Laying the car up for winter

[Rockape]

Thinking about the coming winter period. Not much opportunity to drive the car, salt on the roads etc. 

I am thinking i could jack the car up and lower the chassis onto some large wooden blocks to take the weight off the wheels. Does anyone else do this? 
 

cheers

[cliff.b]

40 minutes ago, Rockape said:

Thinking about the coming winter period. Not much opportunity to drive the car, salt on the roads etc. 

I am thinking i could jack the car up and lower the chassis onto some large wooden blocks to take the weight off the wheels. Does anyone else do this? 
 

cheers

Nope, never went more than 2 weeks without the opportunity to drive mine with the hood down last Winter.

Hopefully the same this year 🤞

[dougbgt6]

Mines probably not moving till March, I don't jack it up, just check the anti freeze and put the trickle charger on, although in these dire financial times I may just disconnect the battery!

Doug

[Pete Lewis]

to Add   just inflate the tyres to 40psi for during storage 

a squirt of eng oil on anything that moves   door latches  , throttle links door hinges  etc 

fill trunnions with ep90 

start the car every month to turn thing over and warm a bit and stops clutch sticking to flywheel 

press all the pedals monthly 

leave the handbrake OFF  

Pete

[Colin Lindsay]

I just roll mine back and forth along the floor, maybe just two or three feet, every week or so to keep the area of the tyres on the ground constantly changing and avoiding flat spots. Park in gear and handbrake off as Pete says.

One other tip I heard years ago was to cover the screen with a sheet of clingfilm, then put the wipers down on that - stops the rubber sticking to the screen or the glass being damaged by dirt.

[Chris A]

I park mine in neutral with a block against the wheels, and a note inside the car to remind me of the fact (not that I would try and drive off with the block there of course). Handbrake off, if I remember I put a bit more air in the tyres but I rarely do as I try to drive it occasionally. Rechargeable dehumidifiers on the dash ( make me feel I'm helping even if they don't), leave windows open a little. Car is parked outside with a cover plus straps between it and the car to keep an air gap. Remove cover on dry sunny days. Charge the battery from time to time, hardly seems to need it but it keeps it full for when I do take it out.

The weather is so warm at present that I used it yesterday to do some shopping, roof down of course, it was SUPERB, hope to use it again next week - will need some of that liquid gold in the tank though.

[Unkel Kunkel]

I know it seems traditional to  “ Take the weight off the wheels” but is it really necessary?

Sounds like something from the 1911 AutoCar handbook for something for the chauffeur to do in   your  “ Motor House” for the winter.

How many folk  really do this?

Presumably to avoid  “flat spot”s on the tyres ?

Any other reason ?

How much of a concern is this -won’t this just revert after travelling a short distance  as the tyres warm -and would’t this tendency be adequately addressed by inflating the  tyres an extra 10 psi ?

[johny]

on motorbikes the concrete is supposed to draw out 'oils' so leaving the tyre drier and less sticky (very important) and its true that both my Triumph and bike leave black marks so something is happening....

[Colin Lindsay]

41 minutes ago, johny said:

on motorbikes the concrete is supposed to draw out 'oils' so leaving the tyre drier and less sticky (very important) and its true that both my Triumph and bike leave black marks so something is happening....

I don't park any of mine on bare concrete any more; the way I heard it was that the acid in the concrete eats the rubber. I have old bits of carpet on one side of the garage and long strips of old wooden floor on the other, and the cars sit on those.

[Firefly]

49 minutes ago, Colin Lindsay said:

I don't park any of mine on bare concrete any more; the way I heard it was that the acid in the concrete eats the rubber. I have old bits of carpet on one side of the garage and long strips of old wooden floor on the other, and the cars sit on those.

   Oh no not another one.   I`ve been parking my cars in the same garage with a bare concreate floor for over 35 years, some times for 4/5 months without moving. Have never seen any evidence of any detriment to tyres or concreate.

49 minutes ago, Colin Lindsay said:

Triumph and bike leave black marks so something is happening....

                     Too much `loud` pedal......

[dougbgt6]

Just read this on a tyre site:

The chemical composition of the concrete surface would in no way react with the rubber chemistry of the tire. Raising the tires on the surface of the concrete will merely be to protect the rubber from contact with damp or contaminated surfaces.

The more important aspect of tire storage is to keep them out of strong light as this may cause ultra-violet light damage to the rubber. Exposure to ozone will also cause the rubber to oxidize and become hard and brittle.

Doug

[NonMember]

2 hours ago, Unkel Kunkel said:

How much of a concern is this -won’t this just revert after travelling a short distance  as the tyres warm -and would’t this tendency be adequately addressed by inflating the  tyres an extra 10 psi ?

