Winter Car storage
 

How are you preparing for your car to be stored ?

Fuel stabilizer?

Oil change before storage?

detail/wax?

Chime it , its my first time :p

What you listed is the norm and good things to do. Also make sure you fill up your tank to the max. If you plan on adding fuel stabilizer, add that first (at the gas station)
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Getting your car on stands is good if you could.

Unhook your battery or install a battery tender

Also, I wait until Im taking it out of storage to change the oil. Moisture can collect due to condensation over the winter and contaminate your fresh oil.

But what about old oil deposits that was just sitting in the engine( I plan to store from December to April or May.

Just stored my Miata and I gave it a wash and spray on detailer, added fuel stabilizer, inflated the tires to 40psi (helps minimize flat spots), unlatched the top, and left the hand brake off. No oil change as I'll wait till spring for that.

Haven't unhooked the battery yet and haven't gotten a tender either - I may just hook it up to a regular charger every few weeks as it sits in my dad's garage. The tenders are cheap though, Canadian Tire has them on sale right now for $35 and Amazon.ca has it for a few bucks less.

Not my car, but seems like a good idea. Maybe RS group buy ? some shop to fabricate some?

http://i.imgur.com/iuBZ7Kl.png

It'd make more sense to just stick the car on jack stands with the wheels still on, less hassle, still no flat spots. The style of stand pictured originally popped up at car shows to display the brakes and suspension of a vehicle, and while they do seem to be made of good stock (wouldn't bend or break), I'd still place my bets on traditional triangulation for any long term storage.

I'd imagine that 1/4 inch mild steel plate would be able to support the average sports car based on the design shown, if you wanted to have a go at making them.

This is from years of experience of storing and winterizing my cars, scooters, and motorcycles. By no means is this "the right way" or "the best way." It's simply the "pbrdukes doesn't give a fuck way and it worked for him for more than 10 years" way." Use it at your own risk.

1. Storage insurance - talk to your insurance agent. Learn about it. Ask questions. Understand how it works. Get it. Of course, if you're baller, this step can be skipped.

2. Try to drive your car until the gas tank is 1/4 to near empty. Fill it up with fresh gas. Use fuel stabalizer if you wish but I never did, nor did I ever on any of my carburated scooters/motorcycles. Make sure the gas cap is on tight. For cheap insurance, buy a new OEM one if yours has never been replaced. It's cheap from the dealer (if it's for your E39 M5.) Also, top up on your tire pressure.

3. Wash/detail your car and clean it up to the best of your abilities. Now is a good time to vaccuum the car and to take stuff out you don't need.

4. Throw on a battery tender. You can get some inexpensive ones from Canadian Tire, Princess Auto and Lordco. Amazon has some good deals too. I personally use a CTEK and love it.

5. If you have a car cover, throw it on. Not necessary but always good in case you have rodents or a dusty garage with poor ventilation. Puts all that hard work into cleaning the car up waste!

6. That's it. Buy a bus pass and enjoy public transit. :troll: Change your oils/fluids in the spring when ready to re-insure.

Some people prefer to throw the car on to jack stands or whatever to prevent flat spots. Ummm, yeah, no. It's 2013. That sort of thing isn't very common these days. This does not mean it won't happen, but the likelihood of it happening is rare these days and there are a lot of variables that contribute to how severe flatspotting can occur. If you want, take the wheels off and store them. I never did and never had a problem.

As for fuel stabilizer - the jury is out there on this one. I only ever filled the gas tank and let my cars/scooters/motorcycles sit until April. Even my 1978 Vespa 90 started up first kick and we're talking about a 34 year old Italian carburated pile of shit. If you have reason to believe your vehicle could use fuel stabilizer, go for it.

Again, take this as a general guideline. It worked for me but it may not work for you. Feel free to disagree with my shitty practices (or lack thereof.) Jokes aside, just drive the car. It's meant to be driven. :)

Edit: I forgot to mention that if your car is manual transmission, leave it in gear and do not use the e-brake. Use a wooden block to prevent the car from rolling back/forwards. Same applies to automagic transmissions.

Semi-related topic - if I cancel my car insurance due to winter storage do I have to return the plates at the time or is there some other state I can put my insurance into? (Car is stored on private property).

