Perfect Parallel Parking

[Graebob]

mr.ed said:

Pics of Ed's Mini parked in front of Alex Roy's Gumball M5

Ostentatious company you keep, Mr Ed

I usually pull level with the car at the "front" of the space (the "object" car), about a 1.5-2ft away. Full lock and reverse to swing the front out until roughly at 30-40 degree angle to the space, straighten to dead centre, move back until the front of the car has passed the rear of the object car, then full lock the other way to bring the front in. Work 95% of the time, if not you can always do a bit of a shimmy.

[andy_s]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_parking

[Chris71]

mph999 said:

I use this method - ok as a basic "should fit all" (should, not necessarly will) and with a little practice ...

Line up along side vehicle you want to park behind, quite close, 30-40 cm say ...

Reverse back, until rear of the car is about 1/4 - 1/2 way alongside your passenger side rear window.

Stick on 1 turn of left lock.

Once front of your car is about 45 degrees to kerb, full right lock.


Martin

Won't that be dependant on the wheelbase of the car you're trying to park and where the driver sits within it? (Genuine question, not being awkward.)

I seem to remember Drive & Survive had a similar method linked to lining parts of the car up, which they reckoned worked for any type of car, but I can't for the life of me remember what it is.

Which is a shame, because I park like a blind girl on L-Plates.

[WeirdNeville]

I drive a variety of cars, so I've had to develop a kind of "universal system". It goes a bit like:

Line up with the front car about 12" from it.
Reverse intil the rear wheel on my car passes the rear bumber of the "target car"
Wind on lock until I can see the point where the bumper of the rear car is lined up with the curn down my cars swage line in the nearside mirror.
wind off lock to go straight back
Reverse stright.
Full lock to bring rear nearside wheel to curb.

I usually get it in one, in tight parking spaces. There's a fair amount of dead reckoning and "suck it and see" involved though. Practice makes perfect.