Ok so i dont have a garage, and need some advice on winterization of my car.. aside from tarping it, stabiling the gas, and tarping it, is there anything else that I should do to get my ride ready for winter? Aside from getting a garage that is....
Drive it regularly to keep it fresh. That's what I'm gonna do this winter. Gonna put skis on the front axle, too. Not on the highway, though!
You can really screw up the paint on a car tarping it through the winter with one of those cheap blue tarps......... been there, done that. It seems to collect moisture and screws up the finish if there's any moisture in the paint, rusts things, etc, etc. A buddy of mine had a really nice 65 Riv he stored outside in the winter, no cover, nothing. He had no problems at all. If I had to store outside again, I'd either use nothing or a breathable car cover. NOT a TARP!! Just me $.02
Yes, when you cover stuff you always run the risk of paint damage when you combine non-breathable covers with a moist climate, whether it be rain or snow. You get that moisture trapped under a tarp and it can really play hell on a paint job, exposed metal, etc..... Use a breathable car cover, most decent ones are made of breathable materials and you can get them ay most parts stores fairly inexpensively, last time I looked around $50. I would keep it fired up a couple of time a week just to keep everything lubed and drive it on occasion so the tires don't get flat spots from sitting. Just run it down to the local gas station and get air, or something, keep all the parts moving. If you're not going to drive it at all, I would try to get the weight off the tires if they are new, or in pretty good shape, flat spots ****, and I've even had good radials develop them, even though some will say that shouldn't be an issue. It's also nice to have the weight off of your suspension parts if it's just going to sit, easier on the shocks and such if they are freely hanging as opposed to sitting with the weight of the car on them. Mechanically speaking, anti-freeze, figure out what your local weather is like and mix accordingly, fresh oil in a lighter weight than usual for easy winter starting, gas stabilizer (I prefer Seafoam, you can get it at a NAPA or Carquest and not only will it stabilize your fuel for the winter it will help absorb any moisture you might aquire while it sits) in the tank and you should be alright.
No way did I mean a blue tarp, or silver one.. I shoulda said car cover... figured that Tarp was a general term for covering it up.... would love to drive it all winter, but I think Pittsburgh has hills that would definatly give ol SF a run for the money.. that and the cobblestone and brick streets, combined with the "Lake Effect" kinda make me want to keep it off the road for the winter... Thanks for the advice so far!
Pull the battery, sweep it off after a big snow storm, Make sure you have a 50/50 mix of antifreeze in it, Wash it and if it has shiny paint give it a good coat of wax, Make sure yoe do not have any slow leaks in the tires bacause I have seen slow leaks speed up a bit in the cold and it is a PITA to haul out the airhose in the winter. Try not to park it under trees since the a heavy snow can cause em to lose branches. Dawg
Yep, I bought a car the guy had outside for about 6 months, maybe a year, with a blue tarp over it. Took half the paint off the roof right to bare metal. Paint on the truck lid was starting to blister too. It was an old paintjob, but I think most of the damage was done by the tarp. I had another car outside for a few winters before I got it inside, used one of those nice noah breathable car covers with no problem.
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