I'm noot sure if this is the right place to post this, but thought this would be most appropriate.

I want to store my GTA over the winter (MI uses lots of salt, salt=rust). I'm not concerned about driving in the snow, so much as preserving the car (it has no rust). I was wondering if there is anything I should do to help it last through the winter. I'll probably be parking it at a neighbors driveway or garage. Should I use some sort of gas stabilizer, run it for a while (how long and how often?), put a cover on it if outside? Also, what would anyone recommend for insurance?

Any help would be appreciated, I'm new to this whole winter car deal. I've always had cars I didn't car if they rusted or not.

 

definatly use garage, i cover it and garage it in the winter. also fill the fuel tank and put stabilizer in run it for a few min then disconect the battery. I also try to start it up for a bit evey couple weeks to let it run.

im sure others will add more.

 

Maybe it's a little overkill, but I store mine in the garage for the winter and I put it on jack stands. I then pull the wheels off. This prevents dry rot on the tires. I have never had a problem in almost 6 years of storage. My dad on the other hand had a van he stored in the winter and left the tires on and within 2 winters the tires needed replaced due to dry rot.

 

:nono: not a good idea. f-bodies dont have a full frame... remember?

 

Well, knock on wood, never had a problem yet. Maybe I will try something different with your suggestion. Thanks.

 

I not sure if I would do that and I will explain why.

If you have a heated garage I wouldn't start it at all if its just for the winter.

If you are going to start the car it needs to be completely heated up so you don't have moisture problems and that's hard to do in the winter. The oil doesn't get hot enough to boil the water out and your exhaust system if not fully heated up will end up with water sitting in the pipes.

I would have fresh oil and stabilized gas, battery ground unhooked and even then I would charge the battery ever couple of weeks or leave a trickle charger on it, Tent material car cover, plastic on the floor or carpet under the car if inside a garage and throw 4 opened toilet paper rolls in the interior foot wells and stuff newspaper in and around the engine compartment. The moisture will be absorbed into the paper. Throw some clean old towels over the seats. I would wax the car too if you can.

Moisture is your enemy.

My car has survived using these methods

Chet

 

hmmm never thought about the newspaper idea... i just might have to do that
i know what you are saying about the startup, however, when i mean let it run, i mean let it run for 10-20 min so it gets a chance to warm up and get everything curculating.

 

SMURFN' Z28,

I don't think even 20 minutes is enough to fully get it heated up unless its in a heated garage. I would go for 30 to 45 minutes at least.

I would go buy the water vapor coming out of the exhaust.

If there is even a hint of moisture at the end of the pipe its not hot enough. You shouldn't even be able to keep your hand on the end of the exhaust pipe.

Cold starting a car is worth or equal to about 500 miles of driving.

Also, I air the tires up to 50psi so they don't flat spot.

 

Thanks for the suggestions, I would never have thought of the toilet paper idea. If I can use my neighbor's garage, it's not heated, but it is attatched to the house, which will have the heat on, so it should definately stay above freezing. I'll have to see if i can grab 2 more jackstands from somewhere.

 

if you want a warped frame, by all means use those jackstands.

 

Would sub-frame connectors fix the problem of messing the frame up if u jack stand the car over the winter? Cause i wanna do that, but now that i heard it could damage the frame i'm a bit skeptic.

Get sub-frames and jack-stand it, plus the benefit of better frame integrity?

Or screw it and let the car rest on its tires all winter, no big deal?

 

No, Jacket needed.

Air the tires up to 50 PSI and if you feel the need every other week rotate the tires 1/4 turn or move the car back in forth in the garage space that you have.

Your tires will be fine.

I have been going for 16 1/2 jackless years in the storage periods.

Chet

 

Wow 16 plus years, hey i cant ignore that. Aint 50 psi pushin it, i dont know, i should check my max psi on my tires. I have Goodyear GS-C tires. What if i just left my tires at current psi and still rotate them? Not good?

What i'll do is just mark all my tires with a little white mark on them, and every week i'll rotate them 1/4 like u said.

Now i'll have to explain to my dad why i cant jack stand it, since hes been telling me about all summer, oh well.

 

If you're going to store your car over the winter you SHOULD use jackstands. I've had my car stored on jackstands for nearly ten years with no problems. There is basically no chance of damaging your frame. You put your frame under more stress during daily driving than you do by putting it on stands. In fact I don't know of anybody who has damaged their car by storing it on stands but I do know a few people who have damaged their car by not using them. In fact, both my front springs broke the first season I stored it without jackstands. Also, depending on where you store the car you have to worry about mice getting into it. Putting the car on jackstands will help keep them out.

 

Ugh... is this jackstands thing seriously much of a problem...?

I planned on putting my Firebird in the garage through winter, putting it on stands, taking the wheels off, and doing bodywork as my winter project. (This is my first winter while having the 'bird) .

 

Just curious, where under the car are you putting the jackstands? I was thinking that the rear ones should be put under the axle, where should the fronts go, under the front suspension? maybe the antiroll bar?

 

Ok what if i were to put 8 jack stands under the car, to fully support its entire frame. 2 in the front 2 in the back, and 4 in the middle area. I mean it would be basically resting its entire body. Anyways i just find it hard to believe that these frames would be so weak that they would bend and mess up cause of jack stand, i mean GM couldnt be that stupid.

 

Four jackstands are plenty. Just use two on the front subframe and two on the rear. The subframe are plenty strong to support the car with no problems. I place my jackstands on the front subframe along side the transmission and on the rear subframe just to the inside of the lower control arm. I've always stored my car that way with no problems. Just about anytime you see somebody do a story on winter storage they always recommend putting the car on stands. As long as you place the stands on a strong section of the subframe it is very unlikely you will do any damage.

