Winter Storage Question
Thread Starter
Team Owner
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 45,267
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From: Rochester, NY
Winter Storage Question
This weekend I will be storing my 2008 Vette until mid March. I have read several post on this but one question remains. The car is a 6 speed manual and I read in one of the post you should store it with gear shift in neutral and emergency brake off. I would appreciate a bit of help and reasoning on this, thanks.
Goon Squad King of Battle
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St. Jude Donor '08 thru '23
<bump> I'm not sure what the protocol is. That's not a very long time. Are you storing it at a remote location? Mine is kind of in storage since it's Montana and all but I still take it out to drive when there's no snow on the ground.
Advanced
Joined: Nov 2008
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I stored my old '00 Camaro from Dec-Mar on stands to avoid flat spots on the tires and threw on a trickle charger. Left it in R with the brake on. I'm not convinced anything I did was necessary and if I had to store the Vette for that long, I would just let it alone.
Team Owner
Joined: Aug 2007
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From: I live my life by 2 rules. 1) Never share everything you know. 2)
St. Jude Donor '11-'12-'13, '16-'17-'18
I'm going to be storing a C4 until May or June (hoping to sell it for more then) and plan on just dumping Stabil in the gas tank, changing the oil beforehand and maybe warming it up to operating temp once a month. Also disconnecting the battery between startings too.
Racer
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 263
Likes: 0
From: Sierra Vista AZ
This weekend I will be storing my 2008 Vette until mid March. I have read several post on this but one question remains. The car is a 6 speed manual and I read in one of the post you should store it with gear shift in neutral and emergency brake off. I would appreciate a bit of help and reasoning on this, thanks.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 2,280
Likes: 1
From: atlantic city new jersey
This weekend I will be storing my 2008 Vette until mid March. I have read several post on this but one question remains. The car is a 6 speed manual and I read in one of the post you should store it with gear shift in neutral and emergency brake off. I would appreciate a bit of help and reasoning on this, thanks.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 914
Likes: 327
From: Margate, FL
St. Jude Donor '09
DV,
I just stored mine mate. I just made sure I had some Sta-bil in a full tank of gas, and I make sure I start the car and let it run for about 20 minutes. Do that, and you should be able to just leave it as you normaly would. And yeah....parking brake in neutral would be a smart move, lol.
I just stored mine mate. I just made sure I had some Sta-bil in a full tank of gas, and I make sure I start the car and let it run for about 20 minutes. Do that, and you should be able to just leave it as you normaly would. And yeah....parking brake in neutral would be a smart move, lol.
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Burning Brakes
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 1,231
Likes: 25
From: Amherst, NY
If you have an '05 you need to put in reverse when you shut off and store. Something about killing the battery if you don't. However, if you have it on a battery tender it shouldn't matter. I leave my '08 out of gear and do not apply the parking brake. Just block the wheels.
Thanks for the responses I got what I need and should be all set, appreciate the help from everyone.
Safety Car
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 4,070
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From: Coralville Iowa
I can see no reason to leave it in neutral - just put it in first or reverse (the lower the gear the better it holds; that's why reverse is typically the gear of choice). Do NOT put the parking brake on - if that freezes / rusts on you'll be kicking yourself in the Spring. Change oil. Stabil in fuel tank. Battery tender or remove negative post clamp (risk of sparking with wrench on metallic part of car if removing positive post clamp first). Wash, wax, cover. Clean interior, leather conditioner to seats. Inflate tires to normal pressure or slightly higher (they won't flat spot unless you're using Polyglas GTs from the 70's). Pray for Spring.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 919
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From: ST.PETE BEACH FL.
I think "no parking brake " will help to avoid warping the rotors if the parking brake is set for an extended period.Personally,I'd leave the battery terminals in place and use a tender.
Safety Car
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 4,070
Likes: 160
From: Coralville Iowa
Parking brake will not warp the rotor - but the parking brake pad or shoe can rust "weld" to the rotor or drum, respectively, and make it darn near impossible to release in the Spring.
Team Owner
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 46,295
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From: Northern, VA
St. Jude Donor '15
"In honor of jpee"
I think the part of being in neutral has no logic. the reasoning, most likely, for the no brake on is years ago, it could stick. And then you'd have to somehow get it unstuck. I know in old beetles (really old ones) you could just reach underneath and jiggle the cables going to the rear brakes.
Ahh! Iowa has spoken! so, it still IS current thinking.
I just thought of/recalled a reason for being out of gear and in neutral. In the past, when I parked a car for a long time in gear, when first started the clutch wouldn't fully disengage sometimes. YOu could even feel it without starting the car such as when you wanted to move the car a little in the garage by pushing in on the clutch only.
Ahh! Iowa has spoken! so, it still IS current thinking.
I just thought of/recalled a reason for being out of gear and in neutral. In the past, when I parked a car for a long time in gear, when first started the clutch wouldn't fully disengage sometimes. YOu could even feel it without starting the car such as when you wanted to move the car a little in the garage by pushing in on the clutch only.
Last edited by AORoads; Dec 11, 2008 at 07:38 PM.
