Reverse Parallel Parking Tips?

[D-Mac]

Well I really really suck at this at the moment, I always seem to hit the curb...Is there any technique? I know I could just ask my instructor but then i'll keep wasting lessons and money on it...

Any tips on when to start the first and second change of direction would be great...Dunno if it changes anything but the car is a newish Corolla...

[kleung]

When I was learning to drive, my driving instructor taught me a method that worked perfectly every time, if you got it right. I can't remember what that method was exactly, but this how it went to the best of my recollection:

1. Pull up parallel beside the parked car in front of the vacant parking bay. Make sure you are not more than 1m away from that car.
2. Reverse straight until you can see the driver's side back corner of the car beside you from your passenger side rear quarter window.
3. Stop. Turn the wheel to full lock left and continue reversing until you can see the kerb in your passenger side mirror.
4. Straighten the wheel and continue reversing straight until the front passenger side corner of your car is in line with the back of the parked car.
5. Stop and turn the wheel to full lock right and continue reversing until your car is parallel to the kerb.
6. Straighten the wheel and move forward if necessary to position your car correctly in the parking bay.

This was for a sedan, so it might vary somewhat for different types of cars.

Hope this helps!

Disclaimer: No responsibility is taken if this causes you to hit anything or cause any damage as a result of trying this technique. :D

[EK4R]

practice and more practice.

get used to your car and "feel" it as it move. have a picutre of it from a birds-eye view.

:) try it hehe

[JDMiss]

this is just how i generally learnt how to reverse

when i was first learning manual *hahah i kinda sucked too* my trusty dad took me to a 2km or so stretch of straight road near a dump and made me reverse the car from one end to the other at moderate speed and told me to turn the steering left and right so that i learnt how my steering manoeuvres positioned the rear of the car whilst reversing

I would usually be dizzy after LOL but it really does help you understand the feel and direction of your car

As EK4R said, practice and more practice.. hahah kleung nice disclaimer!! :D

All the best D-Mac!

[CRXer]

As per the first post & also have a quick look at how far off the gutter the rear most car is and when your reversing in.Imagine you have a tow ball on your car & you dont like the personalised number plates on the rear car & you want to put a big dent right in the middle of them(assuming they are mounted in the centre).In other words your trying to line up your car with the rear car.If he was parked really close to the gutter,obviously try & misalign your vehicles a bit so as not to scratch those new rims.

[gelo]

When I was learning to drive, my driving instructor taught me a method that worked perfectly every time, if you got it right. I can't remember what that method was exactly, but this how it went to the best of my recollection:

1. Pull up parallel beside the parked car in front of the vacant parking bay. Make sure you are not more than 1m away from that car.
2. Reverse straight until you can see the driver's side back corner of the car beside you from your passenger side rear quarter window.
3. Stop. Turn the wheel to full lock left and continue reversing until you can see the kerb in your passenger side mirror.
4. Straighten the wheel and continue reversing straight until the front passenger side corner of your car is in line with the back of the parked car.
5. Stop and turn the wheel to full lock right and continue reversing until your car is parallel to the kerb.
6. Straighten the wheel and move forward if necessary to position your car correctly in the parking bay.

This was for a sedan, so it might vary somewhat for different types of cars.

Hope this helps!

Disclaimer: No responsibility is taken if this causes you to hit anything or cause any damage as a result of trying this technique. :D

i do similar
except i dont go 2 full lock
just 1 full rotation of the steering wheel is enough
so u do 360 degrees to one side
stop then do 720 to the other ( 360 to go back to straight)

[D-Mac]

Cheeers for the help, but when I do the post i'll be using poles I think, so how would I line it up? I tried earlier on today and couldn't get it right in my mums accord :(

[JaCe]

When I was learning to drive, my driving instructor taught me a method that worked perfectly every time, if you got it right. I can't remember what that method was exactly, but this how it went to the best of my recollection:

1. Pull up parallel beside the parked car in front of the vacant parking bay. Make sure you are not more than 1m away from that car.
2. Reverse straight until you can see the driver's side back corner of the car beside you from your passenger side rear quarter window.
3. Stop. Turn the wheel to full lock left and continue reversing until you can see the kerb in your passenger side mirror.
4. Straighten the wheel and continue reversing straight until the front passenger side corner of your car is in line with the back of the parked car.
5. Stop and turn the wheel to full lock right and continue reversing until your car is parallel to the kerb.
6. Straighten the wheel and move forward if necessary to position your car correctly in the parking bay.