 

Wow, I'm glad someone else does this. I do not claim to know much about anything on these boards, but I kinda felt I wasn't doing anything wrong by using the stands. I also agree that daily driving should be harder on the frame than simply raising it up for a few months. On top of that, mine is a vert and it realing takes a beating in daily driving. So up it will go next month just like the last 6 years until March. BTW, I have now gotten almost 8 years out of my tires because of this. They do only have roughly 1000 miles on them because the car doesn't get driven much but these tires would have failed long ago just sitting on the ground. As a matter of fact, I feel safer raising the car than I do overinflating the tires. But, too each their own, and whatever works for them.

 

The only things i have done this year is : Parked it in a garage, Put a cover over the car. I use to start the car at least once a month and let it run for about 15-20 minutes . Well thats all and it works fine over here.

 

jackstands huh............ :sillylol:

unless your doing work or something of that nature your just adding more hassle to something that isn't necessary.

do you see cars in a museum on jackstands......

mostly the reason shows or magazines will tell you that is in theory it will put less stress on "some" of your suspension parts like your springs and shocks...this is all theoretical and critical to each individual case. one thing is for sure though most cars if not all of them are not meant to be supported in such a way for real extended periods of time. by all means you guys should do whatever you like; but some things are just plain silly.

just use common sense and you'll be ok.....

remember cold kills batteries, harsh weather causes rust and paint fade among many other things, and bad gas will gum up your fuel system...........there are many others but just taking care of these few will put you on the right track.

 

My car is going to be sitting out side with a water resisent (spelling???) car cover on it under a portable garage with Plywood under the car to help keep moisture away from then underside.

 

Krazzycowgirl,

Plywood under the car? Is it laying on the ground?

If water can get under the portable garage wouldn't the plywood be like a sponge and hold the water.

I can't picture what your doing.

Chet

 

we have been doing it for use no damage to the cars

 

I just want to put mine on jackstands because I'm going to be working on it and doing bodywork and such, and I just wanna get the wheels outta the way.

 

If storing a car in an unheated garage thru the winter, I would advise leaving a low wattage light bulb on at all times.
I did this for a number of years and I believe this reduced the moisture in my garage significantly.
My garage was brick and attached to the house. I didn't do this until another car nut advised me of his trick.

I'm not asking for a debate on "wasting electricity", just offering a suggestion.

PS... I agree that plywood under the car parked in a car-port (or similar) is a bad idea. It will retain water/moisture. You cannot SEE the damage moisture does until its too late. Better in that case to put it higher up on jack stands to prevent miosture/puddling beneath.


Pacer...

 

a low wattage lightbulb??? that's definately one i haven't heard in a long time....

what do you suppose happens if you don't use one?



come on guys, if these or any other cars were this easy to fall apart there wouldn't be any today.

you might as well buy one of those bubbles to park your car in....

 

I plan to store my car in my one bay shop, on the ground because I have to periodically use the shop. When I move it out, it will be under the attached car port and it will always be under a cover. I think airing up the tires sounds like a good idea in this case, using common sense. I use a fuel stabilizer and some kind of moisture control sounds like a good idea. One more thing that a friend suggested years ago: If you're worried about mice, put a few mothballs under the hood and in the trunk and the interior. They can't stand the smell. May want to wrap them in a rag to avoid any staining. Just my ideas, do what works for you...

 

I think alot of you have fallen prey to myths and old wives tales. My car has been stored more than it's been driven. It was stored in an unheated garage and was done incorrectly for many years and it still survived.

When I store the car, I change the oil first, top off all fluids, then I put fuel stabilizer in, then I fill 'er up. I then drive about 5 miles to get the stabil in the fuel lines and into the system. The car goes in the garage, with the same air pressure in the tires it's driven with. The battery is completely removed and stored on a shelf. The car is covered with a good cover and the exhaust pipes are covered with plastic bags. DO NOT PUT PLASTIC UNDER THE CAR! When the warmer climates start creaping in again, the concrete will be cold and produces a lot of moisture/condensation in the air. The moisture from the air will not be able to be absorbed into the concrete and will build up on top of the plastic. I have a 3 car garage and put plastic under my old 69 Z one year. The dewpoint was very high in the garage, but the only standing moisture was on top of the plastic (under the car). The concrete was bone dry under it which tells me the moisture doesn't come from under the concrete. It's in the air. You can put dessicant, kitty litter or any other moisture absorbing substance in the car to eliminate the moisture there. If you get flat spots after 5 months of storage, then you have crappy tires. Flat spots usually happen after extended storage periods of years, not months. Putting carpet under the car again is not a good thing. It will take longer for the moisture to evaporate from the carpet than it will from the concrete. Starting the car isn't necessary during the short storage period. It could cause problems if the moisture doesn't get burned off completely. It's better left alone. As for the jack stands, they do nothing for the car except take the weight off the tires. They can be a bad thing if you jack the car by the body and let the suspension hang. You will destroy the suspension if it hangs too long. It's better to leave the weight on them. I too overanalyzed storing a few years ago and found it to be a very simple task. My car was stored in Minnesota, by the way, where temps could easily dip to -20 degrees ambient temp.

 

I would definitely worry about moisture condensing under the car cover if it does not allow air circulation. Keeping it outside in the cold is good. Garages don't get as cold as the outdoors so there can be moisture in liquid form instead of solid ice and this can cause rusting.

I've also heard of something called a "fogging spray" (I think) which is sprayed into the intake to protect against moisture corrosion there during extended storage.

 

I do keep a ceiling fan going in the garage on slow speed.

I mounted it in 1985 and except for when the electricity goes out or when I reverse the fan it has been running for all these years to keep the air moving.

It has a lot more spins on it than the Z/28.

Chet