Is dry steering bad ?

venomx

I find dry steering helps with my parallel park in tight spots... I'm new to driving and think eventually I'll be able to parallel park without dry steering. Is it bad to do this ? I heard it can wear your tyres down quickly

Ditzy_Mitzy

It's not great from the point of view of mechanical sympathy.  You're probably too young to have driven cars without power steering, but if you had you would know that turning the wheels at rest requires far more force than turning them whilst the car is moving.  Dry steering has a scrubbing effect on the tyres, as you say, but it also puts strain on the rack or box, track rods and power steering pump.  
It's not possible to avoid completely, but don't make a habit of dry steering and certainly don't incorporate it into your normal routines.

Jenni_D

Place the car 12 inches further forward than you'd normally need so you can start reversing before turning the steering wheel. Even a small motion will significantly reduce the steering forces.  

Ebe_Scrooge

Ditzy_Mitzy has it in a nutshell.  It's fine in hire cars (snigger), but if it's you paying for the repairs and maintenance of your own car, it's best avoided.  It does put a lot of strain on all steering components, as well as scrubbing the tyres.  As one who learned to drive long before power steering was invented, I can tell you that driving a car without power steering makes you appreciate just how much force is required.

venomx

Jenni_D said:

Place the car 12 inches further forward than you'd normally need so you can start reversing before turning the steering wheel. Even a small motion will significantly reduce the steering forces.  

Yes I did consider that,  thanks. When I'm more experienced it will be easier. 
Im confident with everything when driving but I'm still brushing up on my parallel park In tight spaces.
Although from what I've heard, it's not a mandatory skill as you can just park where suits you, even if it means parking further down and then walking 

Ebe_Scrooge

venomx said:

Jenni_D said:

Place the car 12 inches further forward than you'd normally need so you can start reversing before turning the steering wheel. Even a small motion will significantly reduce the steering forces.  

Although from what I've heard, it's not a mandatory skill as you can just park where suits you, even if it means parking further down and then walking 

What do you mean by "not a mandatory skill"?  It's one of 3 "parking" manoeuvres you can be asked to demonstrate on a test - although, an examiner will not expect you park in a space with only a gnat's whisker at either end to spare (Google for Russ Swift if you want to see some mind-blowing parallel parking!).

But in real life, it's an incredibly useful skill to master.  Depends where you live, where you go into town to shop, etc., as to what sort of parking is available.  But in an average town where on-street parking happens to be closest to where you want to be, it pays to be able to squeeze into a tight space rather than having to walk half a mile with bags of shopping.

<puts on smug face.....> Nothing beats the feeling of stopping next to a space, the wife saying "don't be daft, you'll never get in there", then bish bash bosh, parked perfectly.  Admittedly I've been driving a long time - and, joking aside, it's one of those manoeuvres that can seem very daunting to a new driver, but it just comes with practice and experience.

venomx

Ebe_Scrooge said:

venomx said:

Jenni_D said:

Place the car 12 inches further forward than you'd normally need so you can start reversing before turning the steering wheel. Even a small motion will significantly reduce the steering forces.  

Although from what I've heard, it's not a mandatory skill as you can just park where suits you, even if it means parking further down and then walking 

What do you mean by "not a mandatory skill"?  It's one of 3 "parking" manoeuvres you can be asked to demonstrate on a test - although, an examiner will not expect you park in a space with only a gnat's whisker at either end to spare (Google for Russ Swift if you want to see some mind-blowing parallel parking!).

But in real life, it's an incredibly useful skill to master.  Depends where you live, where you go into town to shop, etc., as to what sort of parking is available.  But in an average town where on-street parking happens to be closest to where you want to be, it pays to be able to squeeze into a tight space rather than having to walk half a mile with bags of shopping.

<puts on smug face.....> Nothing beats the feeling of stopping next to a space, the wife saying "don't be daft, you'll never get in there", then bish bash bosh, parked perfectly.  Admittedly I've been driving a long time - and, joking aside, it's one of those manoeuvres that can seem very daunting to a new driver, but it just comes with practice and experience.

I asked a few experienced drivers in my family and they say that back in the day they didn't used to teach parallel parking,  and that in their long experience of driving they very rarely need to use parallel park.

I can do a parallel park in small spaces, but if the car in front of the space is longer than the average car It seems to be more tricky. Maybe because I start turning in too far back meaning I need to keep adjusting a few times 

Jenni_D

What is your interpretation of Parallel Parking? (What you've described seems odd, because what matters is the space available, not the length of either the front or rear cars).

This is parallel parking:



Or are you saying that a longer front car makes it harder for you to judge when to start turning? If yes then you're using the wrong reference point - it's the rear wheels/boot you need to use, not the front of that car.

venomx

Jenni_D said:

What is your interpretation of Parallel Parking? (What you've described seems odd, because what matters is the space available, not the length of either the front or rear cars).

This is parallel parking:



Or are you saying that a longer front car makes it harder for you to judge when to start turning? If yes then you're using the wrong reference point - it's the rear wheels/boot you need to use, not the front of that car.

Thanks for the information. I know its odd, if I start next to a long car i seem to find that I get too close to the car behind. Next time I'll make sure the rear of my car matches the rear of the car in front of the space. Really odd as I can parallel park in small spaces but if the front car is longer than the average car it goes a bit trickier. 

Looking at that diagram at the first step, I seem to be able to get in the space just right if I line my side mirrors right next to the mirrors of the front car 

venomx

If I want to make sure the rear of my car and the rear of the front car are level, is it best to look out the rear nearside window and make sure we are aligned? 
 Obviously with normal size cars I just align the front mirrors with the car next to me and then steer into the space , this seems to work.

My instructor told me to start further back than the front car but that method only seems to work in huge spaces. Since moving forward a bit and aligning the rear of my car with the other car, I've had much more success 

Arklight

It's where your front and rear wheels are in relation to the back of the front car that determines whether you fit in or not. 

This GIF on Reddit explains it about as well as it can be explained. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/educationalgifs/comments/6lda03/visual_of_how_to_parallel_park/