This was for a sedan, so it might vary somewhat for different types of cars.

Hope this helps!

Disclaimer: No responsibility is taken if this causes you to hit anything or cause any damage as a result of trying this technique. :D

That's exactly how I learnt and could do it perfectly every time in the Corolla. The little Toyota badge was helpful too :)

With different cars you just need to vary the number of times you turn the wheel/how far you reverse.

[mugeneration]

remember its ok to touch the kurb in a driving test. You'll only use one point. Just drive back out and try again. DONT try to keep going and mount the kurb, as you'll fail.

[D-Mac]

So with a pole, instead of starting the first turn when it lines up on the driver's side back corner of the car beside you from your passenger side rear quarter window, I would line up on the when I see the pole on the passenger side rear quarter window right? Because the pole is 1.2m from the front of the place where u want to park and another 1.2m behind the spot you want to park..

Also how does the point system thing work? How many chances do you get at something and how many times can u screw up?

[dsp26]

1) drive up next to a car and be within 30cm distance while your rear seats are aligned to the rear of the parked car.
2) full lock left and reverse until your passenger side mirror is aligned to the rear of the parked car
3) full lock right and keep reversing CAREFULLY

^^^thats what my instructor taught and it never failed... HOWEVER, it never works on my NX which leads me to believe such measured instructions are void depending on your cars able turn radius.

[tRipitaka]

use your passenger side mirror..
it's very helpful when parallel parking.. it'll show how far you are from the kerb, when you're about to hit the kerb and whether u're straight or on an angle..
and take it slowly, inch by inch.. there's no reason for you to be rushing it..

[mugeneration]

you get 5 changes of direction when doing a reverse park. So in other words, you can start moving in, not like it then move back out and start again. If you stuff up after that you fail.

[D-Mac]

So if you fail that, then you fail the test completely?

[mugeneration]

yep! If you fail any component of the test you will fail entirely. Kinda rediculous for reverse parking, but then its a skill that will need to be learned! Personally I hardly ever reverse park coz i just hate it, but its a good skill to have.

[dsp26]

^^^yeah true... and speaking of that...

EVERY RTA DRIVEWAY IS AN INSTANT "STOP" SIGN REGARDLESS WETHER THE SIGN IS THERE!!! <--INSTANT FAIL ITEM!!!

[D-Mac]

Maybe i'll log book >_>

[EuroDude]

Its a skill that needs practice and practice. I perfected it in my Civic, but I have a Euro now which is considerably harder to reverse park due to its wedge style and I find it very hard to judge the rear distance from the car behind - which is why I got reverse sensors lol.

Use the passenger mirror to view the curb, and use the other cars to line the car up.

If you hit the curb alot, then try lining the rear-right corner of your car up with the front-right corner of the car behind you when you are coming in on an angle (look over your shoulder out the window).

[kleung]

Gelo - yeah, I think that's the other common technique. Whatever works. :)

Basically, once you a) get to know your car, and b) get in some practice at parallel parking, you'll do it without even thinking.

DSP26 - I think you're right. Because the proportions of the car would be all different. Same thing if you're driving a 4WD or a hard-core sports car (ie NSX).

[EuroDude]

hehe just be lucky you arent parking a big 4WD... when I drove one once, i couldnt see anything behind me in those things, let alone merge left confidently. freakin dangerous imo

[dsp26]

Gelo - yeah, I think that's the other common technique. Whatever works. :)

Basically, once you a) get to know your car, and b) get in some practice at parallel parking, you'll do it without even thinking.

DSP26 - I think you're right. Because the proportions of the car would be all different. Same thing if you're driving a 4WD or a hard-core sports car (ie NSX).

exactly.... again if you have a car with 4WS like preludes the turn radius is even better

on a side note some places will let you get away. mine was a fail item as i did it in about 9 steps. however i corrected it perfectly and was let off by the rta fellow with the reasoning "it is one thing to learn how to park the way you initially attempted it, however its not always the case and the fact you have corrected perfectly... yada yada yada..."
but again depends where you go...

