I know winter is kinda far off, but iam going to be ordering my car cover relatively soon and anything else if i need it, in order to properly store my car for the winter. The biggest problem is that it looks like the car will be outside for the winter. It can either be stored on like a part of our lawn right next to our house (which is basically dirt/grass), or on the driveway where my dads pickup sits right now. So question #1 would be:
-Does it matter if it sits on the dirt/grass or the blacktop?

Now the car cover that im going to be getting is california car covers STORMWEAVE cover (www.calcarcover.com). I am wondering whether the car should be detailed before it gets put under the cover or if i should just kinda let the wax come over and leave it kinda raw for when it gets put under the cover? Somehow the wax that was put on it in May is still on the car, so im guessin the wax i use lasts pretty long (Meguiars Gold Class).

Any other tips for outside winter storage would be greatly appricaited.

 

keep it off of the grass, as it will be more suspectable to mice and other varmints and secure the cover pretty good, and you shouldnt have to wax it since it will not be exposed to the elements, just the cold... oh and disconect the postive battery cable.

 

what about gas? should he leave a lot in or very little? just wondering...

 

Yea im gona put some Stabil in the gas tank...but i forgot whether i was supposed to run it down, or have it full...my dad told me but since then i've forgotten. His truck actually sits more than my car (its a 2004 silverado and has 600 miles on it--got in december 03)...so hes had stabil in it the gas tank for awhile now.

 

fill the tank.

 

why fill the tank?

 

ah who cares...


Anyway, what is everyones thought on waxing before putting it away. I would think that it couldnt hurt...but then again i dont know.

Also, if for some reason my dad wont give up the spot where his silverado is, would it better to like lay down some wood on the grass/dirt and park my car on that as opposed to simply parking it on the dirt and grass??

 

wood wouldn't hurt. maybe lay down a tarp on the grass too and somehow seal the car in the tarp and car cover. Kind of a far-fetched idea though.

 

depends on how muddy the area is where you are parking it. You might the sinking effect and wood would help.

 

You fill the gas tank and add Stabil, make sure to start and run the car so as to get the Stabil through the entire fuel system. The filling of the tank keeps condensation from developing on the inside. As for storing on the lawn, go get yourself a sheet or 2 of treated plywood to park on and then cover it, will be good to go, and oh by the way, over inflate your tires by about 5-10lbs to keep from flat spotting the tires.

 

I would put it on jackstands to take the load off of the suspension.

 

Yea i'd put it on plywood for sure, really are you planning on letting it sit the enitre duration or what, in colorado we can have 4" of snow one say and 3 days later its 70* and dry so i drive mine occasionally when the weathers nice, i try to keep a full tank in it to keep any condensation to a minimum, If i know i'm not going to drive it i deflate the tires a bit but try to start it and let it run for 5-10 minutes once a week just to keep everything moving....

You might consider looking into a self storage "mini storage" place, that where i store mine and my dad stores his 2 show cars year round since we dont have anymore room at the house for the show cars to be inside, we got 10x20's for 100 bucks a piece..a month which really for a few months it wouldnt be too bad, we store ours year round and take em out for shows or whatever so its no biggie.....Just make sure you find a good place that every spot is secured seprately, the place we our at in teh 8 years in business has never had a police report filed there and aurora police actually store they're d.a.r.e. race car 70 nova, a few spots down from ours, stay away from 24 hour acces places....

MIght wanna look into it i think it be worth it to keep everything in great shape and you dont have to deal with a cover or too much dust.

 

Well i mean if there was a big stretch of nice weather id take my car out...but my main concern is the road salt. Even when its done snowing theres still gona be road salt down. So i mean yea it might get driven once or twice throughout the winter...but probably not any more. Also while id love to keep my car inside, $100 a month is probably too much for me (being in HS and what not).

 

btw, the car cover you purchased is really good quality. I had one for my 91 celica and it really held up. So self storage places allow you to store cars there? cool....i didnt know if they had spaces big enough. 100 a month is a bit steep though.

where should you put the jackstands?

 

It really would be to your advantage to keep it inside. Maybe you have a buddy with an extra garage space? Maybe a local farmer has some space in a barn? Anything would be better than outside.

 

In my case i figured i spent like 6k total into paint and body so why test it when it can be inside the entire time, THat and i didnt want the wet heavy colorado snow, nice and heavy sitting on the hood sine i refuse to use a snow brush on it lol, All the storage places around here were cool with it, but like i said make sure you find a good one!!!!! I got a 10x20 units for all 3 cars and there is plenty of room to open to get in and out of and getting around the car to detail it.

 

still a great idea to wax to protect the paint from the cover itself. also good idea to completely remove the battery from the car. cold will kill it. inflate the tires properly and use stabil in the gas. other then that leave it alone.

 

i leave mine full. if it isn't that's room for condensation which causes moisture/water which ruins gas, causes corrosion and generally isn't good.

 

tighten your gas cap......? lol, i dont know if that will really make a difference

 

run your car before storage but unless you plan to drive it over 30 min do not start it up in the winter. brief 5-10 min runs in the winter is bad for the car. the treated plywood is good but i wouldn't worry about the pressure. so long as your tires are in good condition or if you don't care. keep them at the recommened pressure. if you aren't using rollers for storage this will be fine. todays tires won't flat spot in one winters period. unless they are a no name brand that you bought at a flea market from a guy who knew a guy.

