Storing the car for the winter

[73MachI]

I never remove my battery, just put it on a battery tender once every week. Start it until it gets up to temp for 15-20 minutes every now and then and make sure to move it forward or backwards about a feet or so in order not to get flat spots on your tires.
I fill it up with Stabil and don't even use half tank for winter period.

Hey mate

IIRC manufacturer instructions on the Pirellis are to not move the car in cold temps until the tires warm up (this presumes an unheated garage). Moving cold summer tires weighted by the car can apparently cause the stiff summer compound to crack.

Inflate the tires to the maximum allowable pressure.

Also - have some caution what you are parking the car on. If it's on unfinished concrete, like my situation (my attached but unheated garage), I bought some rubber foam floor tiles from Canadian Tire. This prevents the rubber tires from sitting on moisture all winter.

And add in some gas stabilizer to a full tank of gas.

And put a battery tender on it. (Or start it up periodically as per the Owner's Manual.)

All that said, there are many differing opinions on the web (and in this forum) about this stuff... I lean towards the Owner's Manual etc.

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[73MachI]

Except my storage unit has no outlets for a battery tender

I think that you are safe running it periodically, as per the Owner's Manual.

 

[whysoblu]

Do you recommend putting plastic down under it to prevent moisture from coming up underneath It? I'm in Texas, any suggestions? I used to do that in OH


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[Bryce5.0]

I heard using house insulation under the car helps

 

[73MachI]

Do you recommend putting plastic down under it to prevent moisture from coming up underneath It? I'm in Texas, any suggestions? I used to do that in OH


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That's exactly what I was going to do until I read the suggestion here to simply use a couple of floor foam panels under each tire.

Not sure if entirely sheeting the garage floor would be overkill in comparison. My garage floor does soak up and release a lot of moisture I have noticed.

 

[whysoblu]

Yeah that's what I mean. You want that moisture or frost proof plastic under the whole car to avoid that underneath Your vehicle. That's what I always did up in Ohio


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[Braski]

Thank you for the articles.

I'm honestly not sold. I can't fathom how sitting in oil with 25% of it's lifespan used is more damaging than driving 50 miles a day in that oil, and then sitting in it for 23 more hours a few days per week.

Basically my rationale is this. If I had conventional oil being changed on a 3000/6month rotation and it had been in the car for 2000 and 2 months I can agree with the recommendation. But when we have oils rated for 5+ times that today I think that justification is invalid. If we argue that todays synthetics have has the same amount of contaminants in at 2000 miles (even though it's only a fraction of their lifespan) then it would be as equally not wise to drive any farther than 3000 miles on said oil.

Again, not trying to be a d***. I just can't follow how this makes any sense if the oil would have been fine to DRIVE with all winter.

Yes/no?

I agree with you, if you just changed the oil in the last 1-2k miles. With that said, I wouldn't want my car to sit for 5 months in oil that has all but 5,000 miles on it.

 

[IOEggception]

I literally just parked in a garage and walk away... Now i'm thinking I should go back and unplug the battery. I left the tank pretty low too, but now i'm wondering if that was a bad decision too...

I'm pretty inexperienced with car maintenance aside from the basics, but whats the harm in just jumping the battery when I go to pick it up (if its even needed)? Should I be worried about my fuel being intentionally low (under 1/4 full).
Flat spots on tires should ride out over a few miles too, yeah?

Having no experience and coming into this new, i feel like most these things are just a peace of mind action - is there anything that is like "no, if you don't do this, your screwing your really really ridiculously good looking car"?

 

[montreal ponies]

Hey mate

IIRC manufacturer instructions on the Pirellis are to not move the car in cold temps until the tires warm up (this presumes an unheated garage). Moving cold summer tires weighted by the car can apparently cause the stiff summer compound to crack.

Inflate the tires to the maximum allowable pressure.

Also - have some caution what you are parking the car on. If it's on unfinished concrete, like my situation (my attached but unheated garage), I bought some rubber foam floor tiles from Canadian Tire. This prevents the rubber tires from sitting on moisture all winter.

