Great winter storage article

Try to ignore the car illustrated, there still good suggestions .
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storage is for sukkas.
car is a transportation tool, a toy, drive it.

 

Mega Dittos

 

Yes, cars are built for driving.

But driving a Ferrari on salty roads is just plain stupid.

People like Michael and myself will wait until it rains so that the salt is washed away; then we will drive the car in the winter time. But if the interval is going to be a few weeks or months, then we are prudent to inform ourselves of the best way to store our cars.

Michael--get me some moth balls and baking soda if you go out shopping for the stuff! And by the way, what about those tall cylinders that absorb moisture? I forget what they're called. Maybe it's be a good idea to stick a few of those in the garage around the car.

 

Same here. Simple economics. A Mondi may be a cheapo Ferrari, but it cost the same damn hourly rate to fix as a 360, and the parts are at LEAST as expensive. I simply cannot afford to drive it like a beater. Wish I could, but can't.

 

Gus does a full enderbody car wash at Technik 1 ....enough of the excuses!

and even if you only get 20 good days to drive in the next few months ...its still 20 days to drive!

 

my car is stored and hibernating till all this salt gets off the roads

 

And we all look forward to seeing your Murci again in July or August when you take it out next! (J/K)

 

I dunno about that July and August is the rainy season

 

1) there is a thing called car wash.
2) modern mass produced ferrari's are depreciating asset. driving it in dry only or not does not significantly effect its value.
3) not sure about the connection between driving the car with some salt on the road and car must need repair.

 

Interesting and timely set of posts. I think the pattern of this winter will allow some driving unlike the last two winters when it was "hasta la vista" for driving the F-cars after the first week of December. There is a weather folk-lore saying about winter that says "what happens in December winter will remember" . There is a lot of truth in this and it implies that the see-saw pattern we have seen so far this month will persist through March. That is, bitter cold snaps followed by quick warmups....a few snow storms, yes, but with the snow cover likely to be washed away in a rainstorm before the next snowfall. And if we get the classic January thaw there can be a real nice week to 10-day spell for driving (maybe even a run!) in mid to late January.

This week, for example, after the snow Sunday night and Monday morning (there was up to 8 inches in northeastern CT) and lows near zero last night, it will go into the 50s with a windswept rain Thursday, then back to very cold by late week (the jury is still out on the potential east coast storm for snow on Christmas but most models say no).

Bottom line is that I do not plan to put the car 348 "away" for the winter but will keep it at the ready!

 

The problem on Long Island is not the salt but the sand. Nassau and Suffolk use a mixture of salt and sand, but the sand stays on the roads till May. The sand really ruins the paint, and the glass. The body shops have a word for it. its called "road rash". Its like sand blasting the paint off the front and the bottom of the car. The windshield gets millions of these little chips. I would rather see the towns go back to all salt. At least if you wash it off right away, theres no damage like sand. The towns concern is that salt eats away at the road surface and sand does not.

 

I see what you are saying, but the salt and sand do eat away at the early 80's cars. I had no problem using my pristine Alfa Romeo 164s as daily drivers. They, like the 355 and 360, were modern cars and had some degree of corrosion protection. It's not just salt and sand, but excessive driving. I get about 3,000 miles per needed repair!

 

I agree completly with you Chris whether one drives the car in rain or snow or salt will have no effect in re-sale value (They will all depreciate at the same level). Just wash the car and it will good as new. I on other hand bought the car purely as a toy and not as transportation and such is purely a car i want to drive when i can enjoy the car. As a result i get no enjoyment out of driving the car in the rain or snow or any adverse condition, that is what the X5 is for. For me it is just more work later to clean which i am too lazy to do

 

Agreed.
If it is raining out I am likely to drive the M3, unless it's some planned event that I intended to take the Ferrari.
And of course we all know summer tire + RWD just do not mix with snow, so no driving it in snow either.
What I meant to say is, my driving aint no seasonal. I care less if it snows, the road is dry, I drive my car, sand or salt dont matter to me. During a the whole winter there will be maybe like 10 days I can not take the car out.

 

Driving these car is all about having fun. Everyone just has different definitions of what is fun. But 100% agree with Chris drving is not a seasonal thing. My car is hibernating but all i need to do is start her up to go driving.

 

I DO drive in the winter...

 

The article says "be careful about adding any water-removal additives to the gasoline. Most of these are alcohol-type products and alcohol can damage certain metals."

Can someone please elaborate on this?

I hear everyone saying "put some 'dry gas' in the gas tank so the water is collected." Is this stuff bad for a Ferrari engine? I don't understand why it would be used so widely if it could damage engines.

I was in Autozone today and saw a water-removal product for the gas tank. I looked on the back, and indeed the product contains alcohol. I did not buy it.

 

Being that I am in the business of making sure great cars stay great I do have a view on this post of do's and don'ts.

1. Keep your tire pressure up to reduce flats spots. 40 psi is fine you don't need 50. And if you forget to reduce, you could blow a tire or wreck your suspension.

2. You DON'T need to drive your car 20 miles a month to keep engine properly exercised.

3. We keep our cars on for 15 minutes and bring the rpms to various ranges. It would be better to drive them. But we do not want to drive our customers cars. The idea that the car heats unevenly is BS.

4. Condensation forming unless car is driven. At BMC it is always 50% relative humidity so it does not apply to us.

5. We use STABIL gas stabilize for longterm storage cars. Never had any problems and the product has been around for decades.


Best regards,

Rob

www.bridgemc.com

The Finest Collector Car Facility on the Planet