Guides for pulling into curbed parking spaces
 

I have noticed that if you line up the driver's mirror with the curb, there will be about 2 feet of space between the front of the Z and the curb. This is a straight perpendicular to the curb space. Angled parking spaces would be different of course, depending on the angle.

I don't get it... line up the drivers mirror with the curb. Do you have a RHD?

No I think it's advice for Parking a Mclaren.
:worthless:

What ever happened to good old driving skill? lol j/k

I heard that if you pull up and stop two feet from the curb, you have about two feet left to the curb.

On a more serious note, this could be helpful. Can you send a pic that demonstrates the relationship?

Not sure why...but this made me LOL.

It'll depend on the height of the driver and seat position. Visual geometry...

Sometimes when I press the white button on my dash the engine will start/stop.

I've also noticed that when I shift into "R" my car goes backwards.

I don't know why, but when I drive at night the front of my car glows really bright. This only happens at night, so I'm thinking it's got to do with the temperature or the moon or something.

Here's an idea......You could purposely ram the front of your Z into the curb, then back off two feet and see where your drivers side mirror lines up.........

I've heard soccer mom's swaping tips about parallel parking...

"they use a soft metal on the wheels so it doesn't hurt the curb. Once you get close enough you can hear a kind of grinding against the curb - that way you know you're close enough. Kind of like when you see the car behind you move you know your as close as you can get. Then you can pull ahead and when the car in front of you moves you know you are as far forward as you can get. Just back up a bit and you've parallel parked! Easy..."

Its weird, I push on the middle of the steering wheel and my car lets out a sceam.

I hope this is not going to turn into a parallel parking thread, as the original post is about parking in a parking lot perpendicular to the curbing. Ah me!

No seriously I was confused by your initial post and lining up the mirror. I seriously didn't get it.... can you post a pic or something?

Actually, I get it now. He's saying that if you line up the top edge of the driver's mirror with the curb in front of the car, the distance from the nose of the car to the edge of the curb will be just right (I think). I'm guessing there will be some variation depending on one's height, seating position, etc. But it may be a good rule of thumb. We should all try it out to see if it works for us. I, for one, hate it when I get too close and scrape my front chin spoiler. If this rule of thumb holds true for me, it'll help. Cave Vulture -- can you clarify if you line up the top edge vs. the bottom edge of the mirror assembly?

In my case the top of the mirror lines up with the top of the curb, but as you say, depending on seat position and driver's height, adjustments will have to be made accordingly.

Good tip. Gave you a rep.

Thanks......:tiphat:

Just jumping in.

So let me try and get oriented here. The idea of a Perpendicular spot is about Parallel parking, or were you trying to Parallel park in a Perpendicular fashion. :confused:

He's talking about just pulling straight in to a normal parking spot that happens to have a curb in the front. Like imagine pulling into a parking spot at a gas station and your car is facing the front entrance. Most likely there's a curb and a little sidewalk between the parking spaces and the front entrance. So if you line up the top edge of the mirror with the edge of the curb and stop, the distance from the front edge of your car and the edge of the Z will be about right.

Taxicab geometry anyone?

John

Example:
http://theexpiredmeter.com/wp-conten...king-space.jpg

Got it...thx

I pull forward til my splitter crunches, then I back up a bit. :)

:wtf2:

Now I know what that crunching sound was. thanks
:rofl2:

:iagree: I don't think I want to know what his "spliter" is... :iagree:

just back it into the spot, the back end is not as low as the frontand wont do any damage if you do end up hitting the curb...plus its easier to just pull out of the spot when you leave. works for me every time, all the time

Speaking of splitter crunching...have you ever pulled into a parking lot where there are a lot of people gawking at your car and you front up a little too far and scrape the curb making a loud noise? I've scraped the front ONCE...and it was in that situation. How embarassing.

It was only the front air dam thank god.

Use the mirror and avoid the crunch.......

I'm sending this around again for newer members ....
 

Pulling straight into a lined parking spot with a perpendicular curb in front of the car , by lining up the top edge of the drivers mirror with the top edge of the curb, allows about 2.5 ft. between the front spoiler and curb damage. __________________________ I I I I I I

Depends on your seating position.

I've learned that if I can see the top of the curb below my mirror, I'm just about too close. I've got to learn to back off that before I ding my front end!

We are talking about the diver's side mirror, correct (as opposed to rear view mirror)?

Yea they're talking about the driver side wing mirror. I've been using this trick since I started driving, it was actually taught to me during driver's ed. For me i the top of the curb is just below the bottom of the side mirror I have about one foot left before I crunch the front of my car.

Just back the car in the spot. However you would have to be careful with the passenger side mirror.

Just do what we do in the army when we have to park vehicals. Get a ground guide to back you in...or in this case, bring you in.

for parallel parking i just tilt the mirror down so i can see the curb. i think the reason why the stock mirror is so gigantic is so you can set it angled pretty low and still be able to see cars as you usually do.

for backing into parking spots i just use my mirrors and rear view camera. :D but then again, my car only stops at the gas station so never really need to park other than my garage...

Another tip I use is to use the reflection off cars next to you as you pull in (if you have to park next to other cars). Look for the parking block in the paint refelction and pull in until you see you are close. Takes all the guess work out.