People who have gardens with lawns sometimes have to use them as car-park extensions if they have a big function at their homes. And then spend weeks trying to undo the damage – especially the swirls of brown where guests have turned the steering wheels sharply. Is there a way to reduce the damage in the first place?
Cars will always “squash” the grass with their weight, however carefully they are driven. But healthy grass will very quickly recover, especially if it can be closed-mown before the big event and watered immediately after the cars have gone.
“Smears” caused by steering are a different matter, and they can be reduced by a driving technique that should be used all the time, not just on party lawns. Simply, do not turn the steering when the vehicle is standing still. Get the vehicle moving and the wheels rotating, even very slowly, before you start to turn, and increase the turn gradually, not immediately to full lock.
A rolling wheel just “squashes” the grass. A steered wheel, if not rolling, “scrubs” it. The same applies in a tarmac carpark, only this time, because tarmac is a lot tougher than grass, it is the tyre tread that gets scrubbed by the ground.
Know it or not, like it or not, the way to drive into and out of a parking bay affects how fast the tyre gets worn. Of course, the wear from one event is only microns. But bear in mind what the cumulative consequences if that one event happens several times every day.
This is a minuscule issue unlikely to affect what you do, but it might add to what you know. Like locking the wheels when braking or going around a corner fast enough to slightly drift. That only takes a couple of seconds, but inflicts months of wear.
