Hello, I was wondering if it is best to store the car over winter with the rag top completely closed, completely opened, or perhaps just loosely opened. Just curious if the seals around the ragtop may be better if the top was not in contact with them over the winter months. I have an enclosed garage, no sun penetration, no dust or dirt, not heated but not entirely freezing either. Any advice would be helpful, thanks .

Joey

 

have never stored mine and its top is always down...
if i was going to store it i would likely want the top up to keep creatures out. hopefuly you can check on the car and open it a few times during the winter to air it out.

 

My car is a garage queen that spends it's winters in a garage.

I have always stored my car with the soft-top up and latched. I also keep the windows up. I've never had a problem with the top or seals.

There are a number of winter storage threads throughout the form, some better than others.

I'm of the opinion, less is more. Historically, I'm sure there was a need to do alot of prep work for winter storage. However, tires, gas, lubricants are so advanced at this point, you can almost pull it in, cover it and forget it.

 

just to throw it in, there should be no issues with leaving it down all winter if you want as people with hard tops leave it down for much longer.

 

Store it with the top up, and windows up. This will help prevent any creases formimg on the top with it being down for an extended period of time.

A good idea would be to treat the seals as well, make sure tires have proper air pressure, and add some fuel stabilzer to the tank and disconnect the battery.

If you plan on starting the car at all over the winter, that might be good, just to let it run for a few minutes to make sure everything is ok, and maybe air out the interior a bit. Puts some moth balls in there too.

 

thanks for the replies, the comment about creases in the top sounds reasonable, so I think I will keep it up. I plan on treating the seals and latches for sure, as well as the hinges. My garage is attached to my house, no problem with critters at all so I don't have any concerns about those types of problems. Much appreciated for the replies.