winter running

[loepan 11]

hi all,

 

ive always ran my cars through winter, albeit changing to winter wheels. just made sure they had a good coat of sealant and wax

 

I purchased my rado knowing ill spend more on it than its worth and never really intended it to be a daily, weekend runner and a few meets/shows and the occasional trip to the parents 200miles.

 

so on that basis, what advice can people give for garaging it over winter? do you put it away never to be seen until may? do you start it every so often and just let it tick over to nominal temp? or just wait for some half decent weather and take it out for a run once or twice?

my garage is not a heated haven and does get 'damp' is it worth covering or as I suspect could that actually be bad?

 

This year it will be in a garage being repaired, but would be interested to hear members winter routines?

[davidwort 0]

leaving in a damp garage all winter is worse than leaving it outside and running regularly, see what you can do to reduce the moisture, sealing the floor, fixing gutters waterseal on the outside walls and moisture removal inside, something as simple as regularly replacing screwed up newspaper removes a lot of moisture from the air, just as good as a lot of damp removal crystals etc. Whatever you do, try to use the brakes periodically and don't leave it sat in the same place on it's tyres.

[loepan 11]

yeah thought as much, im going to paint and seal the ceiling this winter and see how it is before I garage it. its mainly damp as the garage is at the bottom of the drive and bad rainfall flows down the drive overflows into the garage, it does eventually vent through the rear of the garage into the rear garden (im on a hill) maybe ill look at making that a bit more free flowing.

 

just trying to weigh up the pros and cons of garaging or running

[Jim 2]

I garaged my Corrado over the last couple of winters, whilst running a daily - I just pulled the battery when not in use, and then whenever there was a break in the weather would make sure I took it out for a good run with a stop at the hand car wash round the corner again before putting it away (no running water at my lock-up!).

 

Have to admit I didn't do any meticulous maintenance, and the garage is a horrid draughty damp hole - the car always seemed fine whenever I came to use it though!

[Jim Bowen 1]

I'd just make sure the antifreeze coolant is a strong mix and disconnect the battery. Mine stood in loads of pieces for 18months. Put it together and it started straight away. Would be worth spraying loads of wd40 over things to stop rust etc