Yes, I have seen the many different threads that pertain to the topic at hand but I was wondering if I could get some more accurate opinions based on my situation.

*I live in North Jersey, so the temperatures will be below the 30's quite often

*The car will only be stored for about 3 months

*I will not be able to drive the car at all during the winter because the insurance will be removed, so should you start the car at all if you put stabilizer in it

*It will be kept in my garage (not heated) BUT the basement is heated and the warm air does make its way some-what into the garage

Basicly what Im asking is how crazy do I really have to go considering its only about 3 months? Should I really put nitrogen in the tires, should I really change all the fluids, should I really use fuel stabilizer, and should I really disconnect the battery and put a trickle charger on it?

My current plan was just to give the car a really good wash inside and out, (including a little dusting of the engine bay) an oil change, and a little extra air in the tires. everyone says wax the car so I might. Not sure if fuel stabilizer is nessaccery, Thats why Im asking this question.

So please enlighten me. Thank you in advance for your help.

 

I would put the car on jackstands so the tires don't flatspot and use fuel stabilizer while disconnecting the battery. That should be enough precautions

 

Sta-Bil

http://www.goldeagle.com/sta-bil/index.htm

 

I have made quite a few very extensive posts about this subject if you care to look them up to find out details about everything.

In short:

Definitely put Sta-Bil in the tank. It's not expensive enough of a product to merit risking anything by not using it(make sure you park the car with a full tank of gas too but that you've run the car for like 5 or so minutes after putting the stabil in and filling up so that the stabil-treated gas can work its way into the fuel delivery plumbing). Wash and Wax the car, change the motor oil, and if your coolant is old replace that as well(by old I mean older than like 18 months). Vacuum the interior and remove the battery and park the car with the E-Brake off, wheels chocked and in gear but with the transmission unloaded(so that the wheel chocks are holding the car still, not the transmission.. and the tranny is there for a failsafe should someone remove your wheel chocks). Remove your battery so that it's somewhere easy for you to access so that you can recharge it every 2 or so weeks just to keep the thing at the optimum charge level. I also recommend pumping the tire pressure up to around 37 or so 38 PSI to help fight off flatspotting.

Before you lock the car up, make sure you run it for a minute or 2 with the AC and defogger on so that moisture from the air in the car is removed just before you get out of it to seal it up for the winter.

I also recommend removing all CDs from the head unit too becuase some people have hinted in the past at potential problems from reconnecting the battery with CD's in the unit.

Make sure you remove the battery from the car with the drivers side door open too so that the window doesn't roll up that extra 1/8th of an inch that it does when you shut it, since when you go to put the car back on the road in spring, you'll want to open the door without the window scraping up agains the upper door trim.... either that or leave the car in the garage all winter with the hood shut but unlatched so you can open it from outside the car and put the battery right back in without having to get into the cars cabin.

Some of this might seem like overkill, but it's stuff that I feel is worth doing considering that if you're taking some precautions to store the car somewhat properly... why not spend the extra hour or 2 to go all the way and do it completely right.

 

Thank you for the Info, I guess your right if your going to do something, do it right,
which leads me to the question of should I change the trans fluid (there is about 4000 miles on the car). And I guess it possible to get flat spots in three months so I should probably buy some jack stands.

Okay so what am I looking at here:
-car jack about $180
- 4 jack stands about $100
- stabil about $20
-trickle charger about $40
-oil change free from the dealer
-I have soap, I have wax
total: about $340

What else am I missing?

Im new to having a nice car so I have to buy some tools , And as of today I have a double reason for needing a jack 1. winter and 2. A plastic bag got sucked up under the car and melted onto the exhaust today, so I need to get under there to scrape it off.

Thats not bad considering the cost of a set of winter wheels and tires, and no milage being put on the car, its not at risk of being damaged, oh and lower insurance.

Anyway hopefully soon enough I'll be changing my own oil and fixing my own brakes, yay

Once again thank you everyone.

 

I will try to find it for you, there was a post on a porsche forum about all of the stuff that should be done.
-Plug up the exhausts with rags, can become nice homes for mice!
-Get all of the brake dust off the rims, it is corrosive.
-clean the interior, any stains will get worse if left for 3 months.
I will find the link, theres a bunch of good info.

 

Found it for ya! Some of the stuff is a bit much, but there is defn some good info! Scroll down to the bottom for storage info.
http://www.porschenet.com/winter.html

 

Found it for ya! Some of the stuff is a bit much, but there is defn some good info! Scroll down to the bottom for storage info.
http://www.porschenet.com/winter.html

 

^^+1. And I would cover it also just for safe measures.

 

I actually highly recommend that you not only clean your rims, but also wax them. Our OEM rims are painted aluminum, so you can was them to add a good amount of protection and it also makes them 10x easier to wipe brake dust off of them when they are waxed. They look a lot better too when waxed.

If you plan on using jack stands for the winter, make sure you invest some time in making jack stand attachments so that you can support the car from the factory jack points on the unibody. If you just slap jack stands under the car in any old spot, you'll bend or possibly put a hole right through the undercarraige. Generally a rear axel is a safe spot to jack a car up by, but with our Independant rear suspension.... that's not really as easy to do as it would be on a car with a live rear axel.

Your best bet is to buy 4 hockey pucks and cut grooves in them for the unibody jack mount points to slide into, and then put those one of those pucks on top of each of your jack stands. You'll need to make sure you get the type of jack stand that has a flat holster on the top and not the very odd U-shaped ones that are very common nowadays if you plan on doing this little hockey puck trick.

Before you plan on taking the car off the road, I just want to remind you that you'll need to have the car fully paid off in order to do that. If there's an active loan/lien on the car, you'll need to get that squared away first before the bank will let you uninsure it.

 

or you could just drive it once or twice at night in your nieghborhood a week and call it a day

 

3 months is not that long. I would give the car a good cleaning & put it on jack stands.

 

Thank you for the link, very helpfull.

 

Good ideas and Yeah the car is all paid for so no worry about insurance.

 

Yeah and Im still debating this, Im might just take the car out once a week and try to avoid the dreaded SALT.