Winter Storage Tips for your Collector Vehicle

Regardless of your climate, the late fall and winter season is typically a slow time for your collector vehicle. During winter months, most collector vehicles sit in a garage--this down time is sometimes used for repairs, maintenance or upgrades, while many cars sit dormant for the winter months. This downtime can wreak havoc on an old car if you're not prepared. Tires play a big part in successfully storing a collector vehicle, so listen up and protect your car from old man winter! In an ideal world, a vehicle in storage for more that a couple of months should be placed on jack stands to remove the weight of the vehicle from the tires. This prevents "flat spotting", which typically happens during cold months, and when a car is parked on a concrete surface for a long period of time. This creates a bumpy ride that is nearly impossible to fix without replacing the tires. Unless you're really putting a lot of miles on your collector vehicle, then you probably don't want to replace your tires every spring, so put the car on jack stands and you'll have a smooth ride when spring time rolls around. It's also important to remember that cold temperatures can cause your tire pressure to decrease. Even if your car is on jack stands, keep an eye on tire pressure and keep the tires inflated to the recommended pressure. Never store your vehicle or tires near electric motors or other ozone-generating sources. If you don't have an easy way to store your vehicle on jack stands, we suggest cutting squares of carpet to use as padding, or you can even use wood blocks, as the wood is much more pliable than concrete. If you have room in your garage, move the car every couple of months to make sure the tires don't rest in the exact same spot for the entire duration of storage. This helps prevent cracking in the areas where the tires have the most pressure and weight on them. So, let's say you bought a set of tires, but didn't get a chance to install them on the vehicle before winter set in. Tire storage is important, especially with whitewalls. Be sure to keep the wrapping on the tires to prevent any of the black rubber from coming in contact with the white rubber. If you have already gotten rid of the wrapping, place cardboard or sheets between the tires. Lay them flat on the floor, and stack them up, just like we do in our warehouse. When spring time rolls around, you can remove the wrapping, have the tires mounted and then clean the blue protective coating off the whitewall.