Avoiding Concrete Parking Barriers

[sferraro]

Has anyone found an avoidance mechanism to prevent scraping the front bumper bottom when parking in lots with concrete parking barriers/curbs? I recently purchased a 99 SL500 Sport and the front bumper bottom needs to be repainted due to many scrap marks from concrete parking barriers, but I don't want to keep painting every time my wife goes shopping.

[KenSilver]

Have you tried backing in? The rear on our SL's is much higher than the front.

Ken Silver
--------------
~1993 SL500, glistening triple black, xenons: http://www.kensilver.com/SL
~1999 SLK 230 Kompressor, silver/black leather, CD, immaculate (my wife's)
~1999 Suzuki Grand Vitara. black & silver
~1991 Daimler, shiny grey/grey leather, best in country!
~ex 350SL, 230E, 280E, MX5 and a lot of other makes not nearly as nice.

[G-Benz]

Keep a can of paint handy...

Even if you're careful, it seems sometimes you can park up to a concrete berm (and NOT hear any scraping noise) only to back out and hear that scrape...as if your front end sits lower when you are backing out than when you are pulling in...go figure...

I've given up and just attributed the anomaly to the hazards of "takin' it to the streets"

P.S. I'm a greater offender of this than my wife!

[den500sl]

...watch out for inclines as you ramp up or back down, as I have lightly bounced and scraped lower front cladding. I have learned to slow down to a "crawl" in order to avoid scrapes.

97 SL500 sprt pkg1 triple blk 27k miles

[HitParader]

Has anyone found an avoidance mechanism to prevent scraping the front bumper...every time my wife goes shopping.

Have you tried hiding the keys?

[sferraro]

Thanks for all the good advice, but I bet there is a way to use those backup sensor systems.