To ask for parking advice from people who are actually able to explain things

[desperatedaysareover]

I’m always impressed by the level of road knowledge on here and have actually learned information about motorway driving I’ve managed to go 20+ years without ever having heard anyone discuss.

so help me out - I need to learn to parallel park a large saloon car with no parking sensors on a busy street. Spaces are often tight. I have driven huge cars all my driving life but they’ve always been estates and they’re easy to parallel park being flat-backed. This whole ‘foot of metal and paintwork beyond the rear windscreen’ palaver just feels risky. The men in my life are helpfully like ‘use spatial awareness.’ Easier said than done when stressed and pressed. Any tips?

All cars parallel park to a formula and you just learn what it is. Just go and do it 20 times in a row in easier spaces

Might come to that!

This. Find a car to park behind with a massive space. Park your car with lots of space to get a feel for it. Repeat, tightening how close you get in behind until you are parking normally - i.e. not leaving a massive gap in front. Now note the formula: it'll be things like when the windscreen wiper lines up with the pavement just like this I need to turn the wheel the other way.

Do this another ten times until you start to 'feel' it.

Maybe use a traffic cone behind to get the feel for the behind bit too, without the danger of scraping a car.

Then practice on a nice big space with cars front and back. Then a slightly smaller one. Etc.

I agree. Find a quiet space and practice. For example I had one I knew I could line up at certain points, like the front then the wing mirror, do a quarter/ half turn on the wheel or whatever and I was in.
Im back to a lovely flat backed estate though now !

Can you afford to get parking sensors put onto your car? I had this done but can't remember how much it cost

I have no spatial awareness when it comes to my car and hate parallel parking in tight spaces for this reasons...you can get parking sensor kits that places like Halfords can fit for you if that helps. Otherwise, it's a case of practicing parking in larger spaces and getting out to have a look at how much space you have until you figure it out and get more confident, there's not really a shortcut.

Get parking sensors retro fitted!

I hope this makes sense!

Pull up level with the wing mirrors of the car in front.
Hard lock away from the kerb.
Reverse into space.
When back of the car is in the space, straighten up, you may need to hard lock in the other direction and then straighten up.

Parallel parking was my nemesis until I moved into a terraced house with on street parking.

Practise loads on a quiet street. Gradually use smaller spaces and narrower streets. Don't be scared to go forward and start again if it goes wrong. I don't line anything up mentally, I do it all by instinct somehow and it nearly always is right first time. Probably down to years of practice.
One great tip: if there are shops with windows, use them! Reflections are great for figuring out how much room there really is behind you.

Google rear parking squeaky chicken sensors (sorry, on phone and can't link)

I have two sharpie lines on the ledge under the drivers window. One to line up with the car park space line two away from the spot I want (then turn the wheel all the way until it locks and reverse straight in). The second one lines up against the car in front of my parallel parking space. Reverse until the line lines up, one full turn of wheel, reverse until kerb reaches a certain spot in wing mirror, then two turns of the wheel the other way, reverse gently in. This was the system my driving instructor used and it works. When I get a new car, I take it to the far end of a supermarket car park late at night to get the new lines in the right place. Probably don't need them anymore, but nice to have! Have a one-off lesson in your car. And practise when you don't need to hurry.

Thanks to all. Am looking at the sensor kits right now funnily enough, despite saying when we got the car I would quite like to not need them. Sounding like there is no formula, just practice. Damn I hate doing shit I can’t already do 😜

This is the kind of stuff I mean! Thank you! My driving instructor had stickers! I just couldn’t think where to put them 😂

Take post it notes to an empty car park. Faff about moving them each time, and draw the long term lines when you've got it. Celebratory chips on the way home!

When you can only see the windscreen of the car behind you in your rearview, you know you're 30cms away.

We are the same, terraced house, on a hill, aggressive traffic. I cracked parallel parking and then got cocky😜 I will try this, I need these sort of ‘this then that’ explanations, I don’t think my instincts are that great under stress and when I have PMT, absolutely can’t walk a straight line.

Excellent idea on the cone, will feel less judged by an inanimate object, have been using teen DD and she’s getting fed up.

The main thing amongst all of this other advice is to not try and do it too quickly, no matter how busy. If you rush you will be more likely to make a mistake

Thank you! Is this true of all cars? Had observed this this morning with NDN’s mini (when her windscreen is all I can see I’m out of space) but wasn’t sure if it was just working cos it’s not a very big vehicle.

I would get parking sensors.

And always remember the golden rule of tight manoevering. Go slowly.

This does actually work if you have plenty of room in the street width-wise. however it focusses a lot on the front of the car, and I guess your issue is actually the bit of the car you can't easily 'see'.

Using the traffic cones is good as as long as you are going slowAF you can boop them and see the distance from the back wheel and from the rear windshield (both of which you should be able to easily see in the mirrors) to the obstacle, then remember that and never go beyond it. Just use enough that you can position them as both front corners and the front numberplate position of the imaginary car you are trying to replicate.

The other thing I would suggest is practice when it's dusky so you can do it with your lights on, as the pattern in the lights on the other vehicle (or wall etc) will change as you get closer. Reversing into spaces (not parallel, just rows of them with a wall behind) will also help you get used to the extra length of the car using the lights to judge. Once you've nailed the relative position of the 4 corners of the car compared to your head, it becomes more straightforward to manouvre around, and as it sounds like you are good in a big car, it will become second nature.

Source: Regular park-er of a Long Wheelbase Van with no clever sensors in central London side roads outside Theatre stage doors etc, often in the dark and as it's british summer, in the pissing rain. Use the 'there is ~3ft overhang from the rear wheel' method A LOT!

best explanation

that was how my instructor explained it too.

though eventually you will be smoooooth and not need the hard lock.

£25 for a lesson? Lol, maybe 20 years ago.

But it would still be worth it OP