How to Correct the Car Body When Reversing?
4 Answers
If the car tilts to the right, steer to the left. When the car body is straight, straighten the steering wheel. If the car tilts to the left, steer to the right. When the car body is straight, straighten the steering wheel. If the left side is wide and the right side is narrow, steer to the left. Adjust until the rear wheels are within the ideal range from the line, then steer to the left again and straighten the steering wheel.
When I first started driving, my reverse parking was always crooked. After much practice, I found the trick boils down to three points: keep a close eye on the angle between the parking line and the car body in the rearview mirror—if the angle is too small, steer half a turn in the opposite direction; if the rear of the car drifts to one side, steer toward that side to correct it, and keep the speed as slow as a crawling turtle; when adjusting forward or backward, don’t move more than a meter, and don’t turn the steering wheel more than one full rotation. I remember one time in a supermarket parking lot, I noticed the left side was too wide in the rearview mirror, so I immediately steered right, and the rear of the car gradually aligned with the line. The most crucial thing is to stay calm—relying on the three mirrors is far more reliable than craning your neck to look around, and the rearview camera and parking sensors are just aids.
After a decade behind the wheel of a taxi, I've mastered the art of fine-tuning during reverse parking. When the car body and parking lines form a small 'V' shape in the rearview mirror, that's the perfect alignment. If the rear is too close to an obstacle on the right, pull the steering wheel more with your left hand to naturally shift the rear to the left; if the gap is too wide, push forward with your right hand to bring the rear closer. During perpendicular reverse parking, only minor steering adjustments work - large movements will guarantee misalignment. For parallel parking, straighten the wheels when you see the front car's bumper. Remember, adjusting your car's position is like tuning an old-fashioned radio knob - gentle and slow movements yield precision.
Last time I taught my neighbor how to reverse into a parking space, I directly told him to treat the steering wheel like a game controller maneuvering a character. Imagine the rear of the car as the head of a snake in Snake game: if the tail veers left, turn the wheel left to straighten it; if it tilts right, steer right to correct. The key is to hold the wheel steady like hitting pause the moment you see the car body parallel to the parking lines. Equal spacing on both sides in the rearview mirror signals perfect alignment—that’s when you stop adjusting the wheel during any forward/backward adjustments.
