As I'm getting ready to put my Cutlass away for the winter I was speaking to the guys I work with and I happened to mention that I put my car up on stands while she is stored. They all looked at my like I was crazy. Did I miss a memo or something? It has always been my understanding that if you plan on not driving a car for a few months, you should put it up on stands to prevent damage to the tires. Has that info been debunked? I understand that new radial tires are a lot more robust than the old bias ply, but just like people, wont they also get damaged from long periods of inactivity?

 

I found that out very true. Just before winter storage, I bought 4 brand new Cooper Cobra tires. I never put my car on stands. Spring time came, I took the car for a drive and the next thing I know, the car rode like it had a square tire. Sure enough, my front left tire was warped. I had to buy another Cooper and the following winter I placed my car on stands.

 

Frankly, I never bother and I've not had any problems with tire flat spotting. If you DO chose to put the car on stands, place the stands under the suspension so the weight of the car is on the suspension. If the stands are under the frame and the suspension is hanging, the rubber bushings will be unnaturally loaded.

 

I think I would over inflate the tires if not on stands.

 

One point may be worth considering;
If you need to move the car in a hurry, e.g fire or flood, you have a problem if it is on stands.
I leave my car on its tires over winter, but with fresh engine oil and a full fuel tank, and the battery is disconnected.

Roger.

 

I was going to say the same thing.

 

I did that on a brand new over inflated Cooper Cobras to 45 psi and it still warped on me.

 

That's why God created Auto insurance. I love my car, but not that much.

 

I slightly over-inflate my tires and store the cars on their tires. Yes, come spring they've flat-spotted. But it doesn't take too many miles before they're good as new. Almost.

Most street tires don't seem to flat-spot too bad. But some of the high-performance tires with a softer compound and/or nylon belting are worse.

 

You would have thought it would affect all 4, all things equal.
I would do min of 60 PSI, depending on tire type and size.
But if you will sleep better, put it on stands keeping weight on the suspension.

 

I have never had a problem by not raising the vehicle, and several have set for over a continuous 6 month period... Although, on occasion, I do start and move them around a little...

 

Stands!

 

I put in 40lbs and haven't had an issue yet.

 

I overinflate and have had no issues, but I think if. I Stored on a surface that gets below freezing or if outside I would store on wood blocks under the wheels to prevent any issues

 

I worked at car dealerships for many years and some cars tend to stay on the lot for long periods of time. Tires do at times get flat spots from sitting. I would put it on stands as Joe stated, supported by the front lower control arms and the rear end.

 

I wouldn't store my car on stands. Don't really understand why you would want to do that for season or even two.

Looong time storage, maybe, big maybe. I'm talking decades and under reconstruction.

I want my car as mobile as it can be for all the reasons mentioned.

Its not like we live in the valley of kings and we have to mummify everything.

 

I store my cars like this. No stress on the tires, suspension, or anything.

 

A long-time Olds collector in Ohio I know has always stored his cars on stands raised just enough so the tires contact the ground and no more. These cars are all on stands.

 

I want his garage!

 

What Jaunty said. I was taught you take the weight off the tire, but keep it in contact with the floor. Battery, on the other hand .. out of the car and sitting on wood. Never in direct contact with the concrete.

 

The battery thing is an old wives tale. The thought used to be that the battery cases were made of rubber and the battery acid may seep out and create a conductive path on a damp concrete floor. Kinda like my grandmother who felt that any outlet without a plug in it would leak electricity into the atmosphere.

 

Chip, is the winter weather in your area bad enough that you have to totally mothball the car for 4-5 months? Best way to store a car is to keep it running and moving IMO. Use a Battery Tender, start it regularly and warm it fully, drive it if possible. If its not possible to drive at least move it up and down the driveway to exercise the transmission and rotate the tires, or even raise the rear wheels and run it in place. I used to do this in Illinois where the weather was really bad some years but there was still enough breaks that you could keep the car moving.

 

So you would rather replace the entire car than 4 relatively cheap tires.

Ive never raised my car during winter storage.

 

Have never raised my cars for winter storage,have never had problems with tires or batteries.

I really don't store my cars though. I park them in their normal spot in the garage and they stay ready to drive.I don't have a heated garage but it is attached and at it's coldest gets down to around 15 degrees.

I don't care what time of year it is,if the roads are dry in December thru March,I will take them out for drives.

 

Another reason I like living in the south. Can drive cars all year round.

 

Some of the best rides are on New Year's Day with the top down and the heat blowing and your fav babe beside you!

 

Nah, at my age its all about the car...

 

I store my car on stands about a foot and a half in the air. If your storage isn't heated place as thick plastic sheet down and cut it about 2 feet wider than the car. This will keep the moisture from forming on the undercarriage during the spring. Leave the car alone don't start it in storage and yes batteries will not drain when stored on concrete with the new cases. But do put a maintainer on the battery.

 

Another good reason I live in Arizona, year round driving, top up or down are about the only decisions to make....

 

I was referring to his comment about needing to move the car quickly if there was a fire or flooding.

 

TK-65 was referring to the post that suggested stands and insurance instead of flat-spotting the tires.

Frankly, I've never heard of a tire "warping" - I'm kind of struggling with what that even means. I DO know that tires can flat spot during storage. Typically a few miles of driving fixes this. If the belts in the tire separated due to this flat spotting, those tires were bad anyway and you should be thankful that you found that due to storage and not on the freeway at 60 mph.

I'll also point out that "flooding" will typically give you plenty of warning. If you're worried about a flash flood, you won't have time to move the car anyway. Same thing with fire. If you're worried about a wildfire, you'll have warning. If it's a fire in the house, saving the car wouldn't be my first (or second, or third) concern.

 

Yeah. The weather here gets nasty enough to store my Olds. I'm sure that we don't get the snow like you get in Illinois. But we tend to get lots of sleet, ice and the occasional snow storm. To top it all off they tend to liberally apply salt everywhere at the mere mention of snow or ice.


So, I tend to give my Cutlass a kiss (figuratively) and place her in a storage unit around mid-November and bring her out again to play around mid-March. When I put her into storage, I always...
1. put a bottle of sta-bil into the gas tank with a fill up and let her run for a few minutes.
2. put her up on stands so that the tires are just grazing the floor.
3. pull the battery
4. put dryer sheets inside the car to repel rodents.
5. put the car cover on, lock the door and then start counting the days until spring while I collect parts to install.

 

I do not have a garage. That is the #1 reason why she goes into storage in the winter.

 

Common sense should tell you that if a battery could discharge to a non-conductive concrete floor, it would be even MORE likely to discharge to the METAL battery tray in the car.

 

Just driving through the rain to the Ace Cafe in London for the "Hangover Meet", One of the few days the roads around the Capital won't be crawling with congestion.
And bragging rights about who went to the first show this year.......

Roger.

 

Isn't that "driving through the rain" all the time in London?

 

And here in Sunny Adelaide , the car is dormant for maybe 4 to 8 weeks!

 

Not really. 24" average annual precipitation, much less than most major Texas cities, or New York, Detroit, or much of North America outside the south west.
However we tend to get ours in frequent, but small, doses, 110 days per year will have more then 0.1mm of rain, a bit less than one day in three.

Roger.