It depends how long it's parked for. I've certainly had tyres that acquired a very definite and quite persistent "flat spot" after being parked for longer than I'd intended. However, the extra 10psi does significantly reduce the effect (which mostly happens if the tyre is allowed to go flat, or at least soft).

[Pete Lewis]

On 27/10/2022 at 17:10, Chris A said:

with the block there of

now that reminds me of geometry checks on the Commer PB vans  had to load them with many 56lb blocks to set the suspension on static ride height blocks 

positioned into the suspension.

invariably the engineer would go on a road test and forget to remove the blocks , so a retrace through Dunstable and up to the Zoo   till they were found

My solution was a big poster on the steering wheel which just said  "BLOCKS"    often misread 

Pete

[johny]

4 hours ago, Firefly said:

   Oh no not another one.   I`ve been parking my cars in the same garage with a bare concreate floor for over 35 years, some times for 4/5 months without moving. Have never seen any evidence of any detriment to tyres or concreate.

                     Too much `loud` pedal......

Unfortunately these black marks are produced when stationary☹️ Must be something coming off the tyres to produce them?

[AlanT]

Drive it on a dry day once a month. It’s never good for cars being sat still. Bought a Boxster a few years back and was strongly advised to avoid low mileage as the engines tend to explode because of bearings sitting / going dry.

My Spit experience is that the same is true for most cars. They need movement.

 

[Chris A]

1 hour ago, AlanT said:

Drive it on a dry day once a month

If you get one . . .😁

Yes a good drive to get everything up to running temperature and use the heater so water circulates there too and keeps it flushed.

[AlanT]

1 minute ago, Chris A said:

If you get one . . .😁

Yes a good drive to get everything up to running temperature and use the heater so water circulates there too and keeps it flushed.

My fav drives are topless in Winter, hat, gloves, scarf. Slightly Overheating in Summer has advantages in Winter…

[Chris A]

4 minutes ago, AlanT said:

My fav drives are topless in Winter, hat, gloves, scarf. Slightly Overheating in Summer has advantages in Winter…

I store the car with roof up but even in winter the roof goes down when I take it for a drive (too noisy with it up 😜), flying jacket, hat & gloves. Once the engine is hot I put the heater on, directed into foot well. I'm sure the locals just shrug and think 'l'anglais'

[dougbgt6]

 

25 minutes ago, AlanT said:

My fav drives are topless in Winter, hat, gloves, scarf. Slightly Overheating in Summer has advantages in Winter…

Oh! That was you?

Douig

[PeteH]

I told SWMBO to avert her eye`s!!.😁 She just said she`d seen it all before?. Anyone know what that was all about?

Pete

[Colin Lindsay]

On 29/10/2022 at 14:33, Firefly said:

   Oh no not another one.   I`ve been parking my cars in the same garage with a bare concreate floor for over 35 years, some times for 4/5 months without moving. Have never seen any evidence of any detriment to tyres or concreate.

                     Too much `loud` pedal......

It’s not a command, just something I do personally. I did however once move a car to find four small areas of concrete floor had stuck to the tyres and I ended up with four potholes! I won’t chance it again!

[Firefly]

 

           Were  the tyres made in China ? 😛😀

[Peter Truman]

Even Michelin tyres are made in China, it's not where manufactured but the tyre compound that's critical. My daughter in law in a previous life scheduled the production of all their tyres made in China to meet world wide reqd stock needs.

The top Classic Car Sale Room here in Melbourne moved premises and the new showroom floor was finished with a greyish epoxy paint/covering, within a month the floor looked like a Leopards back, spots everywhere appears the epoxy sucked something out of the tyre, the supplier had to redo the complete floor, it's now OK.

Colin how old was the concrete when you left the car standing, was the concrete worked too much bringing the watery latent fines to the surface there could be numerous causes, concrete doesn't achieve it's full working strength till 28days, I had a control room building in Kilmarnock that took 6 weeks before we could safely remove the shutter work, yet the samples taken of the readymix concrete delivered met slump and later compression test spec, the conc stayed green for ages, never found the cause suspected the very cold weather, or additives.

[Clive]

13 hours ago, Firefly said:

 

           Were  the tyres made in China ? 😛😀

If you are bored sometime, check out who ultimately owns virtually every tyre manufacturer in the world...... a few exceptions, or were when I looked a couple of years ago. 

As Peter says, it is not where something is made, but all about the standards it is made to. China can make stuff as good as anybody, but also they can turn out stuff at any price point. 

[steveo]

Worked for a small garage doing tyre fitting for 7 years & we never had a complaint about our cheap Chinese tyres, did find that quite a lot of the well-known quality brands would crack and go out of shape after a few years.

Had a full set of Hifly tyres on my Ranger 3 years ago & they still look like new so went with the same make on the back of the 13/60, probably 10 times better than what it left the factory with!