Dry steering

Dry steering is the act of turning the steering wheel or rotating the steer wheels of a vehicle on the Z axis by some other means, while the vehicle is stationary.

This action puts strain on the rack and pinion, pump, tie rods, and bearings, especially causes undue wear to the steer wheels, and can be exceptionally difficult in the absence of power-assisted steering. As such, driving instructors in the UK do not permit this act and instead teach the method of using clutch control to move the vehicle at very low speed and fast steering to manoeuvre the vehicle out of tight situations. Dry steering is also not permitted on the UK practical driving test and will result in a minor or major fault, at the examiner's discretion.

Although in most modern cars the steering components are sturdy enough to handle dry steering without taking damage, it is still not recommended due to stronger tire wear. This is the reason why automatic parking systems are usually designed not to dry steer, although their design would be somewhat simpler if they used dry steering.