I have heard that it is not good to store your car for extended periods. I have heard things like, the gaskets and seals will dry out, you will get flat spots on your tires, bad for the fuel system (I know Stabil), car will rust more easily, not to mention nesting animals (thats obviously not good), etc. How much of this is true?

 

I know for sure that everyday you don't drive it, you have one less day left to live. Enojy it everyday

 

I don't store mine, in fact I drove it yesterday. I was just wondering because I have other vehicles and I know a lot of people do store theirs.

 

i don't store mine. i had alot of opportunities to drive it this winter.

 

Well it all depends on how you store your car, potentially all or none of the above could happen. I store mine in the winter, but I start it once a month and drive it for 50 or 60 good miles(WOT a few times) (on dry days when there is no salt)
I up the PSI in the tires and put carpet squares under them to avoid flat spotting the tires...t
then I put a tarp on the concrete to help keep some moister off the car..this is not 100% perfect but it at least helps

I use Decon boxes...and I put moth ***** all over the ground around the car, and under the engine to keep animals away. So far it's worked fine.

When I start the car each month..I put fresh gas in it, so the gas is never more than a month old.

 

I may be wrong but it seems that if you have a daily driver there seems to be fewer annoying problems vs one that is a weekend car or garage queen. Could it be that just letting the car sit causes or makes worse things like the fuel sender problems, or diff. leaks or whatever? Not to say a daily driver can't have problems, but my 4 C5s have had almost no problems and I never let them sit in the garage for more than 2-3 days at a time.

 

I do belive this is true..if I had my choice, I would not store my car and drive it year round...this is why I try and get it out at least once a month..and if we have a period of 2 or 3 days with no salt I'll keep it out. They were meant to drive.

It's kinda funny to read the Great Lakes page and see how many threads we all start out saying "took my baby out today " weahter was nice"

 

I hope it's not bad, mine hasn't been started since Nov 6. It's in the garaged covered with Stabil, battery tender, parked on carpet, tires aired up a bit...

 

This is the 2nd year I've stored mine and it usually goes 5 months without being touched. I just put on a battery tender, cover, and make sure the tires are aired up. Don't worry about carpet or anything if you're using the stock runflats. They're a very hard compound and very stiff sidewalls (obviously) so they won't get flat spots. I leave about 1/8 tank of gas in the car too. In the spring it starts right up, I take it out and drive it to the gas station (by then it's about warmed up), fill up, and then drive it nice and hard. Don't have any problems either..

It's either best to drive it as usual, or store it and let it sit. Just don't start it up every month or so for fun. You'd just be putting condensation in the crankcase and potentially cause more problems than it's worth. Storing up to ~6 months is perfectly fine like this. If you get much longer than that there are a few other precautions that should be taken though. No worries about gas at this point either. It may become a little stale but it won't hurt anything. Especially if you just leave a small amount in and fill it up with fresh gas in the spring. We typically store gas for 6 months in a spare tank before cycling. You will lose a little performance by this time but it will not cause any damage unless you're running a highly tuned car that can barely run on 93 octane as is.

 

sorry I don't agree with this statement. Every Vette Tech I have spoken to, and mechanic in general has said that it is good to start it once a month....it won't ruin the car either if it sits for months on end if stored properly...but I don't like the idea of all of the internal parts of the motor (especially valve springs) sitting in one position commpressed for that long a time without moving..long term that can't be good. no flame here JMO.

 

I think the part about the seals potentially drying out is true, but I've not had any problems with flat spots on the tires and I store mine from about November to mid-March. I keep the Sta-Bil in the tank and it seems to work well.

 

I think it's best to drive it year round whenever possible. I've had collector cars that weren't driven all that much and a lot of low mileage cars and trucks have developed leaks for one thing. If not possible to take it out I think I would at least run it once every couple of weeks and at least let it warm up.

 

Drive it like you stole it

 

My sits for 2-3 weeks at most. 55,800 miles on my 98. I drive mine more that I should. The only down side is when the weather finally warms up, it takes some chrome polish and a lot of elbow grease to get the Z06 Chromies looking good again.