Animagix

i really hate having to park at a lot whenever we go shopping. I always know that when we get back to the car there's a new ding of some sort thanks to the overweight retard who needs to swing the door wide open to get in.

Too bad, there's not much one can do except park very far away at a vacant area (if it's not a busy day.) or, write something on their car with your keys.

time4akshun

Always park far away if you care about your car. Worth the extra walk unless the area is not safe...

Time

Curley

Agreed. Whenever I park my 8 anywhere in public, I park it where it won't get dinged, even if I have to park a mile away and walk to wherever I'm going.

There are too many inconsiderate morons who would have no qualms about banging up my baby.

Transam kid 01

iTrader: (1)

Yeah and this car dings very easily

OzzieRizz

Or what my friend usually does is, he parks next to an expensive *** car. So the other guy would most likely be careful as to not hit his car with your car. Also, this means that if theres a thief, we all know which car is going to be jacked

toxin440

yeah my baby has been dinged once from some fat asshat in a parking lot... i didnt notice it till a few weeks ago, but its on my drivers door right under the mirror. Since my car is black you can only really see it if you the light is reflecting in a very specific way... but it still sucks, no scratches though so i guess paintless dent repair is an option, but I'm not to worried at this point.

msrecant

I also park a distance and walk. If the lot doesn't have vast open areas, often the parking space at the end of a row is usually a little wider so you can put some distance between the 8 and the neighboring car plus you only expose one side of your 8.

OTOH, that still doesn't protect you from all dents in that I have several self-inflicted dents on my 8 (talk about feeling stupid). The local Dent Wizard is my 8's best friend!

Animagix

how much would minor dent fixes cost? I have a total of 4-5 new ones since three months ago and it's pissing me off.

Sea Ray

When we go out to eat I always scan the parking lot for end spots or way out in the boonies. If I can't find one, or don't feel good about the spot, we find another place to eat. My wife thinks I'm way too annal, but 20k miles and no dings.

UFGator12

What I tend to do:

Always park on "one-dingers" which is a spot with a curb next to it. NEVER park next to a buggy return thing. If the place is really busy, I find a car that is more expensive than mine and looks like the person takes good care of their car. I do all of this and I still manage to get a door ding on my passenger side one day. I was pissed. My friends don't do this, and have no dings. It's all luck.

msrecant

They generally charge $50 for a single ding and $100 for several in the same panel. Dents in a complex surface can run as high as $200.

captain mercury

my parking process exactly. if there is a shopping cart within 4 or 5 spots of where im looking to park...no way.

Clavius

I am somewhat lucky with where I work. I work at a Pharmacy and usualy most of the pharmacist drive pretty good/decent cars and well aparently they got together and they now all park in one area hence they form their own lil bubble of protection. If I see one already parked in the forming bubble in the morning I'll park in the middle and WHAM I'm protected for 8 hours while I work. The other thing I do is what a few people have comment on is just parking in a area where only one side of your car will be possibly ding'ed. So far I've lucked out, my only enemy is lil pebbles knicking up my hood grrrrr...

captain mercury

i dont think i could own this car if i still lived in los angeles. i used to get dings and whatnot on my gran fury all the time, but i didnt care so much about that car. down here in orange county people seem a bit more careful (nicer cars), streets are wider, parking is sooooo much easier!

DOMINION

I park real far away and I dont mind the walk its healty for ya. Dont mind the rain. Hell I dont mind too much when I'm in or around my 8.

XDEEDUBBX

i paid dent wizard $99 bucks to have a dent pulled out... =(

Crazy Rx-8 Driver

i park far far away and i still manage to attract some moron to park next to me... by far my biggest pet peeve.. its like c'mon now! i parked far away to be AWAY from people.. why must you park right next to me?

mysql101

Easy, they're taking the advice of those above and parking next to a car (yours) thats more expensive than theirs in order to avoid getting a ding.

EyeBall Fixer...(o)(x)

If I can't park solo I'll take two parking spots...
I know it pisses people off and instead getting dings I'll probably get keyed...

fullsmoke

Different scenario I read here awhile back: The 8 owner walks out of the store to see a woman put her bag of groceries on his 8 as she talks on her cell and fumbles for the keys in her purse. He casually walks up and throws her bag of groceries on the ground, leaving her groceries scattered over the parking lot. Then he gets in his car and drives off.

I hope that taught her to respect other's cars. Unfortunately, she probably just bitched and whined about it to whomever she was on the phone with.

FS

aggietiff28

I do this also, so far so good for me (except for the crease in my front bumper that is barely noticeable from someone backing into my car in a parallel parking spot at work).

Other options are:

1. Even with the "one-dingers," try to find one to the right of the other vehicles. All vehicles are going to have a driver but often do not have a passenger.

2. If there is no other possibility than to park between other cars (without another nice looking car around), try to find a minivan or a small vehicle. Minivans have sliding doors on the sides and small vehicles have front doors that are shorter than most. Of course, you have to worry about the kids bumping your car as they shuffle to get in their minivan, but hey...you can't always win.

3. Angled spots are also good spots to get, if they are angled far enough, there is less chance of another door hitting your car.

4. Park in BFE whenever possible.

Aseras

I'd do the same thing.

Once I was walking out of a walmart and some tard nearly hit me in the crosswalk.. luckily I had just bought a coke and it got pour into their car and chucked into their lap as they went by.

maxxdamigz

iTrader: (1)

I have 2 cars. Luckily no dings on the 8 yet but I haven't really parked it out of my driveway often. At work, we have long rows and a tree cuts into one, sectioning off the last 2 spots. I park in both. We have 3x as much parking as we need, I walk an extra 150 feet, and there are a number of nice cars out there who do more or less the same thing so I don't feel like too much of an A-hole.

I lived in Rochester for about 6 years. During which I got 0 door dings on my other car. I moved back to NJ and got 3 heavy dings in the first month. This is why I kept that car for store trips and parking lot parking.

Mazdaspeed 88

I did all the above and always been careful with where I park, 0 ding for 6 months and now within this month itself, i have 2 scratches (some kids at the apartment) and 3 dings on a day (some idiots moving apartment and the f*$#ing movers were so careless and irresponsible gave me that 3 dings)... Yes, all in my apartment. :=(

User24

iTrader: (1)

Always park in the right-most parking location, with your right side tires into the painted diagonal zone area (that is best), or if there isn't one, then up against the curb. My tires are all scraped up due to rubbing against the curb. I have had zero dings over the past year because this is the only spot that I will park in. The first few months of ownership I acquired 3 or 4 dings in 2 months, and those dings are still there.

You do not want left-most, because the driver will always need to get out from that location 100% of the time. Right-most, you stand a chance at having no passenger next to you, and hence no dings from either direction. It works. I just can't stand seeing rx8 parked sandwiched between two SUV or trucks waiting to get owned.