winter storage

I don't cover my cars in storage due to location. Home in the woods, state forest across the street. Mouse damage a real threat!
Want to see and check on a regular basis.
Mice did $6k damage to my wife's covered Lexus some years ago. Ate the carpets and nested in the transmission tunnel in my early 930 years ago as well!

 

I had a mouse crawl up the side of my car cover and eat his way through into the car. Only ate the cabin air filter (I got lucky). Bought one of these, no problems since:
https://www.carbag.com/carjacket/

 

Cover or no cover, I would place a desiccant in the car (unless you live in the desert ).

 

I store in a heated garage with car covers. The one that came with the car covered by a waterproof breatheable cover.

Fabric softener sheets that you for your clothes dryer keep rodents away and the car smells good.

I crack the back window of my 458 spider to keep film from building up on the inside of the windows.

Fill the car with gas and plug in the battery maintainer that came with the car.

Never have put extra air in the tires. Never had any flat spotting.

Best

 

Have very aggressive mice! Tried fabric softener sheets, mothballs, bobcat urine(yes there is a product) etc. All failed!
Victor mousetraps are best in my experience.

 

I like hanging out in the garage during the winter and looking at / dinking around with the cars. Detailing little things, or fixing small things that need to be addressed that I never got around to during the summer. Lots of mice by me, but have managed to seal-up the garage and eradicate what was in there when I bought the house. A lit match helps to find drafts and possible entry points, but mouse poison and the classic Victor traps work best to eradicate and then maintain. Stuff entry points with steel wool, then spray foam. For the new garage addition we used closed-cell spray-on insulation which is supposed to be critter-proof.

My garage is heated and dehumidified, so not worried about the moisture. I think the issue of covering (other than mice) is dust. If you wash the car and put the cover on immediately for the duration of the winter without pulling it off, should be no issue. If your going to have it on and off and leave it off for a few days to do stuff and enjoy looking at the cars, then they get dusty, putting the car cover back on could lead to micro-scratches as you move the dust around while putting the cover back on (unless you wash it again). I know its a bit OCD, but I guess it depends on how crazy you get over the finish of your paint, and what color the car is (darker colors really seem to highlight the micro-scratches).

Bottom line is I dont think there is a right or wrong answer. It depends on your situation.

 

The Car Jacket I mentioned comes with 10 lbs of silicon desiccant.

On the mice issue: I have 4 levels of protection in addition to the car covers:
1. Poison pellets
2. Dryer sheets in the car
3. Mouse spray (stinks)
4. A rodent service

 

Just curious
Where do you live that you have to store your car and not drive it in the winter months?

 

I would say anywhere North of the 40th. Parallel.............about 1/2 of the US.

 

His info shows Westchester County, NY. Just north of NYC. We get plenty of snow and lots of salt on the roads once first snow hits.

 

Isn't winter when people send cars off for service?

 

I stored the 458 Spider today for the winter.

Took a great drive. Beautiful sunny day in the 50s.

 

Hi Phil, you need to move to Junction we can drive all year

 

Ok
But to be honest Ferrari’s love cold weather these cars generate more heat than Chernobyl
I drive mine year round
Now I live in the Atlanta area, we get cold weather and every so often some snow
But I am about to leave next week for NJ,NH,Pa and surrounding states on a 2 week trip in the 575M( it has 33k on it bought it may of this year with 26k) , yep it might snow a little
But I can tell you the modern day cars are well equipped to handle it
When I owned my 1984 308GTB I was in Raleigh during an ice storm! Snow, sleet you get the idea
Made it home alive, it’s a mid engine car well balanced, that’s why you bought it right?
I put 118k on that 1984 car and it never missed a beat, wish I would have kept it, but that’s another story
The window defogger sucked but that was about it
Now I am not saying be a ice rally champion, but trust me a cold clear day in the northeast is nirvana for a Ferrari!
I also own a 1993 512 TR with 109k on it driven, to Montreal in the fall months and New England as well.
And that car doesn’t have any ABS or traction control.
Ferrari’s are all weather cars
But storing the car, is hurting the car
Too each there own
Until then

 

or us cool, manly men, roll up our sleeves and pretend to be more competent than we are and do it ourselves great time to send out parts or order them.

I can go either way with the cover. I suppose it would accumulate less dust, but I often need access to it in the off season for small maintenance tasks, and I’ll wash it in the spring anyway.

I keep my car on a hoist all winter, garage isn’t heated but temperatures are moderate as it’s attached to my house, so never goes below freezing. Car sits on foam pads, stabilized fuel, battery mantainer, desiccant, not much else. I could get it up and running again in a few minutes, as all secret agents, should.

No mouse problem in the garage, but this fall one of the little devils crawled through a vent pipe into my furnace and prevented it from working.

 

Snowing right now. 3-5 inches expected. Then they put magnesium chloride on the roads. Low temp -2F on Wednesday.

Been storing Fcars for 19 years in the winter. No problems yet.

 

Lou , F this storage thing and move to Florida. We need you here. Best , Kirk.

 

Too hot. And l doubt if Ferrari of Denver would pick up and deliver for service. There are several Fcars in Aspen. They are here regularly.