This thread over on my350z has some good info, check it out...

Ultimate Guide to Storing Your Z/G for the Winter

 

First hand experience is meaningless if you're doing it incorrectly. If I always make my lugs nuts as tight as I possibly can, and the wheels have never fallen off, that doesn't mean it's the proper way to tighten lug nuts.

And if you'd bothered to actually read what I wrote, I never said anything about the suspension being unsprung or unladen. I said PARTIALLY. And the how and when you're supposed to install/attach suspension parts has nothing to do with how you store it, so your A-arm reference is totally irrelevant.

BTW, my comments were based on my experience storing my old Maxima for a winter. I left it sitting on the ground and it had flat spots on the tires when I drove it the next spring. Everything I've read online says I should have at least partially jacked the car up off the ground. Why? Because you'll get flat spots.

 

Not to sound like Confucious, but how do you think first hand experience works? If you do it wrong you learn and move on.

I never said completely unsprung or completely unladen:

I said above that a less laden or increased ride height.

You may say whatever you like, but Nissan dealers and boats full cars don't have cars on jackstands for shipment or delivery. Sometimes they sit in shipyards for month. Pretty sure they aren't jacking them up to get the car partially or fully off the ground.

If you would take the time to think how the suspension works, you will see that anything other than ride height is an unnatural state for the suspension to be in. The FSM (that silly thing composed by Nissan engineers) specifically states to tighten the upper a-arms at ride height.

 

Don't worry, you don't. If that's how you learn to work on your car, I suggest not offering your services to anyone. I prefer to learn from people who've already figured out the best way to do something. Why would you even need the FSM if you do everything by learning it yourself? Do you just guess at the steps needed to do something? Torque specs are just based on how you feel that day?

Who cares how the dealer ships a car? That doesn't mean it's the way you should store it. I certainly wouldn't want mine stored the way I've seen cars transported. Tipped at a slight angle and only strapped down by the suspension and wheels so that the cars weight is constantly jostling back and forth against those components. No thank you. And again, the process for attaching a suspension component like the A-arm is totally irrelevant to how it should be stored.

BTW, you did mention unsprung. Or was that G35/Z33 reference as irrelevant as the A-arm?

Try doing some basic research on how to actually store a car and you'll see the all my points are mentioned. You're just talking about what you think should be done based on how parts are attached or how a dealer transports a car. What experience do YOU actually have?

A quick search, by no means all-inclusive.
http://www.techguys.ca/howto/winter.html
http://www.torquecars.com/articles/storing-car.php
http://www.automedia.com/Vehicle_Sto...cr20010601sv/1

 

Don't use jackstands over an extended period or you'll weaken and possibly crack your suspension bushings. At full suspension articulation they are under alot of stress. Combine that with cold weather and *crack*.

Same thing happened for me but the other way around... camber arm bushings were tightened while car was in the air instead of on the ground at rest. This is a common oversight which leads to many premature bushing failures.

 

Agreed. Full articulation is bad. But so is not jacking it up at all. The solution is to either partially lift the car so most of the weight is off the wheels/tires, or fully jack it up while also supporting the suspension so it's not fully articulated. In that second scenario, a simple 4x4 block of wood under each tire is sufficient. The tires won't get flat spots because they only have to deal with the unsprung weight, which is about 600 pounds on our cars, versus 3400-ish pounds total weight.

 

Agreed, I wouldnt want new oil just sitting there over winter... Old oil can do that.