Help! New Cali won’t go in the garage

[Paul Grice]

My neighbour in France got a bloke with a numatic drill to lower the floor of his garage..... bit extreme and spoiled my peaceful summer hols but he did get some extra clearance!

 

[Roy C]

My neighbour in France got a bloke with a numatic drill to lower the floor of his garage..... bit extreme and spoiled my peaceful summer hols but he did get some extra clearance!

Even more extreme - swap it for a Marco Polo. They are not as tall.

 

[WelshGas]

Even more extreme - swap it for a Marco Polo. They are not as tall.

But longer so the sloping entrance might be more problematic.

Just leave it outside, and use it.
Not a fan of cold damp garages, hastens any corrosion especially if vehicle is not thoroughly dry beforehand.
It has been shown that the ideal is a Carport with open sides or a large, insulated and ventilated/heated garage to promote good air circulation.
If those aren't available - Outside.

 

[Roy C]

But longer so the sloping entrance might be more problematic.

Yes, I'm waiting for the "Help! New Marco Polo won't go in the garage" thread over on the Marco Polo owners club forum at some point. Not as many options for reducing the length of a vehicle or making a garage longer....

 

[marchugo]

Chris,

I have to correct my self: the top of my Thule awning (VW original) is not exactly as high as the highest point of the curved roof, as I wrote in an earlier post, but 4 millimeters higher. At least for my Cali 5.1.

I measured it today. The curved roof has its highest point more or less halfway the sliding door. From the seven ribs in the roof, the middle one protrudes most. With a measuring slat from that point to the awning, you can see the gap of 4 MM (see pictures).






I've tried if I can mount the awning in a somewhat lower position, but all the points of the nuts and bolts are fixed.

Anyway, the extra height of 4 MM seems to be within the tolerances of your garage door, when using your wedging trick. No need to dismount and mount the awning every time, I hope for you.

Regards from Amsterdam,

Marc.

 

[bec2557]

My awning certainly looks slightly higher than any part of the roof - it just fitted in the garage with around 15 - 20mm clearance phew !

IMG_1576

• bec2557
• Nov 4, 2017

IMG_1575

• bec2557
• Nov 4, 2017

 

[BenM]

I had the same problem, albeit I knew before purchase. Decided to fit air suspension as in the end it wasn’t that much more expensive than raising the garage door lintel height with a new larger double garage door.

Added bonus of variable ride heights on demand and auto-level on sites.

Hi Andy,
if you don't mind me asking, how much was air suspension and how much lower can you make the Cali sit? Have a similar issue.

 

[Andy Foster]

In reply to the above, the overall height of the van when the air suspension is on its lowest setting is 1910mm.

Cost was about £4.2k from memory from SAP in Doncaster.

 

[Andy Foster]

And auto-level…

 

[Chrisp]

UPDATE: with the help of a wooden pole to slightly lift the opened door I have been getting in and out quite successfully. It's never going to be easy though, and so this week I'm getting a new door fitted, which will give me a significantly higher and wider opening (by removing the existing frame and placing the new door behind the brick opening). Being a roller door it will also give me masses more height inside the garage so I can raise the van roof at least partially to allow it to dry out when it comes home wet.

Thanks for all the suggestions. As much as I'd like to have air suspension and auto levelling, the new door is only costing a quarter of the price and so I can't really justify it.

To those recommending outdoor parking, it's not an option for me as the garage is directly onto the road. Parking outside the garage would block my other garage and make life difficult for the neighbours too.

 

[Hotel California]

@Chrisp , be careful with opening the roof partly and then closing it .
If the roof is not opende fully it can get out of line when you close it .
I had it on mine once , so if you have litlle clearence in the garagedoor and you lower the (partly opend ) roof and one side stays up a few inch. you might have a problem getting the Cali out ....

 

[flying banana]

Omg this is why so many people think us California owners are like caravanners. Seriously, who cares? Just get in your van, love it, drive it, admire it, have fun in it, have sex in it, do what makes you happy in it, but just get on with it. Technical s**t is so boring. Be young, get excited xxx KISS

I've shagged a few birds in mine.still doesn't fit in the garage.

 

[Chrisp]

@Chrisp , be careful with opening the roof partly and then closing it .
If the roof is not opende fully it can get out of line when you close it .
I had it on mine once , so if you have litlle clearence in the garagedoor and you lower the (partly opend ) roof and one side stays up a few inch. you might have a problem getting the Cali out ....

Thanks for the warning. There should be plenty of clearance with the new door. The problem you mention is rectified after fully opening and closing again?

 

[Hotel California]

Yes if your roof is out of line you need to open it fully and keep pushing the button until the symbol "roof open" appears on the control panel

 

[Lloydfred]

My bus won't go in the garage and I've four courses of brickwork above the opening. At some stage I plan to move the lintel up two courses, giving me the hight I need to get her in and I'll need a roller door. But I've got more important things to sort out first as my wagon will be fine on the drive for a bit.

Loving this thread though lol

 

[Bellcrew]

I've shagged a few birds in mine.still doesn't fit in the garage.

Ducks?

 

[Quentin SF]

On a related note, can anyone tell me the width of a current Cali with the wing mirrors folded?

We're thinking of buying one, and from the standard specs I can see that it won't fit in our garage with the wing mirrors, but the outer dimension NOT including the mirrors is OK.

I suspect we'd need to keep it outside, but it would be interesting to know how much width you lose when folding them...

 

[Snowy]

Hi Quentin SF, I nipped out to my Cali which is in my garage. I measure from the glass to the outside edge of the mirror and then repeated the measurement from the glass to the outer edge when mirrors folded. It saves 10cm on each side.
Therefore using VW 2297mm width including mirrors, would be reduced by 20cm.
So 2277mm would be a minimum. But it is useful to use mirrors when reversing in.
Hope it helps
Snowy

 

[Quentin SF]

Thanks Snowy! 20cm might be enough, especially if I'm not doing it regularly. Will go and measure more carefully...

Greatly appreciated.

 

[Carstenbn]

I have printed and laminated this dimension-image, and it stays in the Cali for future reference
https://wimkoelman.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/afmetingen-vw-t5-california.jpg

 

[Erbster]

If it’s that tight, how would you get in/out of the vehicle?

 

[Amarillo]

If it’s that tight, how would you get in/out of the vehicle?

Garages are often wider than the door aperture.


Follow my blog: www.au-revoir.eu

 

[Quentin SF]

Yes - we’ve just moved into this house with a spacious double garage, but the two (single) doors are not very wide. At some point I may rebuild the front to have a full-width door instead.

In the meantime, I might be parking it rather close to the left-hand wall, which would at least mean that having a sliding door on the driver's side would actually be an advantage!

 

[mccp]

Yes - we’ve just moved into this house with a spacious double garage, but the two (single) doors are not very wide. At some point I may rebuild the front to have a full-width door instead.

In the meantime, I might be parking it rather close to the left-hand wall, which would at least mean that having a sliding door on the driver's side would actually be an advantage!

I've just measured mine, and with mirrors folded it is 2105 mm wide.

 

[B J G]

On a related note, can anyone tell me the width of a current Cali with the wing mirrors folded?

We're thinking of buying one, and from the standard specs I can see that it won't fit in our garage with the wing mirrors, but the outer dimension NOT including the mirrors is OK.

I suspect we'd need to keep it outside, but it would be interesting to know how much width you lose when folding them...

Don't know if you've actually seen them fold but they do more of a rotating motion rather than conventional inward folding action.

can be seen on this you tube, bit tedious to watch.