BETTER than a hatch swap OR repaint...
 

Finally...IT happened! I parked far enough back in the garage (to appease the wife!) that the garage door being closed by someone WITH THE HATCH OPEN caused a near-catastrophic bodypaint incident. Does this sound like fingernails on a chalkboard to anyone else yet? WHAT kind of damage could be waiting for my eyes to gush over? WHAT kind of misery was I to be facing after watching from a distance - my garage door CLOSE my hatch all by itself??? WELLLLL, I don’t recommend attempting this “power lift gate mod” to ANYONE EVER!!! But for me, I’ll take to $40 hit!!!

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...d5959ae5fa.jpg

WHILE these emblems are ridiculously overpriced...I call it a WIN! May everyone have such a blessed day!

Personality scars! Ouch! It could have been bad. I use Harbor Freight floor bump stops for my vehicles. I use the yellow long type. They work great to park the same distance every time. Plus I use tape markings to make sure its at the same place every time.

Excellent choice to bump-stop your roll. Unfortunately, I get nagged that it’s “too hard to move around in the garage when I pull up so far”. This has me trained to just clear the bumper NOT an open hatch! I’d go bump-stop route but winters in Nebraska offer best bike ride for a 2yo INSIDE the garage! Ha. Kids will have the rest of their lives to hate speed bumps...no sense ruining their childhood too ;)


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Swap to the other side and reverse in!!

It really doesn't matter what's the correct position for her to park
 

...she's probably not going to do it, anyway. At least in my experience, over the past 28 years with this garage, and wife!

1993-1998: With three garage bays available (one with a single, manual door, the other two sharing a double door) I took the single for my project car (Chevelle,in '94), or back-up, and the daily drivers went in the double door side (the one closest to the side door/house was my wife's. My single door was very narrow, but it was OK for me to use, and I parked my S-10 DD next to it. My wife had trouble getting into the best spot, even using bumpers, hanging tennis balls, even inflated cushions to keep her from bumping, scraping her K-car against the tool boxes and workbenches in the garage (no piles of junk, parts, and antiques that came later).

1999-2002: Cars and trucks came and went, with trucks relegated to outside the garage, her beloved Fiero resided there (running or not) with mirrors regularly knocked-off moving in-out of her space, and the Chevelle moved into the double stall, for easier access & more workspace.

2003-2007: Chevelle became race-only, kept its' spot, and the Fiero was moved to the project slot (she didn't watch the oil pressure go away). Quad4 Olds became a DD for her.

2008-2017: Quit racing in 2008, Chevelle stayed in garage, Fiero came out to be replaced with home-built squareback trailer in 2011, Olds in the back 40, along with 2-3 trucks in the parking paddock; her new Cobalt arrived in 2008, getting the third garage spot.

2017-2021: the Chevelle & trailer stayed, as did the Cobalt, until 2017 when the Cobalt was replaced with my wife's excess junk/antiques stored there, after we replaced the old house with another, smaller one in 2017. The Chevelle left for a new life in 2021, leaving zero cars in the 3-car garage (she immediately moved in more junk).

At least, there'll be no more car damage incurred in the garage, as all our cars/trucks/ 2 of 3 trailers aren't crowded into it, anymore. And I still haven't made up my mind whether she ever gets to drive the X5, at all. She's had some parking incidents while shopping, and can't back up for sh.....

Sounds expertly managed, at least!

$40scratched emblems? I'm cheap,& originals were shot, so..
 

I could live with that scratched emblem...it beats replacing several mirrors sheared off, any day.

I agree that $40+ for a replacement emblem is a bit high, so on a whim, last time I ordered stuff off of Amazon, I ordered Chinesium emblem replacements, front & rear, for $9 the set.

Attachment 80782

They came with two grommets apiece, and even have DE molded on the back (obviously German, no doubt), and look pretty good compared to the colorless wind&grit-obliterated badging left on my '01. I'll put them on today/tomorrow after it rains.

They even bothered to spell B M W correctly!


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BMW roundel from the Bizarro World (East Germany, 1950's)
 

I had been looking at getting a decal or sticker to cover-up my degraded roundels (OK on wheels, etc), possibly in blue & black (instead of white; like I always have blacked-over my Chevy emblems), but saw those two and bought them. If my X5 had been red, then I might've gotten red & white roundels, or not.

But, while looking for the roundel's history, I re-discovered the EMW roundel (I read about the East German factory from a magazine, back in the 60's), and thought that it would make an unusual modification for non-purist BMW owners (especially those with red X5's).
Attachment 80788 Eisenacher Motorenwerk

And that my friend, in this locale, is why a garage is a Texas basement.