winter storage tips..
Thread Starter
12 Second Club
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 1,548
Likes: 1
winter storage tips.. ok, for those of us above the mason dixon line, who have to park our f-bodies 4 months out of the year, what are the rest of you doing, for years with my older one ive just let her sit, maybe once a month start her up and run for half hour.
now i have a nicer Z28, and wanna take good care of her. she sits covered in the garage now, and i start it weekly, let her run a good half hour, put her in all gears, move back and forth, and if theres no snow pull her back in the driveway a few times. any other tips?
ive read lots of threads, just wanna hear some ideas of what the rest of you guys do with them?...
now i have a nicer Z28, and wanna take good care of her. she sits covered in the garage now, and i start it weekly, let her run a good half hour, put her in all gears, move back and forth, and if theres no snow pull her back in the driveway a few times. any other tips?
ive read lots of threads, just wanna hear some ideas of what the rest of you guys do with them?...
Staging Lane
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 99
Likes: 0
From: Fort Myers, Florida
I used to:
keep my car on a battery tender
keep my gas low and would put a gallon or so of 93 in every month to keep octane high
never use a car cover(good fresh waxing and hosing off to keep off dirt)
when i got serious into it i jacked up car and placed jackstands to avoid tire stress
keep my car on a battery tender
keep my gas low and would put a gallon or so of 93 in every month to keep octane high
never use a car cover(good fresh waxing and hosing off to keep off dirt)
when i got serious into it i jacked up car and placed jackstands to avoid tire stress
To the OP:
Starting the car during winter storage without actually driving it up to operating temperature for several miles is horrible. It introduces a lot of water into the exhaust and oil.
The best thing to do for winter storage is to:
1. Change the oil before storage if its got more than 1,500 miles on it(IMO I usually change the oil between 4-5k on daily driver type cars)
2. Fill the tank full of fresh gas, put a bottle of fuel stabilizer on it.
3. Disconnect the battery and store it in a warm closet in your house. Setting it on a concrete floor in the garage drains it.
4. Overinflate the tires to about 40-45psi. This will prevent flat spotting, even in cold temperatures your tires will stay well inflated.
5. Give your car a nice detail and wax, then throw a car cover on it, park it in the garage or a storage shed.
6. I DO NOT recommend you storing your car in a carport or outside with a car cover. There will be some sort of brutal wind storm that will whip that car cover around and scratch the hell out of your paint.
7. When you go to start it in the spring, just pop that battery in, crank that bitch over, drive gently but up to operating temp for 10-20 miles, and change the oil. You should be good to go.
Starting the car during winter storage without actually driving it up to operating temperature for several miles is horrible. It introduces a lot of water into the exhaust and oil.
The best thing to do for winter storage is to:
1. Change the oil before storage if its got more than 1,500 miles on it(IMO I usually change the oil between 4-5k on daily driver type cars)
2. Fill the tank full of fresh gas, put a bottle of fuel stabilizer on it.
3. Disconnect the battery and store it in a warm closet in your house. Setting it on a concrete floor in the garage drains it.
4. Overinflate the tires to about 40-45psi. This will prevent flat spotting, even in cold temperatures your tires will stay well inflated.
5. Give your car a nice detail and wax, then throw a car cover on it, park it in the garage or a storage shed.
6. I DO NOT recommend you storing your car in a carport or outside with a car cover. There will be some sort of brutal wind storm that will whip that car cover around and scratch the hell out of your paint.
7. When you go to start it in the spring, just pop that battery in, crank that bitch over, drive gently but up to operating temp for 10-20 miles, and change the oil. You should be good to go.
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 34,632
Likes: 2,558
From: Schiller Park, ILL Member: #317
- No need to start the car every week just to let it run. If you're not going to drive it, then just leave it dormant for the winter.
- Unless the oil needs to be changed anyway, I just wait until spring to change it.
- You could do the full-time battery tender, but instead I just hook up a smart charger every 6-8 weeks and let it trickle charge at 2 amps until it's complete (better than having wires running all over the garage all winter IMO)....this has served me well because my batteries always last many years without issues.
