Last week’s show, Leslie w/a Honda Accord, she says her husband doesn’t like the way she parks. She doesn’t straighten the steering wheel, and he says this throws the car out of alignment, and “puts strain on joint connecting the tires to the driveshaft."
As Tom and Ray said, unlikely. But there may indeed be a reason to park with the wheels straight, instead of leaving them askew. A friend of mine pointed this out to me, when he noticed I left the wheels turned, and I have to admit, it makes some sense. His point is that if you forget the wheels are turned, when you get in the car and start to back out, you might forget the wheels are turned, and bump into the car next to you before you realize.
Throws the wheels out of alignment becaue the wheels aren’t left straight ? Maybe if it were stored that way but otherwise, there are more good reasons to leave wheels turned into the curb for a relatively short time then not, especially on inclines. Besides, you could just as easily forget the wheels are straight. I think most experienced good drivers habitually notice things like the front wheel turn before they get into their parked car.
I’m gonna guess too that often, the last turn you made to park may be close to the first you make to get out.
“His point is that if you forget the wheels are turned, when you get in the car and start to back out, you might forget the wheels are turned, and bump into the car next to you before you realize.”
+1
I don’t buy that crackpot theory about alignment, but I can tell you that I never park next to a car whose wheels are turned to even a small degree. Yes, an alert driver will make sure that he/she does not bump into the side of the car that is parked next to him, but…all too many drivers nowadays are not alert. All you need is one doofus (or, more likely doofusette) who is talking on their cellphone while backing out, and…voila…your formerly pristine car has been sideswiped.
I pride myself on keeping my cars looking showroom-new even up to the 10 years that I usually keep them, and I am not about to trust that an anonymous person parked next to me is going to be alert & careful when backing out of his/her parking space. It is just so easy to find a parking space without a neighboring car with its wheels turned that I would rather walk a few hundred feet further, rather than park next to a car like that.
I was taught to turn the whees so they will roll into the curb rather than roll away from the curb so if your brakes fail for any reason the car will will roll towards the curb and not away from the curb.
@JosephEMeehan Yes, most Driver Ed books and many car instruction manual tell you to park that way so the car will try to run into the curb. Think of parking in San Francisco!
I thought that it was fairly obvious that the OP was referring to parking in a parking lot, rather an parking on the street. At least, that is my interpretation of these words from the OP:
“His point is that if you forget the wheels are turned, when you get in the car and start to back out, you might forget the wheels are turned, and bump into the car next to you before you realize.”
If you are parked at the curb, unless somebody was double-parked next to your car…
How would there be a car next to you?