when you park your car what do you do?

place the car in
1. 1st gear
2. reverse
3. use hand brake
4. combination of hand brake and 1st gear/reverse?

and what do you do for these situations:
1. parked on inclines
2. parked in declines
3. parked on leveled streets

i get different advice from people and just want to know what is the correct way of parking for my r56. i don't want to cause greater wear to my clutch by doing the wrong thing. by the way i have a 6 speed.
thanks

 

1st gear + brake, regardless of slope.

Inclines with curb, front wheels away from curb.
Inclines without curb or declines, front wheels toward.

If I'm not mistaken, the majority of wear on the clutch comes from starting from a complete stop. I'm not aware that parking habits would be significant.

 

I park the car in 1st gear and use the handbrake at all times. If on an incline, I will turn the steering wheel in the direction that would make the car roll to the shoulder/curb if it were to drift. If there is an actual curb parallel to my spot, I will turn the steering wheel such that the front wheel will touch the curb when rolling donw the incline. If there is no curb, turn the wheel so the car will roll onto the side you are parked against instead, and not into the street.

Parking with the car in gear does not cause any wear of the clutch, nor the transmission. Leaving the car in gear but without setting the parking brake can allow the car to roll when on an incline, or pushed.

 

If you are parked facing downhill, you should but the manual in reverse gear.

 

Why?

 

because the car still can be moved in gear and it isn't easy to roll uphill.

 

Using 1st gear as a 'parking brake' is slightly more effective than reverse since in all manual transmissions the 1st gear ratio is slightly lower (higher numerically) than reverse. Working backwards through the wheels to the engine, more force would be needed to spin the engine over if left in 1 than R. Plus, keeping the car in 1st is a bit safer, since people tend to react better to sudden forward motion than backwards (think accidently sidestepping the clutch when starting the engine, etc).

When applying the parking brake, give it a nice sharp upward tug rather than a mild pull, I tend to lift the brake handle with about 20-30 pounds of force. When coming to a stop I often tug the e-brake to halt my motion once in the spot, I can feel the brake holding. I then shut the engine down and release the clutch with the trans in 1st.

If parking head-into a row of spots, a bit of security can be gained by parking with the wheels turned hard to one direction or another, this will frustrate a tow operator trying to take your car without authorization. It wont prevent it, but will extend the time needed.

 

Except in NYC, where they have big platter they just put under the car, lift the whole thing and pull it out sideways. I based my post re: reverse on what was in the driving manual I got when I was learning to drive (which was some time ago).

 

thanks for all the replay. i will use 1st gear and hand brake.

 

I park in first gear, use the hand brake and try to park wayyyyy back from any other cars!