Your Body Shop Will Miss You.

[graemeg]

I am a 2005 NSX owner who got tired of getting door dings in my garage. After years of experimenting with different designs, I finally came up with an invention call DoorPal which I patented and am launching Nov.1.

I'd like to offer all NSX fans FREE shipping through Nov 30. 2007 when you buy my product online from my web store. You can see animation of how DoorPal works at http://www.doorpal.com

Product is in stock and goes on sale Nov 1.
Enter coupon code: NSXPRIME at checkout to get the free shipping. We accept credit cards and PayPal.

PS - DoorPal sells for $79.99 ea. and makes a great holiday gift.

<embed width="448" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" src="http://i232.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid232.photobucket.com/albums/ee201/viperjock/scene1.flv"></embed>

Here are a few actual shots of DoorPal in my garage with my '05 NSX. Enjoy!
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[TyraNSX]

Not to downplay your effort, but I use 2 of those foam sticks for kids to play with in the pool. ~ 5ft long & 3 inch diameter. One is on a piece of thread looped over 2 pushpins in wall to left of drivers side. Just play with where pushpins are sitting (height & distance apart) & how far apart the loops in the thread are on the stick.

The other is hanging from fishing line anchored to 2 sheetrock screws halfway sunk into a ceiling joist to the right of the passenger side, between the NSX & other car. Screws about 3ft apart. Play with length of fishing line & where stick is situated fore/aft to get best spot for you.

When I had a 1 car garage, I just had the one on wall to the left since no room on the right & would get psgr out in driveway. Reverse my placement if you are parking on the right of a 2 car garage. Total cost was under $1.50 since I already had thread, pushpins, & sheetrock screws.

 

[graemeg]

I tried the foam tube route as well during development.

My wife side mirror caught onto the fishing line, pulling the screw out of the drywall, putting a nice scratch in her paint job. Luckily not on my NSX .

Then I had the hassle of getting the step ladder out and repairing the ceiling and making a new attachment point. By the time I had paid for the repair to her car and the ceiling the $1.50 cost turned into a $350 mistake. Not to mention my time. This set up was also a major safety hazard for children and grown ups. Navigating through garage at night holding a baby while trying to avoid fishing line is asking for trouble. DoorPal eliminates the worry.

The DoorPal has a safety release that keeps this from happening, in addition, I don't have to worry about being protected if I park a loaner car in the garage or if I don't park exactly in the same position.

The problem with the foam tubes: Different cars have different door heights, resulting in different "sweet spots" or areas the door edges make impact. Therefore, you have adjust the height of the foam tubes to accommodate different cars.

One more thing, Try parking in your garage in when its windy. I tried this with the foam tubes and had to have someone hold them in place so I could park. The wind blew them into the middle of the garage.

Again, although the foam tubes seem like a good idea, DoorPal eliminates all the of the problems. If the tubes had worked for me, I would have stopped there and been happy, I wanted as real solution and that's why I kept improving the concept to what it is today.

I have had the DoorPal in my garage since June of 2005. That's a two year test period without ONE ding and without having to replace the unit. Foam wears out, and will not stand up to hot summers and cold winters....it falls apart.

 

[nsx2tall]

Interesting product. It looked familiar and because I watch too much TV, I recall seeing it before...

http://www.asseenontvhotline.com/pd-doorsaver.html

"Necessity may be the mother of invention, but the wife of inventor Ron Popeil must have played a hand too. The Ronco Door Saver is a contraption which hangs between parked cars to prevent paint chips and door dings. Because it must dangle from a ceiling, the Door Saver is only useful in a home's multi-car garage. How frequently did Ms. Popeil have to slam into the passenger side of her husband's car before screwing bolts into the garage ceiling to suspend a succession of bean bags became a reasonable solution? This brainchild had to come early in Ron's inventing career, back when he and the missus could only afford a two-car garage and she was constantly digging into the back seat of her Corvair to pull out the unsold Mr. Microphones from that day’s county fair."

From http://holecity.com/asp/fivehole.asp?issue=44&sec=5&hole=1

 

[graemeg]

Ahhh I've never seen that before. I assume it's no longer around for sale? I just did a search and found nothing.

Maybe it did not sell because it would still pull from the ceiling if a mirror were to catch on the rope?:smile:

 

[CL65 Captain]

$79 each???? Not a chance. Sorry but I think I can find a blowup raft, some nylon cord and anchors myself. If it was priced right it might be worth the hassle of doing it yourself. But $79?

 

[comtec]

Nice job Graeme,


You guys kill me. This is a vendor thread and you post links to other similar products or post that you wouldn't pay the asking price? No wonder we don't have more vendors then we do. You don't like the product then don't post in the vendor thread. This should be for questions about the product.

This happens a lot and is very discourteous imo.

 

[graemeg]

I'd hate to see you ding your NSX with a regular pool raft, but give it a try.

I did, and a regular pool raft does not work. DoorPal might look like a pool raft, I'll give you that, but that's where the likeness ends. You can't judge a book by it's cover. If I could have made this thing in China for $5 dollars and sold it for $10 I would have. Fortunately I did not want to put out a product that was a load of junk. I ended up with something that was not cheap to produce, but it truly works. I refuse to skimp on quality to save or make a buck.