 

yes, air can mix and cause the above i mentioned. one of the reasons you are adding stabil in the first place, that and all the additives in gas these days help to keep it from gelling but in a month or two at most you'll be sorry if you didn't.

 

bad idea... unless your doing an extensive year storage in which case there are other things that are needed. doing so will put un needed stress on the body causing issues down the road. leave the car on the ground.

 

the reason this is a bad idea is the fact that a drivetrain doesn't fully warm up in this short time. your temperature guage may say so but then it can also cause more harm then good. warming the car up will bring condensation to areas that aren't wanted like the exhaust for example. such things creep up on the car and cause internal problems. you won't necessarily ruin anything but it certainly doesn't help it.

if your car is in a condition you consider nice enough for storage and you can afford so just shop around. many places will give package deals for such things. here in michigan it isn't uncommon to find winter storage for a car, heated as well for around $250 a season.

 

250 each month? how many months?

 

He said "a season" you know, as in per season, as in it costs $250 for the whole season. Thats dirt cheap. I've seen prices in my area, which is amacks area at around $100 a month, unheated. Maybe you can negotiate with them. I don't know.

 

it all depends where you live and what the places are like i suppose. i've seen it as high as 250 a month un heated as well. the point is shop around.

 

www.enginewise.co.uk

Lots of storage and anti- corrosion info!

 

One thing is leave it covered if it has a huge snow build up on it. Don't try to brush it off or anything. I saw one guy do this to his boat, which had automotive paint and he scratched the crap outta it. Mine just spent its first year ever outside covered, and it faired perfectly. I opt to just totally remove my battery, fill the tank with stabil and supreme, run it around the block, then park her

 

I may have to keep my baby outside too.. will gravel hurt anything?

 

only if you throw it at the car..

 

lmao, not planning on doing that one, but thanx for the heads up

its just i've heard ppl claim that cement will cause moisture to collect on the car and any spots that arent good will rust.... I guess now that i really think about it, it kinds sound rediculous..

 

i guess those people better keep their horse and buggy off the streets and stay on the dirt road, or maybe i should put a 6" lift on my car to keep it far away from the cement to prevent it from rusting.

 

moisture causes rust obviously yes. you can't protect metal from it unless you vacuum plate it and never let air expose itself to it. all you can do is try your best. if your car is in decent shape the above will be fine. if it's already rusted then i doubt your worrying about it reading this. just use your head, don't go over board but use common sense. take a few steps to protect your investment and all will be well.

 

I may have missed it but Ive always been told to put a few mothballs under the hood to help keep mice out. Ive also been told to get a couple containers of baking soda and set inside the car to keep the moisture down inside. I do those plus Ill cover it up and remove the battery and thats how she sits all winter.. ohh and I put the fuel stablalizer in it with at least 3/4 tank.

 

By the time I put my car away, the mice have all already found places. I didn't have a problem with my car, and have stored my boat outside for years and never had a mouse problem. Thats actually why I would stay away from barns

 

I didn't read this whole thread but you DO NOT want to start your car once a week. That does nothing other than expose your engine to numerous "low oiling" start ups. After time the oil settles into the bottom of the pan. Starting it periodically is like starting parts of your motor without oil. You only want to do this once and that is when it is spring time.

Also, bounce dryer sheets are lab proven to keep rodents away. I had a mouse problem one winter and using bounce has kept them out for the last 4+ years.

 

AMack... check out this thread about how to best perserve your car over the winter.

 

yes he has a nice car... i like to play with mine too much in the winter or i'd have one too.

 

Maybe i should have been clearer earlier, on my once a weeks startups its also usually around the block, which is about a 2 miles or so we have never had any issues with anything caused by improper storage or startups in the past, so i stick with what works

 

how many sheets? U put them in the interior right

 

Don't store the car on jackstands, the suspension is meant to be loaded, so leave it as is.

 

I stored mine in the garage over the winter but I basically did everything in this post.

Wash and wax car. If it's outside like you said, cover it. (mine was left uncovered) Overinflate tires. I didn't use dryer sheets or mothballs, but I did use some of the moisture absorber stuff. They are little pellets that disolve into liquid. Fill Tank up and use Sta-Bil. Don't start the car up ever during storage, only start it up when you plan to bring it out of storage, you might also consider fogging the cylinders. This will keep a layer of oil on the cylinder walls to prevent surface rust. Now I'm not real sure how much a concern this is. I dind't do it to mine when I stored it, only because I didn't know it was reccomended. I will do it this winter though. Remove battery and do not store it on concrete. This will cause it to lose it's charge. I have always been told to store it on a piece of wood. You also might want to change the oil before you store the car. Also change the oil shortly after you bring the car out of storage. Check your antifreeze and make sure it's still good for the winter. This is pretty much all I can think of, and has been stated by alot of the other members.

 

it isn't so much that it's the end of the world but unless your in some really warm state typically winter conditions are harsh weather and temperature wise. such is the fact that it also takes motors roughly 30 min or more to fully warm up. it's your car, you should do what works for you. just know as much as you feel you aren't hurting it, you won't hurt the car to let it sit either.