How far do you go to avoid door dings?
01-26-2011 | 11:27 AM
#1
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How far do you go to avoid door dings?
I've always been extra careful where I park, to avoid door dings. I'm the guy that always parks as far away as possible from the store, but I never take up more then one spot.
When I bought my G last March, I intended to use it as my daily driver and live with any chips,dents or scrapes it got .
I was still going to be careful how I parked, but every time I am going some where that I know the parking isn't that great, I take my pickup instead.
Sometimes I wonder why I bother to have nice cars, if I'm afraid to drive them to a lot of places.
When I bought my G last March, I intended to use it as my daily driver and live with any chips,dents or scrapes it got .
I was still going to be careful how I parked, but every time I am going some where that I know the parking isn't that great, I take my pickup instead.
Sometimes I wonder why I bother to have nice cars, if I'm afraid to drive them to a lot of places.
01-26-2011 | 11:34 AM
#2
I park far away, never look for a spot up front, I dont park where its clearly marked compact. I try to find a stall thats by itself. And a few times, I'll park my car at an angle to try to avoid a ding.
01-26-2011 | 11:39 AM
#3
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From: Useful > Useless, all day, everyday
I'm the same way and NEVER take up more than one spot. Parking in two spaces is a MORON move and it sometimes incites idiots to vandalize your car just for doing it, even if there are PLENTY of parking spaces...
01-26-2011 | 11:50 AM
#6
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01-26-2011 | 01:20 PM
#9
01-26-2011 | 01:27 PM
#10
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I've had good luck following these rules. I rarely park out in the boonies.
1) Coupes have longer doors. Need more space when parking next to coupes. Look for a sedan, preferably a small sedan like a Civic, Corolla
2) Newer/nicer cars are less likely to ding you. Not always the case but on average it's pretty true.
3) Park on the uphill rather than downhill side of a car. Doors find their own momentum when they are opended downhill. (I think a lot of door dings come form this)
4) If you can park next to a car that's pointing into the wind the door won't catch wind and swing open by itself (I think a lot of door dings come from this too).
5) Never park downhill from a carraige return. Lots of dings happen from runaway carts. Similarly never park in the spot or two adjacent to the return. Lazy people like to aim and push their carts from a distance.
6) I always look for one sided spots, meaning a spot with something like a island, curb, building, etc on one side and a car on the other. You can usually pick up 6-12" by getting real close to the island, curb, etc
7) I hate parking at an uprotected row end, close or far away. Whether it's with their car, a cart or something else people like to cut the corner and may scrape you.
8) Don't park on the side of a car that has a child seat.
9) Minvans aren't that bad because the doors are sliders and there's often not someone using the front passenger seat. If the van has a drivers side slider then kids likely get in on that side so likely there's little to no activity on the passenger side.
1) Coupes have longer doors. Need more space when parking next to coupes. Look for a sedan, preferably a small sedan like a Civic, Corolla
2) Newer/nicer cars are less likely to ding you. Not always the case but on average it's pretty true.
3) Park on the uphill rather than downhill side of a car. Doors find their own momentum when they are opended downhill. (I think a lot of door dings come form this)
4) If you can park next to a car that's pointing into the wind the door won't catch wind and swing open by itself (I think a lot of door dings come from this too).
5) Never park downhill from a carraige return. Lots of dings happen from runaway carts. Similarly never park in the spot or two adjacent to the return. Lazy people like to aim and push their carts from a distance.
6) I always look for one sided spots, meaning a spot with something like a island, curb, building, etc on one side and a car on the other. You can usually pick up 6-12" by getting real close to the island, curb, etc
7) I hate parking at an uprotected row end, close or far away. Whether it's with their car, a cart or something else people like to cut the corner and may scrape you.
8) Don't park on the side of a car that has a child seat.
9) Minvans aren't that bad because the doors are sliders and there's often not someone using the front passenger seat. If the van has a drivers side slider then kids likely get in on that side so likely there's little to no activity on the passenger side.
01-26-2011 | 01:30 PM
#11
Same here. Either park at an end spot and park my wheels on the line on the side where there is no car, leaving a ton of space between me and the car next to me. Never park next to mini vans. Never park next to a coupe that has a seat folded down, that means someone is getting in/out of the back seat and will require the door to be open quite wide. Park in my garage at home, rented a garage to park at school hence avoiding parallel parking in the surrounding area...
01-26-2011 | 02:09 PM
#12
i got a stupid door ding the first WEEK of purchase 
i came up on a fat woman with a baby swinging her door open. the weight of her body on the car actually PUSHED it in. i was HEATED. i got over it eventually though. that door ding, seemingly keeps others away. or at least, that's what i keep telling myself 
lol
i park AWAY from everyone, but again...sometimes, the more effort i make to avoid accidents, the more frequent they become sometimes. it's never ending.
i came up on a fat woman with a baby swinging her door open. the weight of her body on the car actually PUSHED it in. i was HEATED. i got over it eventually though. that door ding, seemingly keeps others away. or at least, that's what i keep telling myself loli park AWAY from everyone, but again...sometimes, the more effort i make to avoid accidents, the more frequent they become sometimes. it's never ending.
01-26-2011 | 02:21 PM
#13
I've had good luck following these rules. I rarely park out in the boonies.
1) Coupes have longer doors. Need more space when parking next to coupes. Look for a sedan, preferably a small sedan like a Civic, Corolla
2) Newer/nicer cars are less likely to ding you. Not always the case but on average it's pretty true.
