I have not found a thread specifically dedicated to winter storage so I thought I'd start one.
My car will spend the winter in a unheated garage in Ontario. It is a newer garage - no mice problem, no drafts and the garage and man doors will be unopened for the entire winter. It is partly insulated do the temperature swings should not be as fast as the outside temerature.
As this is a new car for me, I'll be checking the freezing point on the coolant and replacing the windshield washer fluid. I normally would not do that.
Here is what I intend doing. Please provide your comments - thanks.
wash and wax.
drive to fill up car on a sunny day. The nearest gas station is about 20minutes away from me, so it is a nice run for the car.
add sta-bil as per mfg directions
drive back home, warming up the brakes to drive off moisture.
park on 4 pads. The pads are rubber, or old carpet to stop moisture from the concrete floor
overinflate tires to 40psi
gummi pflege the door, trunk and frunk seals, and the rubber seals on the convertible top
close and latch the convertible top to keep it stretched and wrinkle free
smart battery maintainer (I have a CTEK) connected to battery positive and a chassis ground. Apparently the chassis ground rather than negative terminal is preferred for the battery management system?
Close frunk but do not latch it so you can open it again by just operating the red lever in the frunk.
car in gear. Parking brake off.
windows open slightly (1/2-1")
doors closed but unlocked.
I will not use a car cover as it is indoors with no-one disturbing the garage while it is in storage. I'll wash any dust off in the spring.
walk away
Google AI says I do not need to close the frunk or lock the doors. The car's computer modules eventually go into sleep mode... but with the CTEK supplying power it doesn't matter that it takes an extra hour.
No real issues, provided the storage facility has power (many don’t). I plug the CTEK into the 12 V receptacle in the passenger footwell and just close the door on the cord. Works fine.
Not sure that some of the stuff isn’t overkill, but to each his own. Why open windows?
'Overkill' is my middle name.
Slightly open windows allows air movement through the cockpit, which reduces condensation
If I was in a storage facility I’d buy moth balls and disposable cups from the dollar store, partially fill the cups and place them around and under the car. Cheap insurance and no lasting smell in the car itself. I did this with my Searay outside on a trailer and did put some in the back but none in the cuddy, never had any rodents in 12 years of boating.
IMO, the conventional wisdom of connecting ground to the chassis (verses the
battery
neg terminal) is to eliminate a chance of spark/arc when completing the connection of a live (hot) circuit, such as when using jumper cables. You'd want any possible arcs to be far away from any possible explosive gasses. Most modern maintainers such as
CTEK
do not arc since they first test polarity when detecting a connection. So there is no chance of arcing. And if you are using a pigtail to connect to the
battery
terminals, even if there was an arc it would be at the charger/pigtail connection, far away from the
battery
.
I was always taught the best way was to go direct to the
battery
and I never deviated from that.
