I did a bad thing

The other day, in the rain, I was backing my Disco into a spot at work. My feet were still damp from being out of the car 5 minutes earlier, and well.. my foot slipped. It went slipped off of the brake right onto the throttle. An angry V8 can really slam the back of a vehicle into a concrete wall and do some do some real damage. The spare tyre took the brunt of the hit, but shattered the rear window when it crushed in the door it was bolted to.

I already bought another rear door, temporarily replaced the rear glass with plexi until I can get the new one painted and installed. It was a bad day.

Well...E36 M3.

That's a pretty... good(?) bad day.

Bright side, that was it.  The counter got reset. 

Glad that the damage wasn't too significant.

I imagine one of the worst parts is having to new versions of the stickers you lost.

Colin Wood said:

 

I imagine one of the worst parts is having to new versions of the stickers you lost.

yea, you can tell the GRM dork sticker did not survive well.

At least you didn't Bourne Discovery that bitch over the edge and down 4 levels...

Another reason to just pull into the parking space?

In reply to triumph7 :

Back in is superior. 

Hope you can get ahold of a good matching rear door or get one painted.

This reminds me I need to own a LR4 before that all get so old they are junk. 

triumph7 said:

Another reason to just pull into the parking space?

My company just made backing in mandatory in our multi-level parking lot.   I foresee mucho frustration in the mornings while lines of cars wait for each person to back up properly and scratched vehicles because of poor skills.  They actually said that if you don't feel comfortable parking that way go to the roof where there are a lot of pull through spaces.  You know, the un-shaded roof part of the lot on the 6th level, with speed bumps every 50 feet apart on the way up,  that keeps your car oven hot in the summer and being exposed to rain if its falling.    

johndej said:

In reply to triumph7 :

Back in is superior.

Everyone says this.

Especially people who take 10 minutes to back into the space and still can't get it straight, but insist on doing it anyway.

Backing in is not inherently superior in this day and age of massive SUVs as the typical daily driver for most people.  You can't see out of the parking space anyway, so the now-mandatory wide angle backup camera actually gives a better view of traffic.

I back in (or pull-through) as my first car had a broken motor mount for far too long, and when i tried to put it in reverse while the engine was hot it would kick, lifting the engine and stalling it out.

Remained habit

I can see an argument is about to start, but I drive a truck as my daily driver, and I definitely find backing in is superior.

A backup camera makes backing simple, so it really doesn't matter whether you do it when you arrive or when you leave.

Its easier to see exactly where your rear bumper is than your front bumper (because camera).  That makes it easier to park close to the car behind you.  Trucks and SUVs also park neater when they can hang their rear bumper over the curb and tuck into the space better. 
 

The turning radius also works better in reverse on large vehicles. Helps avoid diagonal parking.

Also, many parking lot aisles are simply not wide enough for large vehicles to swing into the space forward.   It amazes me that Lowes and Home Depot are the biggest culprits.
 

The biggest reason for backing in when driving a larger vehicle is the massive amount of disrespect other drivers give to vehicles backing up. If I pull in forward it's pretty much a guarantee that someone will try to scoot behind me (too fast) when I am backing up to leave.  It's not an occasional thing- it's EVERY SINGLE TIME.  I'm blind back there guys, and I'm bigger than you. Seriously?

While that definitely sucks, it did not happen when children or pets or pedestrians were in harm's way, and for that we can all be greatful. 

SV reX said:

 

Also, many parking lot aisles are simply not wide enough for large vehicles to swing into the space forward.   It amazes me that Lowes and Home Depot are the biggest culprits.
 

While I absolutely agree with everything you said in your post, I'm highlighting this part, because boy it burns me up when I can park smack dab in the middle of a parking space and have hardly any room to open the door and get out without having the door meet the side of a neighboring vehicle. 

Edit:  I see in fact that you were referring to the access to the spaces, which is definitely a problem, but so too is the extreme narrow-ness of the spaces themselves.