- Full tank of gas plus Stabil. Keeping the tank full helps to block out moisture.
- Plastic/rubber under the car to block moisture from the ground as the temps change.
- Moisture dry/Damp Rid tubs in the interior of the car if the area isn't climate controlled.
- Don't put the car on jack stands unless you are properly loading the suspension. Better yet, either store the car on junk tires or simply fill your normal tires to max recommended PSI (this is what I do every year, and I've never had any permanent flat spotting problems doing so).
- Dust proof car cover (this step is obviously just a matter of preference, it won't hurt anything to leave it uncovered).
This is the stuff I've been doing to store cars each winter for the last ~15 years or so. Always works great, whether the car is new(er) or old.
- Unless the oil needs to be changed anyway, I just wait until spring to change it.
- You could do the full-time battery tender, but instead I just hook up a smart charger every 6-8 weeks and let it trickle charge at 2 amps until it's complete (better than having wires running all over the garage all winter IMO)....this has served me well because my batteries always last many years without issues.
- Full tank of gas plus Stabil. Keeping the tank full helps to block out moisture.
- Plastic/rubber under the car to block moisture from the ground as the temps change.
- Moisture dry/Damp Rid tubs in the interior of the car if the area isn't climate controlled.
- Don't put the car on jack stands unless you are properly loading the suspension. Better yet, either store the car on junk tires or simply fill your normal tires to max recommended PSI (this is what I do every year, and I've never had any permanent flat spotting problems doing so).
- Dust proof car cover (this step is obviously just a matter of preference, it won't hurt anything to leave it uncovered).
This is the stuff I've been doing to store cars each winter for the last ~15 years or so. Always works great, whether the car is new(er) or old.
I also put plastic down under the carpet I have. I've been storing my battery in the house since I bought the car new and I'm still on the original battery. As said, don't bother starting it unless your going for a drive.
Thread Starter
12 Second Club
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 1,548
Likes: 1
- No need to start the car every week just to let it run. If you're not going to drive it, then just leave it dormant for the winter.
- Unless the oil needs to be changed anyway, I just wait until spring to change it.
- You could do the full-time battery tender, but instead I just hook up a smart charger every 6-8 weeks and let it trickle charge at 2 amps until it's complete (better than having wires running all over the garage all winter IMO)....this has served me well because my batteries always last many years without issues.
- Full tank of gas plus Stabil. Keeping the tank full helps to block out moisture.
- Plastic/rubber under the car to block moisture from the ground as the temps change.
- Moisture dry/Damp Rid tubs in the interior of the car if the area isn't climate controlled.
- Don't put the car on jack stands unless you are properly loading the suspension. Better yet, either store the car on junk tires or simply fill your normal tires to max recommended PSI (this is what I do every year, and I've never had any permanent flat spotting problems doing so).
- Dust proof car cover (this step is obviously just a matter of preference, it won't hurt anything to leave it uncovered).
This is the stuff I've been doing to store cars each winter for the last ~15 years or so. Always works great, whether the car is new(er) or old.
- Unless the oil needs to be changed anyway, I just wait until spring to change it.
- You could do the full-time battery tender, but instead I just hook up a smart charger every 6-8 weeks and let it trickle charge at 2 amps until it's complete (better than having wires running all over the garage all winter IMO)....this has served me well because my batteries always last many years without issues.
- Full tank of gas plus Stabil. Keeping the tank full helps to block out moisture.
- Plastic/rubber under the car to block moisture from the ground as the temps change.
- Moisture dry/Damp Rid tubs in the interior of the car if the area isn't climate controlled.
- Don't put the car on jack stands unless you are properly loading the suspension. Better yet, either store the car on junk tires or simply fill your normal tires to max recommended PSI (this is what I do every year, and I've never had any permanent flat spotting problems doing so).
- Dust proof car cover (this step is obviously just a matter of preference, it won't hurt anything to leave it uncovered).
This is the stuff I've been doing to store cars each winter for the last ~15 years or so. Always works great, whether the car is new(er) or old.
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