And add in some gas stabilizer to a full tank of gas.

And put a battery tender on it. (Or start it up periodically as per the Owner's Manual.)

All that said, there are many differing opinions on the web (and in this forum) about this stuff... I lean towards the Owner's Manual etc.

My garage is heated to about 75 degrees all winter long so no worries with having cold tires.
I also make sure to inflate tires to 36p psi.
To help with air circulation underneath the car i use a little blower heater and use the lowest setting and set it close to the car on the ground.

 

[montreal ponies]

I literally just parked in a garage and walk away... Now i'm thinking I should go back and unplug the battery. I left the tank pretty low too, but now i'm wondering if that was a bad decision too...

I'm pretty inexperienced with car maintenance aside from the basics, but whats the harm in just jumping the battery when I go to pick it up (if its even needed)? Should I be worried about my fuel being intentionally low (under 1/4 full).
Flat spots on tires should ride out over a few miles too, yeah?

Having no experience and coming into this new, i feel like most these things are just a peace of mind action - is there anything that is like "no, if you don't do this, your screwing your really really ridiculously good looking car"?

Is your garage heated ? Will you be driving the car this winter ?

 

[Tamadrummer88]

The thought of storing a car kills me. Meanwhile I'm paying this expensive payment just for my car to sit in a garage for 5 months out of the year, all because some people are afraid of salt and snow? This is 2015, not 1940, I would expect these cars to hold up to just about anything. And if they don't, well, I guess Ford didn't do such a good job.

As long as I'm paying that payment, its on the road.

 

[73MachI]

The thought of storing a car kills me. Meanwhile I'm paying this expensive payment just for my car to sit in a garage for 5 months out of the year, all because some people are afraid of salt and snow? This is 2015, not 1940, I would expect these cars to hold up to just about anything. And if they don't, well, I guess Ford didn't do such a good job.

As long as I'm paying that payment, its on the road.

Driving a vehicle through a severe winter where salt and sand is used just trashes a car. Everything from the paint finish to the carpets get sandblasted and grinded with salt, sand, and moisture - alternating between wet and cold, and freezing. It's a terrible mess. Roads become treacherous, and collisions increase. You can maintain your car through this if you take painstaking attention to it, but it still takes a toll on the car. So, yeah, the car will survive. But it's easier to run a winter beater through the season when you don't care about the abuse it takes, and keep the 'Stang pristine for the track through spring, summer, and fall. Strokes, folks. Happy festivus!

$0.02

 

[Chameleon]

The thought of storing a car kills me. Meanwhile I'm paying this expensive payment just for my car to sit in a garage for 5 months out of the year, all because some people are afraid of salt and snow? This is 2015, not 1940, I would expect these cars to hold up to just about anything. And if they don't, well, I guess Ford didn't do such a good job.

As long as I'm paying that payment, its on the road.

Same here. +1.

 

[CliffClavin]

The thought of storing a car kills me. Meanwhile I'm paying this expensive payment just for my car to sit in a garage for 5 months out of the year, all because some people are afraid of salt and snow? This is 2015, not 1940, I would expect these cars to hold up to just about anything. And if they don't, well, I guess Ford didn't do such a good job.

As long as I'm paying that payment, its on the road.

I hear you and I agree, but I'd also like to point out your location :lol:

Location: Santa Monica, CA

 

[whysoblu]

The thought of storing a car kills me. Meanwhile I'm paying this expensive payment just for my car to sit in a garage for 5 months out of the year, all because some people are afraid of salt and snow? This is 2015, not 1940, I would expect these cars to hold up to just about anything. And if they don't, well, I guess Ford didn't do such a good job.

As long as I'm paying that payment, its on the road.

You obviously have no idea what you're talking about. If you lived the past 37 years like I did in Cleveland, OH, you would know that it doesn't matter what kind of car brand you have...salt destroys. There's no way my 2006 would still be around (and pristine) if I drove it daily throughout the winter the 8 years I had it up there.


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