[Kandy]

1. Pull up parallel beside the parked car in front of the vacant parking bay. Make sure you are not more than 1m away from that car.
2. Reverse straight until you can see the driver's side back corner of the car beside you from your passenger side rear quarter window.
3. Stop. Turn the wheel to full lock left and continue reversing until you can see the kerb in your passenger side mirror.
4. Straighten the wheel and continue reversing straight until the front passenger side corner of your car is in line with the back of the parked car.
5. Stop and turn the wheel to full lock right and continue reversing until your car is parallel to the kerb.
6. Straighten the wheel and move forward if necessary to position your car correctly in the parking bay.

I was shown this way by someone who learnt off a sapolice driving instructer- except
2. Reverse straight until your rear wheels reach the rear corner of the parked car.
3. Stop. Turn the wheel to full lock left and continue reversing until you can see the left side of the car behind you/kerb in your DRIVER side mirror.

Apparently the exact same technique works in every car due to pivot points or some mumbo jumbo. I've used it with my car many times and its fine, tried it with a someone elses S14 in a pretty small spot and it worked out (phew!)

[D-Mac]

To be honest, I doubt i'll ever really do this in real life, at least not for a while, I really just want my P's right now...So i'm pretty sure we use poles...I asked a friend about this as well and this is what he said...

Reverse straight until you see the first stick in your back 1/4 window. then full lock the sterring wheel the the left quikly..then wait until you see the other stick in your right side mirror..then stop n straighten up your steering wheel then reverse until u see the stick at the edge of your left mirror..then full lock the wheel to your right n you should be in the centre of the two sticks

Would that work? Its just the examples you're all giving (which I greatly appreciate) are all with real cars and I can only assume the back corner of the car would be the same as the pole?

[mugeneration]

just practice practice practice. Nowdays ill only reverse park if necessary. If i can see a park where i dont have to do it, ill take it, even if it means i gotta walk further lol

[D-Mac]

Yeah I suppose I really do need to just practice but i'm afraid my instrutor will just take ages to do it and waste my money on lessons...

Also when I finish something, say 90 degree parking, should he tick it off? Because i've done basically everything in the log book at least once, but he hasn't ticked it off? does he only tick it when he thinks i'm 100% at it?

[kleung]

D-Mac - the poles basically represent obstacles - things your car must not come into contact with, whether it is another car, a kerb, a building.

You don't necessarily have to have your instructor sitting with you as you practice. When I learned to drive, I started with about 4 or 5 lessons with my instructor, then went off to practice on my own. Then, when I was almost ready to go for my Ps, I took another couple of lessons just to make sure I had my techniques right, and that I hadn't picked up any bad habits in practicing.

If you're worried about your parallel parking, ask a fully licensed driver to sit with you and practice. Do it in a side street, or in a quiet car park, set up a couple of empty wheely bins instead of the poles or real cars.

Basically, like everyone else is saying - practice, practice, practice.

Ironically, I didn't actually get tested on my parallel parking during my driving test. ;)

[URBAN4]

The only way to get better at it is to practice, and anyone will tell you that. Before I went for mine I did some searching on the net and found this: http://www.transport.qld.gov.au/qt/LTASinfo.nsf/index/learningtodrive_qsafe. It's the manual for tutors and driving examiners, and specifies every single little thing they need to mark you on.

It's only for qld, but you might be able to find something similar for SA. It basically tells you how to pass the test, how many things you can slightly stuff up, which things will fail you straight away, and even really specific things such as having to indicate for at least five seconds before you move off from a stationary position.

I'd also like to point out that the main part of the reverse park is not necessarily that you park perfectly. You'll probably pass even though you're a bit too far out (but not too much) or even if you're not totally straight. It's not like they'll have a tape measure and a spirit level to assess the end result. A major part of the exercise is to assess you on your observation. Even if you're looking in your mirrors, you won't see directly behind the car. This is how a lot of little kids get hurt, and as a result you should be turning your head to see behind you in a manouevre which is predominantly reversing (I say predominantly because you can still move forward). You still have to occasionally look forward to see that the nose of the car sin't going to hit anything.

Hope that helps. And the way others here have told you how to do it, is the only way you'll be able to get it right. I used to go around the 'burbs at night and practice, I'd do about 20+ reverse parks in one night, each time moving to a different car to start fresh. Lucky me I know the suburbs where everyone parks on the road.

It might also help to practice on the roads where you'll have the test. You won't be driving far from the testing centre so get to know the roads around that area.

But do your research! See if you can find something like the Q-SAFE manual.