If you have active insurance on the vehicle and want to switch to a storage policy then yes, you have to surrender the plates. The vehicle must be storedr on any private property (i.e. friend's condo, parents' house, family friend's garage etc.) Make sure you declare the address as to where you are storing the car at the time of getting the storage policy or else you are screwed otherwise if something happens(i.e. registered at home but stored at friend's condo.)

Leave it on stands. Unless you have an extra set of shit wheels to park it on.

Flatspots happen, and they're annoying...until you do a good burnout. Rotate. repeat.

Deflate the tires. Bag. And store in a cool, dry, well ventilated place. Don't seal the bags. If you leave moisture in the bag, it will grow mold. Bag them to keep it away from light, but leave the bags open for ventilation.

Also. When leaving a car on stands for an extended period of time, stand it on the frame rails. Do not leave it on the pinch welds
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can i ask why you have to deflate? i've heard this before but never heard the reason why?

ditto on the flatspots. take the wheels off or get the car off the ground. last winter my friend did not do this and the brand new set of bridgestone re-11's he put on before storage flatspotted on him and the balance was never right when he put it back on the road. he ended up claiming for defective tires and had them replaced (i think it was discount tire).

Not sure. But all of the major tire companies recommend deflating to 50%.
Probably has something to do with oil evaporation and stress on the bead.
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Flatspotting is likely to happen on higher end/race tires with a specific compound i.e. RE-11s. Most all seasons or high performance all seasons are less likely to suffer from catastrophic flatspotting. Again, not to say that it won't happen, just not as severe.

ANY TIPS FOR STORING MY FIXIE?

thanks

To be honest I think all this wheels popping off is overkill, if you don't intend to leave it in storage for well over a year....

Sure you get a flatspot immediately after you get the car back on the road but that just goes away after you warm them up on a freeway drive or overinflate it a little bit and then drive until the rubber gets warm, it'll simply soften up and become round again.

The steel belt inside never permanently change shape, otherwise you should have thrown the tires away before storage.

Jackstand idea is alright but at the same time if you are meticulous about it the car is bent in a different way when it's loaded at the jack points rather than suspension....I deal with old ass cars all the time so I know how some cars' doors won't even shut with it loaded on jack points So YMMV on that.

When it's indoor there is no risk of moisture going into the engine through the exhaust pipes either so..... kind of meh.

Yes.

Throw it in the trash. :fullofwin:

hehe...

http://www.carsinbarns.com/mopars%20...71LIME6PKB.JPG
http://www.carsinbarns.com/mopars%20...71LIME6PKc.JPG

at least the tires look good! :thumbsup:

Yeah, that works too.

^that storage idea seems pretty safe until some little shit cuts the fence and pushes the wooden pole holding your car.

seems legit.

Well, every winter for the last 10 years I get the Mustang ready for storage:

- Fill gas tank, add stabilizer (Although a couple years I didn't bother with stabilizer and never noticed any problems at all in the spring)

- Change oil & filter. Old oil is acidic, and full of more contaminants (combustion by-products and all else) than unused fresh oil could ever pick up over the course of a storage season. I am of the opinion that old oil is WAY worse to have sit in your engine.

- Wash exterior, vacuum interior

- Disconnect battery. I never bothered to buy a tender, I just remember to throw the trickle charger on once a month or so over winter.

- Apply car cover

In all those years I've never bothered with jacking the car off the ground, and I've never had an issue with the tires.

And of course buy storage insurance, cheap piece of mind.

Ideally, one would support the car with the suspension compressed, either with hub stands or with jack stands under the suspension.

Here's what I've been doing for the past 5+ years alternating between 2 cars all year-round.

In no order:
1. Wash & Wax car + put on car cover
2. Fill up gas to full (Stopped putting in fuel stabilizer a few years ago)
3. Do NOT use handbrake
4. Blast A/C on max for 30 secs before turning off the car for storage
5. If not using jack stands, inflate tires + 25% (~40psi) and then roll your car forward or back every 3-4 months so that it is now in a different spot on your tires.
6. Charge the battery first before storage and then just unplug (-). Or just unplug 1st and then charge before taking out of storage. Both works.
7. Once out of storage is when I change the oil/filter regardless how little KM's I have driven since the last change