CLICK AND CLACK

Dear Tom and Ray:

I need your opinion on whether something

the driving instructor is teaching

our daughter to do is hard on the car.

When parallel parking, he has her turning

the wheels in place while the car is

stopped in order to position it for the

next move. We were practicing today,

and echoes of my dad were going

through my head — that doing this is

hard on the steering components, and

that you should try to be moving slowly

when you turn the wheel. Now, I’m not

going to make her challenge her instructor

on this, but I do want to know if this

is bad for the car. If not, I’ll shut up and

leave it be. But if it is as I remember,

then I want to provide her with some balanced

information on this. I know sometimes

it’s unavoidable, but is my memory

just crap, or is there something to

this?

— Jeff

TOM: Well, we don’t know about

your memory, Jeff. Do you remember

writing to us last week with this same

exact question?

RAY: Actually, your dad was correct.

It does place more strain on the steering

components and tires when you steer the

front wheels while the car is stopped.

TOM: But it’s hardly worth worrying

about. Think about the amount of time

you spend parallel parking versus the

amount of time you spend actually driving.

It’s minuscule. So, even though it’s

a little harder on a few of the car’s parts,

its overall effect on the life of the powersteering

pump, or your tie-rod ends, or

your front tires, is insignificant.

RAY: And the long-term cost is tiny

compared with the increase in insurance

rates you’ll pay when she creases the

Mercedes in front of her while parallel

parking because she’s worried about the

wear and tear on Daddy’s power-steering

pump.

TOM: Right. She’s got more than

enough to think about now in learning to

drive and learning to parallel park. The

last thing you want to do is add another

thing for her to think about, especially if

it’s not important.

RAY: Once she’s been driving for a

while and can parallel park the car in

fewer than 24 attempts, then you can

suggest that she start moving backward

slowly as she turns the wheel. But it

should be low on the priority list, Jeff.

* * *

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