Parking vehicle with front wheels at an angle

[BlueRaiden]

Hello guys....i have two general questions...

1. Is there any mechanical issue\disadvantage if I park my car with front wheels not straight?

2. When the car is stationary, does rotating steering wheel put any additional stresses and wear and tear to steering linkage and EPS system?

Thank you.

[ramishkad]

1 hour ago, BlueRaiden said:

Hello guys....i have two general questions...

1. Is there any mechanical issue\disadvantage if I park my car with front wheels not straight?

2. When the car is stationary, does rotating steering wheel put any additional stresses and wear and tear to steering linkage and EPS system?

Thank you.

1. There is no engineering requirement I can think of to always keep your wheels straight when parked. In fact, most vehicle user manuals would tell you to turn the wheels towards the curb when parking on a hill. This is to prevent the car from rolling down the slope (so that it will hit the curb and stop) should the parking breaks fail.  

2. Turning the steering while vehicle is stationary is called 'dry steering'.  I'm not sure about the impact of this on the EPS system. However this will have an impact on your tires wearing out  if you do it frequently enough. 

[ajm]

2.is a hard load condition for the EPS system if its powered. Any hard load condition on any system would reduce the lifetime. Automakers don't make the systems to be operated at hard conditions continuously these days, because overengineering bites on the thin profit margins.

[BlueRaiden]

Thanks @ramishkad @ajm. This is what i wanted to know.

[MrCat]

1. No

2. Under normal operating conditions No. (e.g. you correct the wheels straight after parking). It can cause the system to overheat and go to fail-safe mode under abnormally high usage (e.g. my wife trying to practice parking for an hour for the driving test and coming back home confused saying "the steering stopped working all of a sudden and steering eka galak wage una").