3) Park on the uphill rather than downhill side of a car. Doors find their own momentum when they are opended downhill. (I think a lot of door dings come form this)
4) If you can park next to a car that's pointing into the wind the door won't catch wind and swing open by itself (I think a lot of door dings come from this too).
5) Never park downhill from a carraige return. Lots of dings happen from runaway carts. Similarly never park in the spot or two adjacent to the return. Lazy people like to aim and push their carts from a distance.
6) I always look for one sided spots, meaning a spot with something like a island, curb, building, etc on one side and a car on the other. You can usually pick up 6-12" by getting real close to the island, curb, etc
7) I hate parking at an uprotected row end, close or far away. Whether it's with their car, a cart or something else people like to cut the corner and may scrape you.
8) Don't park on the side of a car that has a child seat.
9) Minvans aren't that bad because the doors are sliders and there's often not someone using the front passenger seat. If the van has a drivers side slider then kids likely get in on that side so likely there's little to no activity on the passenger side.
1) Coupes have longer doors. Need more space when parking next to coupes. Look for a sedan, preferably a small sedan like a Civic, Corolla
2) Newer/nicer cars are less likely to ding you. Not always the case but on average it's pretty true.
3) Park on the uphill rather than downhill side of a car. Doors find their own momentum when they are opended downhill. (I think a lot of door dings come form this)
4) If you can park next to a car that's pointing into the wind the door won't catch wind and swing open by itself (I think a lot of door dings come from this too).
5) Never park downhill from a carraige return. Lots of dings happen from runaway carts. Similarly never park in the spot or two adjacent to the return. Lazy people like to aim and push their carts from a distance.
6) I always look for one sided spots, meaning a spot with something like a island, curb, building, etc on one side and a car on the other. You can usually pick up 6-12" by getting real close to the island, curb, etc
7) I hate parking at an uprotected row end, close or far away. Whether it's with their car, a cart or something else people like to cut the corner and may scrape you.
8) Don't park on the side of a car that has a child seat.
9) Minvans aren't that bad because the doors are sliders and there's often not someone using the front passenger seat. If the van has a drivers side slider then kids likely get in on that side so likely there's little to no activity on the passenger side.
LOL - very thorough! Although you can add me to the group. I do the same thing and go through this check list every time in a parking lot, and I'm not even in my G yet (accord coupe)! My fiance yells at me for driving around the parking lot waiting for the right spot. Then, every time I come out I do a bodyline view down both sides to check for any dings. Luckily (not really), I actually found a ding when returning to my car from doing this and noticed red paint transfer. Looked at the POS next to me and sure enough it was red. The part I did not tell the cops was that the door was unlocked and I opened the passenger door and matched up the ding to his doors edge. Long story short the damage was repaired and covered by his insurance form his fat girlfriend getting out. 
01-26-2011 | 02:54 PM
#14
As do also rather walk then have some azz hat smack my car wth there door.
01-26-2011 | 03:33 PM
#15
Registered Member
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 499
Likes: 18
From: Los Angeles
I've had good luck following these rules. I rarely park out in the boonies.
1) Coupes have longer doors. Need more space when parking next to coupes. Look for a sedan, preferably a small sedan like a Civic, Corolla
2) Newer/nicer cars are less likely to ding you. Not always the case but on average it's pretty true.
3) Park on the uphill rather than downhill side of a car. Doors find their own momentum when they are opended downhill. (I think a lot of door dings come form this)
4) If you can park next to a car that's pointing into the wind the door won't catch wind and swing open by itself (I think a lot of door dings come from this too).
5) Never park downhill from a carraige return. Lots of dings happen from runaway carts. Similarly never park in the spot or two adjacent to the return. Lazy people like to aim and push their carts from a distance.
6) I always look for one sided spots, meaning a spot with something like a island, curb, building, etc on one side and a car on the other. You can usually pick up 6-12" by getting real close to the island, curb, etc
7) I hate parking at an uprotected row end, close or far away. Whether it's with their car, a cart or something else people like to cut the corner and may scrape you.
8) Don't park on the side of a car that has a child seat.
9) Minvans aren't that bad because the doors are sliders and there's often not someone using the front passenger seat. If the van has a drivers side slider then kids likely get in on that side so likely there's little to no activity on the passenger side.
1) Coupes have longer doors. Need more space when parking next to coupes. Look for a sedan, preferably a small sedan like a Civic, Corolla
2) Newer/nicer cars are less likely to ding you. Not always the case but on average it's pretty true.
3) Park on the uphill rather than downhill side of a car. Doors find their own momentum when they are opended downhill. (I think a lot of door dings come form this)
4) If you can park next to a car that's pointing into the wind the door won't catch wind and swing open by itself (I think a lot of door dings come from this too).
5) Never park downhill from a carraige return. Lots of dings happen from runaway carts. Similarly never park in the spot or two adjacent to the return. Lazy people like to aim and push their carts from a distance.
6) I always look for one sided spots, meaning a spot with something like a island, curb, building, etc on one side and a car on the other. You can usually pick up 6-12" by getting real close to the island, curb, etc
7) I hate parking at an uprotected row end, close or far away. Whether it's with their car, a cart or something else people like to cut the corner and may scrape you.
8) Don't park on the side of a car that has a child seat.
9) Minvans aren't that bad because the doors are sliders and there's often not someone using the front passenger seat. If the van has a drivers side slider then kids likely get in on that side so likely there's little to no activity on the passenger side.