winterizing f430 for winter..any suggestions about fuel etc?

Tell us where it is ? In a temp /humidity garage ?

How long till you drive her ?

 

Heavy grass mat ?

4 / 5 months is really nothing

Just over inflate the tires
Put a tender on it
Put a few arm and hammer flow thru boxes on floor
If you want throw the fuel stabilizer or a sea foam can in there but I don't feel if necessary for that shirt of period
I would also consider a dehumidifier in the garage

 

Park it. Inflated tires to 45-50psi, put a trickle charger, that's about it..

 

nothing to do. put some VP fuel and turn the battery off. don't start it again until you are ready to drive it. Why put it away though, as long as there is no salt on the ground just drive it.

 

Fuel injected engines don’t seem to be affected by sitting with untreated fuel in them. The high pressures must overcome any fuel breakdown clogging, unlike a carburetor.

 

The "high pressures" bleed off in about an hour. It's the sealed fuel systems that helps keep the moisture out. The car only keeps pressure in the system when running.

 

Did that yesterday. However, I do not turn off the battery. This way all my settings remain as well as all the emission monitors are at 'Ready' as left.

 

All good advice, there is nothing unique to Ferrari about storage. I add a few thoughts.

Fill the tank full of gas, ideally one with no alcohol if your market still has that. The fuel system is sealed, and you want as little air (moisture) in there as possible. No need for gas additives. Stabil does no harm, it creates a film on the gas surface that helps prevent volatile compounds from off gassing and oxidation of the fuel itself, that is mainly how it "preserves" the gas. Some Stabil Marine also advertises it prevents phase separation in the event you have ethanol in your gas (and lots of water which is what causes the phase separation). Maybe useful for much longer storage periods.

Battery tender is necessary for the length of time in storage noted. If you have a battery disconnect, some say leave it on so you don't loose the computer ecu memory, others say switch the battery off. For these newer cars, I would leave the battery connected, on a tender.

Do not start the car while it is in storage. Leave it alone til you can start it and drive it to heat things up to full operating tempertatures. Otherwise you get condensation, bad for the engine oil, and exhaust system internally.

Modern low profile radial tires do not flat spot like in the olden days, or if they do it is temporary. Slightly overinflating, or at least not being underinflated, would make sense regardless, and you recheck before you bring the car back out.

For greater certainty, put a couple of no kill mouse traps baited with peanuts in the garage. If you actually get a mouse, do everything possible to seal that garage. Hopefully the mouse will enjoy the peanuts before moving on to your wiring harnesses. No mouse, no problem.

I also put wheel chocks on my front wheels and release the parking brake. Probably makes no difference, but I had an old car many years ago have its parking brake stick after storage, so have been keeping parking brakes off ever since out of habit.

 

I'm in Boston and the last 5 years with my California T I just keep it on the tender and if the roads are dry (no salt) and it's above 40 degrees I will take it out of the garage and drive it for an hour or so to exercise it. I don't drive it hard as it's on summer tires but the car does not mind the cold and I think it's better to have fluids circulating rather than just sitting idle. Actually, the California T is pretty comfortable with the top down to the low 40s, heat and heated seats on, windows up and wind deflector up.