How do you propose to attach your rope to a pool float? Duct tape, hot glue, JB weld, velcro...I tried them all, they don't work.

How will a pool float not puncture after repeated hits in the same spot?

How will you keep your anchors and screws from pulling out of the ceiling onto your NSX?

How will you keep your "pool float" from cracking and falling apart after one hot summer and one cold winter?

I'm actually not in this to make a killing, trust me nothing would have made me happier than to make this cheap and sell it at a low price, in fact that was my plan. The problem is as I tried the umpteen million different materials from foam to plastic and more, there was no other solution that actually worked, other than this one.

Take a regular pool float put it between your NSX and another car. Using both hands, slam the other car door as hard as you can into your NSX. Are you willing to do this? My advise, don't, you will do major damage. However, I do this daily on my '05 NSX when demonstrating DoorPal and it performs as designed EVERY time. Well worth $79.99.

 

[nsx2tall]

Nice job Graeme,


You guys kill me. This is a vendor thread and you post links to other similar products or post that you wouldn't pay the asking price? No wonder we don't have more vendors then we do. You don't like the product then don't post in the vendor thread. This should be for questions about the product.

This happens a lot and is very discourteous imo.

This design does look superior to the Ronco product. However, since he mentioned that it was patented, I felt obligated to point out that there was a product on the market nearly identical in design, look and function more than 20 years ago. What is old is new again.

 

[Ko-nsx]

$79 each???? Not a chance. Sorry but I think I can find a blowup raft, some nylon cord and anchors myself. If it was priced right it might be worth the hassle of doing it yourself. But $79?

 

[Juice]

I use an older method called, "Don't be a dipshit and ding your wife's car." Unfortunately, my wife hasn't learned this higher level method, and I may be forced into buying DoorPal.

 

[KSXNSX]

Take a regular pool float put it between your NSX and another car. Using both hands, slam the other car door as hard as you can into your NSX. Are you willing to do this? My advise, don't, you will do major damage. However, I do this daily on my '05 NSX when demonstrating DoorPal and it performs as designed EVERY time. Well worth $79.99.

When I get out of my car, I don't slam the door open as hard as I can with both hands. I think an inflatable raft would suffice for normal door openings. I mean, that is cool that your product is more durable, but I just don't think that improves its intended purpose.

Hope none of this came out the wrong way; didn't mean for it to be negative. Hopefully the responses will help as constructive criticism/market research. Maybe you can tweak it in some way to improve on it.

Ex: Instead of marketing this as a door-ding protector, you can market it as a bumper guard to protect against driving in too far when parking and denting the nose. I mean, especially for stick shift cars, a lot of accidents can happen when parking/starting the car (e.g. you start the car and forget that you left it in first gear and the car lurches forward and hits your garage wall/pole/whatever. Since your product is more durable, it would serve this purpose better since more force is involved in a moving car.

I definitely appreciate the entrepreneurial spirit though, to actually design the website, make the videos and design the product. Nice work, and nice car.

 

[goldNSX]

If door dings happen in your OWN garage it's a very defensive strategy against your wife's misbehaviour. I'm aware of cultures who hit her face with the fist if she does this.

 

[Yellow NSX]

.

 

[ExoticMD]

I think it is cool. Nice idea! :smile:

 

[graemeg]

B]Hi KSXNSX I appreciate your feedback. [/B]As a car lover this idea began not as an entrepreneurial idea, but from an actual need to solve a problem I was having in my garage. Specifically, my wife kept on giving me door dings.

DoorPal developed into an entrepreneurial idea after I went through several prototypes including pool rafts, foam squares, foam rolls and just about every other material I could source and soon realized NONE of these solved the problem. There was no true turnkey solution out there, and felt it would be nice to share my findings with other car lovers


With regard to the inflatable raft here is why it will not work and why DoorPal does work:

An inflatable raft isn't practical or safe. Most rafts are 12" thick, to keep a person afloat & dry. Car garages are small to begin with, put an inflatable raft between two cars and on each wall & you just made your garage 3ft. smaller. DoorPal's profile is only 4.5", it won't get in your way or take up much room. Inflatable rafts aslo don't have resistance channels to properly absorb and distribute shock, especially on a daily basis. Inflatable raft seams are not built to take abuse on a daily basis, DoorPal will outlast a raft.

In addition a raft won't withstand the extremes of winter and summer and the daily abuse of car doors slamming into it. A raft will crack, burst or fall apart. DoorPal was engineered to withstand abuse everyday with 16 gauge thick walls & a custom iBeam construction for strength.

One more challenge with a raft; there is nowhere to attach ropes in order to hang it between cars. Duct tape, Velcro, super glue, resin and hot glue won't work. DoorPal has welded reinforced attachment points. DoorPal also has a safety release so it won't pull out from the ceiling and cause damage to you or your car(s).


Thanks.

