Winter Storage Tips?
 

1st question: I have a battery tender for my 98 boxter that I am going to keep in a car port. Can I hook it up without disconnecting the battery? Will it mess up the onboard computer?


2nd question: I have the car in one of those storage car ports in my yard. I don't have a garage. The storage port is good to keep the rain and weather off, but the grass floor is no good. I know that's a killer. They say gravel holds moisture. Any ideas on flooring to save the car frame?

1. I'm sure minds far sharper than mine will chime in... but... wouldn't you use the battery tender to keep the battery from draining and, if you disconnected the battery, the effort would be moot?

2. Unless your winter is 9 months long, you should be fine parking it on grass. Again... sharper minds may chime in.

Chers!

#1. I've hooked up my battery tender to the cigarette lighter every winter without disconnecting the battery and without issues.

I bought a LifeTime 21' by 11' garage shed for one of our Boxsters. The car sits on 2"x8" white pine planks that run the length of the shed. The floor is a platform built from 2"x4" pressure treated pine covered by 3/4" pressure treated plywood. The platform rests on 4" of crushed stone. About $4K for all the the materials and several days assembly.

Google LifeTime 21x11 garage shed.

What about summer performance tires sitting in the cold for several months? Won't they flat spot? And low profile, high performance tires are most susceptible to this. What do people do to prevent this, besides putting the car on jack stands for the winter?

A collection of winter storage tips are here.

Since your in NJ do you plan on doing some driving during the winter?
I will drive mine during the winter.
I put my battery tender on periodically. If it's been a 2-3 weeks since last drive (This goes for all year long) I will put my tender, directly connected to the battery, on for a few hours. It typically starts off in charge mode, then an hour so later goes to float. My battery is a couple years old.

I go have a garage but I store my motor home outside (with RV cover) on the grass through the winter. But the tires are up on 2" x 6" so it is up off the grass and so it doesn't sink in when the grass gets wet

Summer tires will flat when parked for extended time (any time of year) so when I plan on a drive, I roll out of the garage and have it sit at a different tire location for some time. Then just drive a moderate pace until they roll out

Yes the tires will flat spot, but when put back into service they will shake off the flat spots in about 5 min. of driving.

Jacking the car up and letting the suspension hang is not a good thing. Porsche released a TSB on this years ago, warning that doing so could lead to damaged struts from corrosion on the shafts.

1) Plug into the cig lighter.

2) Park on a thick mil painter's tarp from Home Depot. May help a little.

Easy. Pump up tires to about 55 psi.

My best winter storage tip is to move to Florida!

Haha. Great tip, my wife would agree. But if I could drive my Boxster year round I figure i'd have about 300,000 miles on it by now.

As long as you don't mind living inside a steam room for 6+ months per year.

Ask me how I know.

I've read that usually that will work, but sometimes the flat spot could be partially permanent, where it never returns 100% back to normal. Was I misinformed?

Air up the tires to 50 psi. and roll the P car a few inches every 4 to 5 months prevents flat spots

Totally unnecessary. We store several exotics for special customers, they are all put away freshly serviced and washed, tires at normal pressures, and sit all winter (sometimes for as much as 5 months for customers that spend the winter in warmer climes). They are not started, or moved, the entire time. In the spring, the tires recover in about 5 min driving. Permanent flat spotting is an "old wives"/internet myth......

If you get "permanent" flat spotting, it is because of crappy tires, not storage technique.

Rather than plugging a battery tender into the lighter socket, I open the frunk, attach the cables to the battery by running the wire through the windshield opening, then close the frunk. Place a towel underneath the wiring on the outside of the car to prevent abrasion. Then cover with a quality rain resistant cover. We had 2 inches of rain in NY today, and the rain beaded up and rolled of my California Car Cover.

Flat spotting is reality, can occur, and not an old wives tale.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=42

Great Advice! Thank You

Great Tips folks I will try the advice listed.