Need help parking!!!?

Question

Student driver-- having a Really hard time parking, both forward and reverse. I just can't seem to pull in straight, or centered in the space! Looking in my sideview mirrors doesn't seem to help much and gives me two separate problems-- I have a problem gauging how much space I have on my sides (so that I tend to end up parked Right up against the line on the left side, and all the space on the right side), and I can't tell if I have the car lined up or not (so that I end up in the space crooked). I feel so stupid.
Any advice would be helpful:

* When approaching the space I want to park in, at what point do I start turning?;
* How do I use my mirrors to figure out if my car is straight?

I'm practicing in an old 90's Dodge Stealth and it is Impossible to see anything :-(

Answer 1

You really need to learn where the wheels are. Get some orange or other bright poles. Sit in the car and have a friend place 2 at the back corners at the spots you can see them in the mirrors. Hopefully you have mirrors on both sides, and they are set properly.
http://www.linquist.net/motorsports/tech/mirrors/
Then place the front poles at the equivalent distances. Walk slowly around the car, looking at the poles and the relationship to the sides of the car. Getting back behind the wheel, you now have an idea where the car is in relation to a box around the car that you can visualize. Note, even after 42 years of driving, I sometimes have to take 2 tries at parallel parking if the spot is small. Not very often, though. Now for actual process to follow once you have a better idea of the shell around you. It is easier to send you to a web page. Print the page out if you like, and then you can take it with you.
http://www.jimloy.com/misc/park.htm
http://www.wikihow.com/Parallel-Park
Note I have given you 2 choices, you can pick whichever is easier for you to understand and follow. Good luck.

Answer 2

Practice parking between rows of cardboard boxes stacked high enough to see from inside, in a real parking lot until after a couple of hours of parking and pull-out you don't hit the boxes, and the car winds up in the middle of the space! Then go to only one row and practice some more!

Answer 3

my friend gave me some good advice about parallel parking (the cone test) once, I passed too 100 % . hand at 12 (think of clock )one and half turns to the L, back to R to 12 to staighten it up while looking over you R shoulder to back up.

Put your door at there back passenger door or rear tire (half the length
good luck