 

[graemeg]

Thanks ExoticMD. Unfortunatly some people don't understand the product unless you go to the website and read all about it. I know this is a NSX site and I am a NSX owner, but I have one customer who owns a 2005 Viper and an ORIGINAL 1966 Shelby Hertz car. You can see the cars on the doorpal.com website under the testimonial section. The Mustang is worth over $225,000 and he has no problem with his wife opening his car door into it. DoorPal really protects.

I appreciate your positive attitude as a car lover to vendors in this forum. Thanks for your support.

 

[Texas91Brent]

Thanks ExoticMD. Unfortunatly some people don't understand the product unless you go to the website and read all about it. I know this is a NSX site and I am a NSX owner, but I have one customer who owns a 2005 Viper and an ORIGINAL 1966 Shelby Hertz car. You can see the cars on the doorpal.com website under the testimonial section. The Mustang is worth over $225,000 and he has no problem with his wife opening his car door into it. DoorPal really protects.

I appreciate your positive attitude as a car lover to vendors in this forum. Thanks for your support.

Damn guys, 80.00 and yall are giving this guy hell? You buy carbon fiber anything from other vendors starting at 300.00 and don't blink at the price. How much does it cost for dentdocter? where I live it starts at 100.00 and up. If you don't like the product fine, go onto another discussion, enough putting down his product....there I feel better, and will probably buy one or two for myself......

 

[KSXNSX]

B]Hi KSXNSX I appreciate your feedback. [/B]As a car lover this idea began not as an entrepreneurial idea, but from an actual need to solve a problem I was having in my garage. Specifically, my wife kept on giving me door dings.

DoorPal developed into an entrepreneurial idea after I went through several prototypes including pool rafts, foam squares, foam rolls and just about every other material I could source and soon realized NONE of these solved the problem. There was no true turnkey solution out there, and felt it would be nice to share my findings with other car lovers


With regard to the inflatable raft here is why it will not work and why DoorPal does work:

An inflatable raft isn't practical or safe. Most rafts are 12" thick, to keep a person afloat & dry. Car garages are small to begin with, put an inflatable raft between two cars and on each wall & you just made your garage 3ft. smaller. DoorPal's profile is only 4.5", it won't get in your way or take up much room. Inflatable rafts aslo don't have resistance channels to properly absorb and distribute shock, especially on a daily basis. Inflatable raft seams are not built to take abuse on a daily basis, DoorPal will outlast a raft.

In addition a raft won't withstand the extremes of winter and summer and the daily abuse of car doors slamming into it. A raft will crack, burst or fall apart. DoorPal was engineered to withstand abuse everyday with 16 gauge thick walls & a custom iBeam construction for strength.

One more challenge with a raft; there is nowhere to attach ropes in order to hang it between cars. Duct tape, Velcro, super glue, resin and hot glue won't work. DoorPal has welded reinforced attachment points. DoorPal also has a safety release so it won't pull out from the ceiling and cause damage to you or your car(s).


Thanks.

Good luck, but all I can say is I would listen to the market response thus far and re-evaluate how much more capital you want to put into this project based on that response. Especially since someone else mentioned this has already been patented by someone else, even if it does become successful you can be sure you will have to deal with patent infringement later on.

Again, the spirit behind it is great, but sometimes we have to concede to certain circumstances and move on to our next project.

 

[mickeylex]

Good luck, but all I can say is I would listen to the market response thus far and re-evaluate how much more capital I put into this project.

I would hardly call a dozen or so posts on Prime "market response", and if it were me, I wouldn't let that change my product direction.

It just may be that some of the NSX crowd isn't the right target market (I mean, really, we pay $100's to $1000's for products that don't improve NSX performance, but we won't pony up $80 to save some dings). There is a value proposition here for the right target market, and my guess is that the right buyer is a car owner who just hasn't thought of a way to stop the dings in the garage.

 

[KSXNSX]

I would hardly call a dozen or so posts on Prime "market response", and if it were me, I wouldn't let that change my product direction.

It just may be that the NSX crowd isn't the right target market (afterall, we pay $100's to $1000's for products that don't improve the NSX performance, but we won't pony up $80 to save some dings). There is a value proposition here for the target market, and my guess is that the right buyer is more of your "average" car owner who hasn't thought of a way to stop the dings in the garage.

I just said listen to the market reaction, not exclusively NSXPRIME'S reaction. I noticed that, unfortunately, the reaction has not been favorable elsewhere either.

Anyways, you can check out a competing product and see what their response has been like:

http://www.asseenontvhotline.com/pd-doorsaver.html

If it has been good, it may be something to pursue. If not, take it for what it is.

I definitely wish the OP the best of luck though, and complement him on his ability to launch a company.

 

[CDX_NSX]

Wow. Talk about exposure. The link to the follow-up video is on my AOL Welcome screen labeled "Guy Whacks Nice Car with Shovel".

 

[Ski_Banker]

How did I miss this thread????

Nice 2005 Silverstone.

 

[transdzn]

From a product designer POV: Great product! It's very easy to come up with ideas, it's that much more difficult to get it going and that last 1% from completing is the hardest. Great work!