CAUTION ..... newbies ..... killer parking stops....
 

Hi Folks,

For you newbies, if you haven't already figured it out, the front lip of your FR-S will not clear a standard concrete parking stop.

The car will tell you by letting out a loud "crunch" and suffer an owwee.

I found out today, that just when I thought I had that concept in my peanut brain, ....... some SOB decided to place one parking stop in a parking lot, at random, just for the hell of it......:mad0260:

Ya'all know the clearance (or lack of) (pic 1).

A view to the left (pic2).

A view to the right, a stray (not even centered), parking stop (out of my line of sight) .... :(

So, the lesson learned is to always have your head up when you park ..... :bonk:

humfrz

i already did this twice. thankfully both times it scrapped just under the lip and not a direct hit

Wow. That's some Bad Luck Brian luck right there. So did you actually scrape it?

I witnessed a women doing that to her nice BMW, it was very sad..

Yep, I touched it ... but since I can't see the scrape from standing up in front of the car .. it didn't happen .. http://www.runemasterstudios.com/gra...ges/bouncy.gif

humfrz

mine clears, is yours dropped?

always back into a parking space.. problem solved ;)

My car is not dropped ...... maybe Chicago has smaller parking stops .... :iono:

humfrz

I've cut it close myself one time. Lesson learned.

im dropped an inch and mine barely cleared :). But i usually park a foot away from those things just from bad experiences lol

Unless you have a giant rear diffusor! ;)

Don't know why those fucking things need to be so high - a mild round bump is all that's needed. Scraped one myself awhile back, scratched the underside of the front lip real good.

I've barely cleared the stump once on accident. This is my first car with a pretty long front end. Good guideline to go by is to pull up enough to where you feel like your back end might be sticking out or up to the start of the rear doors if there is someone parked next to you. I haven't touched a curb or parking stump since.

did it the first day of owning mine... got under the lip pretty nice...

Yeah, I found out the hard way as well. Find myself parking a good foot from these things.

Luckily for us, our cars are reasonably short. I usually park a foot or more away from those curbs and still don't stick out as far as most of the other cars that are rammed up on the sidewalk.

I'm used to it ever since I've had my BMW... my mother ripped off the bumper twice at stock height... I drove it for 5 years dropped 1/2" and never ripped it off...

If there are cars next to me, I try to use the reflection to figure out where I am. Otherwise, I'm just cautious.

Haha, I've found myself doing that recently.

that's one of the trade secrets to keeping your car safe

I think everyone's had this run in...I cut it close coming into the parking garage one morning, fortunately it was just a scuff that buffed out with rubbing compound.

There's a good thread here where a member used the aerosol matched paint to fix a nasty gash on his hot lava FR-S.

:bonk:Thanks, but too late! I've crunched it a few times. It also does not like steep inclined driveways!

I always park about a foot away. Our cars are short anyways... Plenty of space

Our cars are definately small enough to not have to pull all the way forward in a parking spot...i never do..old habits from driving a civic hatchback..haha

I learned this the hard way. My brz has a few scrapes on the bottom front right of it from parking in an angled spot and hitting the curb. It is such a miserable sound.

Yep, right up there with fingernails on a chalkboard .... (this is an age test comment ..... :D).

humfrz

I always park like this: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UAQNetzY2k"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UAQNetzY2k[/ame]

Yea... Who Am I kidding, right? HA! Get it?! Heh... ok I'll let myself out.

You know, when I got this car I was really worried about scrapping and I've been pretty proud of myself for not doing it. However, I was going out to eat with a friend a few weeks ago and we came down a hill so steep that I scrapped on the ground at the bottom of it. I felt under the bumper to see how bad it was, and either I hit the hell out of that road, or I've scrapped before and not known it because it felt pretty rough down there.

Plus, this morning I had to renew my driver's license and scrapped in the court parking lot. I never pull that far forward, but I also never park between two other cars if I can help it, but the lot was packed, so I took the first spot I found and when trying to get centered pulled too far forward.

The first time I parked in a lot with those curbs I thought "plenty of room" to the part of the nose I couldn't see...until checking and found the lip was hanging well over the curb by 1mm of clearance or less. Since then I stay well back of anything including posts.

Sorry for your rash. Hopefully it'll buff out. Could be worse, when the city thought it would be a good idea to put planters surrounded by unpainted curbs in the middle lane there were car parts left in the road most mornings until they finally painted the curbs yellow.

The sidewalk in front of my apartment, luckily, is half an inch lower than my car, so I don't worry as much when parking there. Otherwise, I'm as far as I can be without sticking out.

We have some bad parking lots that are on top of hills, and I try to avoid those as much as I can since exiting them means a scrape-fest.

What happened to the OP just happened to me today!
I pulled into a parking space with NO PARKING BLOCK.

So I pulled up close, but not close enough to touch the curb.
When I came out what do I see? my front air dam hanging over A PARKING BLOCK on the right side only.

It was just like the OP, when I pulled in you could not see the parking block because it only protruded half way into my space.
Luckily it was a short one, so no harm done, but it still pissed me off.

Sorry to read that (about your car), but, it's somewhat comforting to know I'm not the only one attacked by randomly placed parking stops ... :(

humfrz

My wife did this second day out. Not visible from the front but oh was she ever pissed. Understandable as she went from a CRV to the FRS. Fortunately, its a short car lengthwise so no need to pull it all the way in. It is a surprisingly wide car, so we stay out of small spaces. I can always use the walk anyhow, right?

Only a true Ricer knows not to park close to these things.......:lol:


yes....yes.....all newbies must learn the hard way. http://i1011.photobucket.com/albums/...oda-master.gif

I hooked a bit of re-bar (nail on the end) that was sticking out the top without hearing it.
Pulled a chunk out of the lip the first week I owned it.

So, yeah. Be careful.

Ugh man been there. Maybe only after a week of having the car i scraped the bottom. I was so used to my hatchback being high. So one day i go meet up with a friend for lunch, packed parking lot so i found the nearest one which was next to the curb not a stop. Rolling in i pulled in too far and heard...............SCURRRRRRRRRRCH. It literally died inside after hearing that. Pulled out, checked it and yep scraped it.

It might of been karma for me. Because just like 5 minutes before that while at a stop light, a BMW driving across didn't realize a dip coming up and scrapes his bottom. I sorta laughed but felt bad.