Is it necessary to have the wheels of a car aligned with the body when parked, due to weight on the axle?

Question

My uncle says a driver advised him that whenever the car is parked, the wheels have to be aligned with the body of the car, or else there will be un-necessary weight on (I think) the axle or wheel, which reduces the life of the parts.

So is it really bad to park with the wheels at an angle as shown in the image below? Seems quite impractical to me, because while parking, the wheels inevitably do end up at an angle and a friend tells me the steering wheel should not be turned when the vehicle is stationary as that puts too much strain on the parts. Moving the car forward and backward just to get the wheels aligned expends extra fuel too.

You'd do more damage to the front wheel bearings by hauling the steering wheel about to straighten them with the car not moving. Plus extra forces on any power steering. — Criggie, Sep 05 '16 at 10:18
Unnecessary weight on which part, exactly? Imagine how the whole assembly looks - what part is more strained when the wheels aren't aligned? — Luaan, Sep 05 '16 at 12:48
In California, you can also get a ticket if wheels are not aligned on a level street: When you park alongside a curb on a level street, the front and back wheels must be parallel and within 18 inches of the curb — artem, Sep 06 '16 at 16:09
@artem - is that what that rule means? I always assumed it meant the car itself had to be parallel to the curb ... that is, the car not be angled ... but now that you've pointed out the actual rule I wonder. And I also wonder: If you're interpretation is correct, what is the possible reason? — davidbak, Sep 06 '16 at 21:28
@davidbak indeed it's open to interpretation, it does not say parallel to what. However, with both front and rear wheels within 18 in. of the curb, the car couldn't be angled much anyway. As for the possible reason - maybe to prevent accidents like the one in Ben A answer. — artem, Sep 06 '16 at 21:51
@davidbak To keep your car from rolling down hill and killing people. If the wheels are set at the correct angle, the car would roll into the adjacent curb and stop. You'll get a ticket if the parking police see you on a hill with wheels pointed straight. — 3Dave, Sep 06 '16 at 22:06
@DavidLively - we're talking about the level case, not the hill case. — davidbak, Sep 06 '16 at 22:37
@artem - w.r.t. the Ben A answer - that's an edge case! I certainly have never worried that a truck coming by would miss my car so closely that no damage would be incurred unless one wheel was sticking out! Would they have written a law covering that? Seems ... rather detail oriented ... — davidbak, Sep 06 '16 at 22:44
@DavidLively- I know about the hill case ... I actually got a SF parking ticket for that one (very iffy, IMO, as the street was 2degree slope at the south end and 0degree slope at the north end and I was parked on the flat end ... but what the hell, life's too short to waste a morning in traffic court). — davidbak, Sep 06 '16 at 22:54
In San Francisco you are obliged to turn your front wheels in if you park on a hill, and there are street signs saying so. The stuff about the axle (what axle? Cars haven't had axles for 40 years) and the load is BS. The strains on the bearings are dynamic, not static. — user207421, Sep 08 '16 at 11:27

dlu · Accepted Answer · 2016-09-05T12:55:58.217

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Not at all, in fact there are many occasions when you would want the tires at an angle to the body of the car. Any time you're parked on a hill it is prudent to angle the wheels of the car so that if the parking brake failed to hold the car would run into the curb.

If the wheels were aligned with the body when parked on a hill the car would be free to roll down the hill until it collided with something. That could be bad…

One more thing: if there is an increased load due to the wheels being turned, it is likely to be far less than the load imposed when the wheels are turned in normal driving (as then the car is turning and moving with forces imposed both by bumps and the act of turning). So even if the driver informing your uncle is correct about the load, it is unlikely to have a significant impact on the life of the vehicle – not to mention needing to balance that impact against the impact of turning the wheels while the car is stationary.

edited Sep 05 '16 at 12:55

answered Sep 05 '16 at 05:28

dlu

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I think to remember that at some locations it's also required by law to angle the wheels. Wasn't it San Francisco for slopes >3%? – sweber Sep 05 '16 at 08:45
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It is required by law in some places. My sister got a ticket in Los Angeles because she forgot to angle the wheels while parking on a slope. – Gerald Schneider Sep 05 '16 at 09:44
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Referred to as "kerbing/curbing the wheels" or tyres/tires as opposed to "curbing the rims" which is a nasty scuffing noise from the wheel rims on the concrete edge. – Criggie Sep 05 '16 at 10:16
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@sweber: San Francisco Transportation Code 7.2.35. – Nate Eldredge Sep 05 '16 at 20:44
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Kerb your car indeed, never hurts to have redundancy. Gearbox, Handbrake, kerbed wheels. I'd be more worried about the rubber taking a shape and being out of round. – mckenzm Sep 05 '16 at 23:47
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@Criggie Scraping the rims isn't great against anything, but in many parts of the US at least, those curbs are granite, not concrete, which is probably even worse for the rims. – Joshua Taylor Sep 06 '16 at 11:35

score 26 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 05 '16 at 18:13

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Perhaps my post is a bit late, but make sure you always face your wheels to an angle if you park your vehicle on a hill. A brake failure can lead into some heavy damage.

