Hi,

I am about to get a brand new RX-8 and I live in Boston... Not sure how to take care of the car while parking it on a street. Does anybody have any tips? I am about to sign all the papers at a dealership and I would like to know if there are any other people who keep their RX-8 on the street and how they take care of them. Thank you.

 

I've got parking underground in my apartment building... You could move to an apartment that is more accommodating for your car? :D

-P23

 

Well I'm in baltimore but have no garage or driveway. I look for big spaces and tend to be rather picky. At first I had stolen some road cones and put them around my car. Figured if someone was going to hit my car they would either see the road cone or hit it instead of me. Now I just look for spots for two cars and park in the middle of it.

 

It's a losing battle keeping your '8 ding-free in the city
I live in an apartment with its own parking lot, so I don't have to come up with any creative ideas on how to keep it ding-free. Usually if I go to the city, I try to park in the garage or park in the train station and take the T instead.

 

It's one thing to be careful about parking your car, and a whole other thing to be a jackass. Parking in the middle of two spots is a jackass thing to do.

-arattle

 

^^^^^

Wholeheartedly agreed

 

agree. all the more making your car a target to get keyed

 

You could rent a garage or maybe a parking spot in a municipal parking structure??? I am lucky that I have a stockade fenced area in my apartment parking lot to hide beside--I don't think I'd like to park it on the street unless I added an alarm with vibration sensors like a "warning protected by Viper". An other option would be to invest in a non-flashy cover.

 

I know this isn't what you want to hear, but I think you should seriously consider getting a spot in a garage. I've seen what parking on the street does to cars and you won't be happy, especially after a winter. Plus, doing all that parallel parking you are just asking to get your rims curbed.

 

Street parking and RX-8 don't really go together in Boston. Some home owners rent out their garages/parking spaces for $50-100/month in the city, that may be an option.

 

My question is... if you don't have a driveway / yard, where do you wash your car? The self serve car washes? Do you haul all your cleaning supplies with you? Towels and soap? How about buckets? Where can you do a bucket wash?

-P23

 

Well, I have an answer to car washes. I live right next to a self-service wash where I can haul all my supplies. Also, I can get a detailing shop do it for me. Which comes out pretty cheap in terms of my time. This is not a problem.

The problem is people who use your cars bumper as a measure of not being able to go "there" anymore. Snow storms are somewhat covered. I can put a car cover before the storm starts and have a car sit there underneath the cover for a while (unless it is a parking ban). I have a garage where I rent, but the morons from downstairs have their Civics in there. GRRRRR! Also, there is a parking lot behind me and I am considering it because it is spacious and it is private (meaning it does not honor parking bans, etc). I watched a new car there for almost a year. It is parked there and so far it has no scratches. It is also convenient in winter because I can have my car sitting there under cover for a long time without being plowed back.

However, you're right. I ran my numbers today again and it looks like I'll have to postpone a new 8 for a while because of the parking situation. Parking adds $100/month to my bills. That sucks, considering the fact that I have 45K in student loans. Additional bills is not what I can afford this year. I am also looking to move out as I can find something with a garage in suburbs around Boston. My buddy has an M3 and no garage. After four years of winters under a cover, the car does not seem to be in a worse shape. All he does is puts the cover on, lets a storm pass and then cleans the car.

My other concern is the number of vandalized cars. I do not know who does it or why, but I have seen many cars with busted windows. I live right next to Boston College and I am thinking if that's what drunken students do for fun. If that's true, it is time to exercise my 2nd Amendment rights. The other day my girlfriend saw an owner of a brand new Honda Civic who was almost crying next to his car which had a busted window. Yeah, I know it is a "civic", but some people can barely afford that...

BTW, parking one car into a two-car parking spot can backfire. I did that because we had two cars. I would park my Honda into a two-car parking spot in order to save a spot for my girlfriend's car. When she came home, I moved my car back and let her take a spot. However, one day this did not work because the car in front of me moved and was replaced with a smaller car. Thus, the space between my car and that other car the front of mine increased a bit, and somebody tried to squeeze in. Good thing I paid only $4,2K for my car

 

just make sure you park it in gear along with the e-brake!!!

 

dont get me wrong Im not taking up two actual spaces. This is on the street. If I back up far enough or pull up far enough, yes another car could fit in the spot as well. However, knowing the people around me, they judge how close they are to the car in front of them when they bump it.

 

Yeah, that's what I did

 

yeah, I'm just thinking dragging my car to a self serve car wash would be a pain in the a**! There's a faucet in my underground parking garage, but you need a hydrant key to turn it on. According to my lease I'm not allowed to wash cars down there... but whatever, I'ma try to do it anyway... I found the hydrant key available for something like $1.50... haha!

-P23