Parking Lot Commandos: Door Dings

[CurtisB]

Pick your spot……….
-away from others
- next to 4 door vehicles (doors are smaller)
- if given a choice, next to passenger side.
- next to “classy” cars. Folks are more careful.
- away from clunkers.
- away from vehicles with vertical door edge guards. They only protect themselves. They may not care about others.
- uphill, as much as is possible.
-Park facing INTO the wind.
-Find an end spot.
Play defense. Apply protection to your own vehicle. Check my avatar.

I do all of the above. It works.

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[notfast]

My truck already has slight wear and tear such as paint chips and a door ding on the driver rear quarter panel so I'm over the point of obsessing over it. I still park a little ways away but not to the extreme of the last spot or absolutely away from everyone.

Buying a used truck with slight wear and tear has been a reliever for me. The first damage hurts the most, but since I bought it that way, now it just adds to the patina.

I recently parked in a parking structure at a hotel. I was fortunate to get a spot next to a crosshatched section, so I parked basically on top of the line. Sure enough, a family in a Toyota 4Runner parks in the space next to me, over the line, and one of the adult passengers throws their door open into my truck while I'm still sitting inside.

Fortunately, my truck has door moldings for taller vehicles and rock sliders for lower ones. The door moldings are body-color but I plasti-dipped them to both protect the original paint and give it a different look. The Plasti-Dip is scraped in several places but the doors are still undinged.

 

[NJBob]

Pay attention around the cart corrals. Some people just aim the cart toward the corral and give it a push, more so when the corral is in a lower part of the lot.

I try and park on the downhill side
Nothing is perfect. Also they tend to take up more than one space so I get that too. Of course the store cannot be to busy.

 

[jmatchco]

The commandos have gotten me twice now. (Parking lot dings) How about you?

I can park at the outer edge of an empty lot and there will still be a car too close to me when I return.

 

[Leuf]

I make it a habit to put away any carts I come anywhere near and tidy up the corral. Leave the parking lot better than I found it. Create some good parking lot karma and seeing how lazy people are drives me nuts. But it's also as if people go out of their way to fill the corral with as few carts as possible so no one else can get a cart in there without fixing it all. My theory is also that if the lot is tidy people are less likely to be the first one to leave a cart than if there's half a dozen of them all over the place.

 

[huunvubu]

Too bad there aren't more body side moulding options for the Maverick. The OEM ones are too chunky and not sure they would do anything for that and I don't like the skinny Dawn Enterprises ones.

Body Side Moulding only work if the doors of the vehicle next to you hit the moulding.

Taller vehicles will have their doors hit your door above the moulding while shorter vehicles will have their doors hit your door below the moulding.

Wife had a 2009 Honda CR-V with Body Side Moulding for almost 16 years. There were plenty of door dings that were above or below the Body Side Moulding.

 

[AugMec]

The commandos have gotten me twice now. (Parking lot dings) How about you?

Yep, got a ding, a scratch and a chip off a door handle all in good old Stuart, Florida. Nobody cares about the property of others.

 

[Deleted member 7089]

Body Side Moulding only work if the doors of the vehicle next to you hit the moulding.
Taller vehicles will have their doors hit your door above the moulding while shorter vehicles will have their doors hit your door below the moulding.

Exactly my point. The OEM ones are too low and the Dawn Enterprises ones too skinny.

 

[Glen Baker LLC]

Buying a used truck with slight wear and tear has been a reliever for me. The first damage hurts the most, but since I bought it that way, now it just adds to the patina.
Fortunately, my truck has door moldings for taller vehicles and rock sliders for lower ones. The door moldings are body-color but I plasti-dipped them to both protect the original paint and give it a different look. The Plasti-Dip is scraped in several places but the doors are still undinged.

I'm planning on having (PPF)paint protection film applied to the painted body side moldings.

 

[Bob The Builder]

Nope, I am a defensive parking guru and have zero dings on my Maverick and zero dings on wifey's Jeep.

 

[Kenj]

I had a set of side moldings installed, color matched so they are pretty much unobtrusive try as much as possible to park remotely and walk but their are occasional a**holes who will seek you out.

 

[Flyangler]

I got dinged by an acorn falling from an oak tree at sams today. Thought I was ok parking in the shade, won't do that again.

I know what you mean. I watch the hood waffling every time I go under the car wash dryers.

To the OP’s point, I need the exercise, so I park far away. But prevention of that sort didn’t help me when I was in my own garage trying to unload groceries and lost my grip on the door with that one finger that didn’t have a bag on it and bashed it into my husband’s Subie side mirror. Sigh.

 

[Meeka]

Doesn't matter where you park, I've always been one to park further away. Some asshat with a hoopty always seems to park right on top of you regardless. it's like a nice vehicle just attracts retards and morons.

Bingo Toddman. I park my older pristine Camaro Z-28 as far away in a mall parking lot, not a soul around, and when I come out, 6 cars all around me! With empty spaces all the way to the mall entrance. Figure that out!

 

[Toddman45]

I just call em as I see em, Assholes!

 

[Glen Baker LLC]

Bingo Toddman. I park my older pristine Camaro Z-28 as far away in a mall parking lot, not a soul around, and when I come out, 6 cars all around me! With empty spaces all the way to the all entrance. Figure that out!

I'm SHOCKED
You go to a MALL

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