers are coming into the garage, if a cone tips over, they'll need to back up and try again.

You could do a similar thing by hanging baseballs or something similar just inside the garage door frame. If the driver bumps either of the hanging baseballs, they're too close!

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  • Except they don't even stop when they're hitting the wall of the garage. A cone is going to be even easier to mash. I'm with Tetsujin, they need remedial driving lessons and shouldn't be allowed to drive the car until they can demonstrate proficiency. As funny as the Helen Keller parking method is, it's hard on the car and the building.
    – Tim Nevins
    Commented Sep 25, 2017 at 21:52
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I also found these instructions for "Garage Entry Accident Avoidance Guides" -- basically attach pipe-foam inside the door so it shouldn't touch the car when entering (but can touch the mirrors, depending on height).

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San Francisco has a lot of very narrow driveways, and in the old days, they were built with concrete or steel conical guards at the bottom edges of the garage door that reach the ground about 8" out from the door frame. This keeps the tires from getting too close to the edge. I've looked for these to install on mine, but can't find them prefabricated.

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