Preventing Flat Spotting
 

Has anyone used a product called "Tire Cradle"? These are apparently very high density polyurethane polymer pads to park your car on to prevent flat spotting, especially for long storage periods (winter storage). They are quite expensive too, about $350 for a set of 4.

Hi,

Flatspotting isn't as much of a problem as it was in the past. This is because Kevlar has replaced Steel as the preferred Belting for a Tire. It has much less memory than Steel. The Tire cradles are OK and probably do the job, but they are half the price of a set of tires! If you inflate your tires to 58PSI when stored (as Porsche recommends), you'll pretty much avoid the issue altogether. Hope this helps...

Happy Motoring!...Jim'99

This is going to sound crazy...

If you truely are going to "store" the car for the winter, why not buy a set of 4 jack stands and take the wheels off the car. You could also store the car with 4 jack stands under it and the wheels on. It would certainly be less than $350.00. You would just need a floor jack and a stable surface to keep the car on. This would definately prevent Flat Spotting the tires.

Just a thought.

joe
01S
Triple Black

It is not recommended to store the car with the suspension "unloaded/unsprung" as you suggest using jack stands.

The reason I've heard for not using the stands is that you end up inviting rust in areas that normally aren't exposed to air/corrosion when the suspension is loaded.

Hi,

You're quite right so far as you go. When the suspension is left hanging, the struts expose a greater portion of the piston shaft than usual. This steel will corrode and then tear the seals on the shock body once they're pushed back into it.

But, the other reason is that the suspension bushings will be stretched and contorted in a manner contrary to their normal use. The Bushing material, Rubber or Poly has a memory and will tend to take on this new shape giving the suspension much more play, the same is true, albeit less so, for the torsion bars (anti-roll bars). So, it's not a good idea to unspring the car for long periods, especially in colder temperatures. Hope this helps...

Happy Motoring!...Jim'99

A little off the jack stand issue, But do not recomend storing car for the winter without doing a whole bunch of things. Personally the Porsche or for that matter any car, needs to be driven at least monthly, this will keep the oil cirulating, keep all the seals from drying out.

You must have some sunny days where you can go for a drive long enough to full warm up the engine, oil etc.

mike

Hi,

Sorry, but for the Midwestern and other colder regions (where the temp stays consistently below 40° or lower), I have to disagree with you. In these climes, it's best to simply Hibernate the car, after prepping it as you mention.

This is because you'll induce all sorts of condensation internally as well as potentially having problems expanding and then suddenly contracting the seals. Not to mention that parts get brittle at very low temps and suddenly placing stress on them after a week or better at sub 40° temps can have some negative effects.

I have been storing Cars in this region for more than 30 years and still have one car (my '71 240Z) which I've owned since new. I have never suffered any ill effects of simply prepping the Car(s) and leaving it.

Research this forum for a post I did on how to properly store a Car for the Winter. I am actually spending the day today putting all my cars to sleep - a fair amount of work when storing 4 cars, but well worth it in the Spring!

Happy Motoring!...Jim'99