Hi,
Well I'm the first to admit I am no mechanic and I have never stored a vehicle before.I want to set it on jack stands to keep the tires off the ground and in the round. I look under the car and don't see any real strong points to set the jack stands.If someone out there has some suggestions to help me I sure would appreciate it...and thanks in advance !!!

Mike

 

First off, it is no longer advised to put a car up on stands. It puts the suspension in an unnatural "unloaded" condition. Modern day tires don't really flat spot anymore, at least they will go back to "round" after a very short distance. You just pump them up to 40 - 45 psi and roll them onto a piece of plush carpet. Lower the pressure when you are ready to drive again.

However, the choice is yours, so in answer to your question, you can put the car on 4 stands using the recommended jacking points along the side rails. Look behind the front tire and in front of the back tire and you will see the re-inforced section on this metal rail. You owner's manual will show you where they are in the part to do with changing a flat tire. Since you are going to use those points to stick the jack stands under, you will have to use your jack carefully just beyond these points. You may leave some indentations in the rail, though. Ideally, you need to use the central jacking points at the front and the rear to jack up the car and then place your stands. These are also shown in the owner's manual. The rear is the differential housing. The front is the cross member under the engine (it has a sort of hollow in it). You will most likely have to drive the car onto 4 pieces of 2X10 lumber to get a floor jack under there.

 

After searching through a bunch of posts I found that very few people were putting their cars up on stands. I have gone the route of XVIPER's suggestion....but this is my first year of "full storage" so it will be interesting to see what my Kumho's look like come next May. Good luck with yours!

 

...or you could just drive it like most of us do.

 

Driving it is a lot more fun

Seriously just pump the tires up to 40-45 psi, park on plush carpet, have a full tank of gas, and fresh oil.

Make sure you change your oil in the spring!

 

Perhaps a stupid question (I'm full of them)....why change the oil again in the spring?

 

With all due respect to my young friend, I think that if you use a good brand name oil and filter and as long as you don't run the thing over the winter, you can leave the oil in the spring and begin to log your mileage interval as per usual for the next change. Oil just sitting in there won't degrade. It's the heating up and cooling down that causes oxidation and acidification to occur.

 

I suppose in a new car its not as big of a concern but isn't there an issue with outside contaminants affecting the oil?

 

This is only if the engine is run. If the car is left alone all winter, there isn't much that can allow the migration of those contaminants into the oil. The contaminants that oil usually picks up is a result of the process of combustion and what is missed by your air filter. No incoming air and no combustion, no contaminants. It used to be "in the old days" when oil technology was not so advanced as it is today, yes, oil sitting in an open container (like an oil pan) could have oxidized its additives to some significant extent. But additives these days tends to be very stable.
If you put a cheap oil for winter storage, then you have poor additive content and then you might want to dump it in the spring.

 

xviper
Hey thanks a ton for your help.Yes I was concerned about loosing the "round" of the tires if I park until spring.I plan on parking from the end of Oct to about the middle of March so I won't worry about the oil right now as it is new oil about 1000k ago.
The owners manual was who suggested the car be "jacked".Personally I'm not crazy about the idea for a few reasons and one of them being as you suggested which was leaving the suspension hangiing unnaturally. I think I will go "against " the manual and just park and cover and not fire up.

Oh , and why the full tank of gas as opposed to half or less? I'm just an engineer......LOL

....and for the others,yes it would be fun all winter I'm sure ........ but I'll leave the winter for the yukon.....i"ll wave to ya tho..... thanks everyone for you input.It's been a good thread and I bet I wasn't the only one wondering......thanks again !!!! great group !!!!