If you parked your vehicle at an angle, you will get the following:

Much better, right? Also, if you drive a car with a clutch, make sure you are in the reverse or the first gear. This will also prevent your car from moving if your parking brake fails.

answered Sep 05 '16 at 18:13

Oxy Synth

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For parking, I've always been taught to park on either first gear or reverse gear. So even if the brake fails, the gear holds the vehicle in place. I doubt keeping the tyre at an angle really helps as much as the gear. – Nav Sep 06 '16 at 04:51
Sorry I might wrote something down wrong. I meant that align the wheels with the car won't prevent the vehicle from moving. You're right – Oxy Synth Sep 06 '16 at 04:57
Or is that Rigs of Rods (same developer), hmm – cat Sep 06 '16 at 22:32
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"This will also prevent your car from moving if your parking brake fails." Not necessarily. An acquaintance had a Pontiac Sunfire (yay) that would happily roll when in gear. Tiny motor and transmission, heavy car. Normally, I'd agree with you, however. – 3Dave Sep 06 '16 at 22:46
@DavidLively unless there was a Sunfire made before 1995, I can't imagine which model had the tiny engine + heavy chassis combo you seem to describe. All of them had larger engines and higher gross weight than my 318ti and that thing didn't have a roll in gear problem. Sounds like you friend had a bad transmission or clutch. – iheanyi Sep 07 '16 at 16:35
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@iheanyi No idea what year it was. This was back in 98 and the car was a few years old, so it'd have to be the first generation. I just remember the car being a little gutless, but I was driving a twin-turbo 300ZX at the time so my perspective was a bit skewed. Drove fine, no clutch slippage or grinding, just had to make sure the parking brake was on. – 3Dave Sep 07 '16 at 16:48
@Nav in most cities there is a curb that the car will run into if you turn the wheels the right way. This for sure will stop the car even better than being in gear. – The111 Sep 08 '16 at 08:26
@DavidLively I actually had one as a rental in around 2003. By comparison to a 300ZX, it would be gutless, but to similar cars, it could hold it's own. Well, point to take away - don't assume your car won't roll away on a hill! – iheanyi Sep 08 '16 at 15:40

score 9 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 05 '16 at 10:16

(I would have added this as a comment but I don't have the reputation yet)

As dlu pointed out, on steep hills you want to angle your front wheels towards the kerb, but there are also situations where you want to leave the wheels straight - my brother's car was written off when he left it parked on a very narrow street with the wheels at an angle. A van drove into the exposed tyre and popped the wheel off (and then drove away...)

score 5 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 05 '16 at 12:30

The reasons taught by driving instructors to keep wheels angled to the kerb:

one so that if the car rolls on a slope the tyres hit the kerb (as above);
to avoid the wear and tear of turning the wheels when stopped (a no no);
this is where they end up in a parallel park and makes it easy to leave.

score 4 · Answer 5 · answered Sep 06 '16 at 12:50

It depends on other circumstances.

If you are on a slope angled wheels secure your car from rolling down. In the worst case you will damage your tyre agains curbs.

In parallel parking, aligning wheels is unnecessary wear of the tyres.

But if you are on leveled place with very limitted room aligned wheels allow you to push the car and free some room around you. In some places the bumper is used to bump the cars away to free the parking slot.

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Sep 07 '16 at 10:20

There is a reason I was taught for straightening the wheels when you park at the roadside.

It's simply so passing drivers can scan quickly along the line of parked cars and if the wheels are straight they don't have to take precautions against the vehicle pulling out. If the wheels are pointing out you should slow down, check indicators, presence of driver etc.

As others have mentioned, there's no mechanical reason for doing so.

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Sep 07 '16 at 05:13

I can think of a situation where you may want to straighten your wheels prior to getting off after parking. such as in a parking lot or garage when your car is parked close alongside another vehicle. Once you get in and start reversing the front end may hit the vehicle next to you if you still have the wheels turned.

score -1 · Answer 8 · answered Sep 06 '16 at 20:08

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Power steering. Rotating the wheels while at rest is nothing to even think about. You may as well worry about wearing out your turn signal bulbs with all that flashing on/off.

However if the engine is off, do not turn the wheels in a power steering car, at least going by the old Chrysler-Dodge-Plymouth van in the driveway. The pump has issues with that. When I do so, I do it very slowly, no problems.

answered Sep 06 '16 at 20:08

Irwin Mainway

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Welcome to the site. We appreciate you being here and answering. I'd like to suggest you look up the term "dry steering". This is what happens when you turn the wheel while the car is at rest. This causes a huge amount of wear (in relative terms) to the tire in one spot. If you have any doubt about this, turn the wheel back and forth a couple of times at rest, then move the car and look at where the tires sat. There'll be two large black spots (can be more easily seen on concrete than asphalt). – Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 Sep 06 '16 at 20:54

Is it necessary to have the wheels of a car aligned with the body when parked, due to weight on the axle?

8 Answers8