How A Single Tennis Ball Can Prevent A Major Hiccup In Your Garage

If you like the idea of taking advantage of every potential square foot of space in your garage, you probably use it to store plenty of items, while also parking your car inside. It can be challenging to maximize your garage's space, but you find a way to make it work — until you pull the car in too far and hit your tool bench at the back. No matter what size of garage you have, parking the car accurately every time is far easier when you make use of a tennis ball hack. Just carefully hang the ball from the ceiling so that it touches your windshield at the precise place where you should stop the car.

With this hanging tennis ball in place, you” always be in the perfect spot in the garage. You won't hit items in the back of the space, but you also won't come up short as you're pulling in, leaving your automatic garage door to come down on the back of your car or preventing it from moving at all. Just bear in mind that this tennis ball trick can't do anything for you if you're struggling to pull the vehicle inside in a straight line, occasionally hitting your mirrors on the edges.

A tennis ball is great for this hack, as it's soft and won't scratch your windshield or car. You don't need a new tennis ball, either — an older one laying in the backyard will do the trick. Start by using a long drill bit to create a hole, going all the way through both sides of the ball so you end up with two holes. As you're drilling through the material on both the top and bottom, make sure you don't go through it so fast that you damage whatever is on the other side.

Now, insert rope through the hole. Most people will need about 10 feet of rope, but if you have tall ceilings in the garage, you may need 20 feet or more. You can use almost anything, including paracord, string, fishing line, or nylon rope. You don't need to cut the rope yet, so don't worry about the length. After you insert it all the way through the two holes in the tennis ball, tie a thick knot on the bottom side or tie the rope to a washer to prevent the rope from going back through the hole.

If you don't feel like building your own hanging tennis ball gadget, hardware stores like Home Depot sell the entire contraption with the ball already attached to the string. Just make sure any pre-made gadget has enough string length.

Park the car inside the garage in the exact location where you always want to park it. Climb a large step ladder with the tennis ball on the rope and bring a marker or carpenter's pencil. Hold the end of the rope at ceiling level and allow the tennis ball to drop toward the windshield of the car. Then adjust the rope's position. Most people will want the tennis ball to just be touching the windshield at a spot in front of the steering wheel. This makes it easier for the driver to stop the car at the perfect spot, as this is where they will naturally be looking while pulling the car into the garage. Some people like to use a few washers on top of the ball where the rope enters or fishing weights on the inside to help the tennis ball hang straight without bouncing around too much when your car's windshield bumps into it.

Once you have the rope at the precise spot on the ceiling where you want to hang it, mark the spot with the pencil or marker. Drill a hole in the ceiling for attaching an eye hook (or screw the eye hook directly in, if possible). Securely screw the eye hook into the hole you made and attach the rope to the eye hook, continuing to make sure the ball is hanging at the perfect height. Then clip any extra rope from the end attached to the eye hook.