3rd when facing uphill and R when facing down.

I never heard you were supposed to use 1st or 3rd, I've just always used 3rd.

2003 G35 Coupe 6MT/Black/Graphite/15% tint/6 wire GroundingGear™

 

1st gear or Reverse either since they have the lowest gear ratios and are therefore the "hardest" to turn by the wheels, as opposed to turning the wheels - this is the basic reason in the first place for leaving it in gear - to provide maximum resistance to rolling. Ether way you should always use the ebrake since the engine is not designed to serve as the brake, just as a supplemental braking device ie to share the load with the brake or to assist in the event that the ebrake is not fully applied.

By the same concept of gear ratios if you were to push start your car - assuming a flat battery - you would use 2nd or more likely 3rd so that you can get the car rolling at a reasonable speed and then let out the clutch and use the momentum to start the engine, if you tried to do this in first gear likey you would break something and for sure just come to a grinding halt.

 

Never thought about the gear ratio thing. I just assumed that 3rd was still low enough that it would be tough to move anyway. I just like using third because it's the easiest to get into. I may have to start using 1st.

In response to cynicaL102:
I don think that it matters, but you should enage the e-brake and let the car settle first. Like ColinR said,

"the engine is not designed to serve as the brake, just as a supplemental braking device"

You want the brake bearing the brunt of the load, not the transmission/engine.

gunga

 

In reference to:
I am not sure how valid it is, but maybe it does adjust the brakes a little in reference to the rotors?


Back in the days of rear drum brakes, using the parking brake also adjusted clearance of the drum pads as they wore down. I don't believe it would have any effect on our disk-brake equiped G.

 

I just trust my hand brake. Have auto-start so can't leave it in gear. Shouldn't be a problem. I've seen many people leave it in gear and let other people drive their car or they just forget themselves and end up cranking the car in gear and having thr car hop forward or backwards. dangerious.

G35c/IP/G/6MT

 

My G won't start without the clutch pedal depressed... Anyway, 1st or 2nd if I'm on a hill. I don't know why.

Black / Black 2004 GcoupeMT. Premium. Splash Guardz.

 

the official way i think is with your car not in gear, stop, pull ebrake. then you may put it in gear.

04 6mtC, DG - possibly most babied G on the board.

 

In public areas I park in 1st gear just to be on the safe side. At home, just in neutral.

"ARtificiaL InteLLigence is no match for NatuRaL Stupidity" [img]/w3timages/icons/wink.gif[/img]

 

Its always a good idea to put it in first if uphill or reverse if downhill. I always leave it in neutral in the flats. I'll tell you one thing. I had a 5 speed maxima long time ago and got rear ended while parked, pushed the car 10 ft forward. If my car was in gear the whole tranny would have been screwed. Since the dude didn't have insurance and I didn't have uninsured coverage, I had to get it fixed myself. Sucks, but could have been worse.

 

Another thing I heard is that you should always push the clutch in and put it in neutral, then push the clutch in again and put it in gear, then turn your car off...just to make sure the teeth are sitting properly, especially if you're on an incline...

"Operator, give me the number for 911!"
- Homer Simpson

 

A good reason why the hand brake is weak on any car is to prevent accidental rear wheel lockup when driving - which is the easier way to do a 180 degree spin. I used to do that every once in a while just for the fun of it (first gen eclipse). However, in both my then 91 300ZX and current G, that's very hard to do.

You'd always want to use the hand brake first, and make sure it's holding, before putting in 1st or reverse gear, so as to eliminate unnecessary prolonged stress on the gears. I'm always upset if the carwash people just parked my car on the incline with only 1st gear as brake.

AT owners should also first [censored] to neutral, then step on their foot brake, then shift to P. Try parking on a steep incline and use only P, and next time u shift from P you can feel the stress and awkwardness of having to shift out of the stressed Parking gears.

http://www.imagestation.com/member/?name=bsoo

 

hahaha i meant shift to neutral. A mistyped "shift" gets censored!

http://www.imagestation.com/member/?name=bsoo

 

I'm a 6MT sedan owner, but since this is about gear parking I'll add some comments.
I just skimp through all the posts, so if this is said already, I apologize.

I may self put either 1st or reverse when parked. I make sure that the ebrake take into effect first, then set my gear.

The only reason to put it in 3rd or 4th is to prevent accidental release of clutch while in gear, 3rd or 4th gear is to high to cause the car leaping forward, which can incur unwanted damages. The engine will just simply stall. As for which gear is strongest holding the car while parked, I think 1st is strongest, although any gear will work since a free rolling car don't provide that much torgue anyway.

 

Just the e-brake wont work for me. After driving it, the brake wont hold the car on my inclined driveway, so I use 1st gear and the e-brake. Weird that it wont hold with just the brake though....

2003 BLK/BLK 6-spd Injen clear corners

 

R - no E-Brake most of the time.

E-Brake if I'm on a hill.

1st if I'm facing up a hill as rolling back and locking in R may not leave wiggle room enough to disengage R once you've backed up to the curb.

I don't like to clamp my pads down to the rotors when they're hot, and I've seen cars in gears higher then 1st or R roll...

2004 6MT/Coupe/TB/WI/Premium/Aero