Well it's winter here in NY and it's getting to the point where I'm putting my car away for the winter.

So, I usually winterize my car by throwing in some fuel stabilizer to a full tank and by plugging my car into a battery tender.

I was thinking of adding tire ramps this year. What do you think of these Bunkerwall Tire Ramps?

Does anyone use ramps? Or are they a waste? My mindset was that for $60, I would get some piece of mind that my tires won't go flat during the 5 or so months my car is out of commission - especially since I have to garage it in a facility that I cannot access until springtime.

 

If you want to stop the flat spots, why not jack stands? If they are off the ground then no flat spots. Also unloads the suspension. Good luck with those ramps, looks to me they will still have a sort of flat spots.

.

 

Modern wide tires do not get flat spots. I have had no issues storing mine over the winter.

 

I used to put cardboard under the tires out of concern the acidic concrete would hurt them. Gave that up after a few years. First wash the car well. Add Stabil, top the tank, use a battery tender, and boost the tire pressure to 38-40 to prevent flat spots. I have not had any issues over 12 winters. PS - When I have to store the cars without access to an outlet, I remove the batteries and use a battery tender in my basement.

 

 

Never had flat spots, seems like a solution looking for a problem. Woody

 

 

No flat spots? I get flat spots on all of my vehicles (radials). Thumpy ride for a few miles, then smoothed out. My vehicles are outside (cept for the XF, but no heat in garage) and are rotated about every week (rotated means driven for about 50 miles per trip). Hard to understand why yours doesn't get flat spots...

.

 

 

Concrete is slightly alkaline at about a pH of 8.5. Mild bases or acids will not harm rubber. Ozone is the real enemy of tires and rubber bushings.

I would get four jack stands and raise the tires off the ground. Walmart sells some for 9 bucks each. With modern wide radial tires, flattening is not really a concern though.

 

Ramps will not stop flat spots either, but they may help reduce the severity of the flat spots. Overinflated is a better bet. Now if you're running "extreme" performance tires i.e. potenza RE-71R, Direzza ZIII, Ventus R-S4, Advan Neova AD08 R you should remove them and store them in your warm house. The same goes for track compound tires(I'll assume track racers already know this). The rubber compound is very soft and freezing temps can harden the rubber to the point of possibly cracking the compound if you were to move or worse drive on said tires in freezing temps. If you don't want to remove these type of tires then i second the jack stand method till spring time. I realize most xfire owners don't opt for the extreme or track tires, but if you were contemplating getting some next time around, you should be aware of proper winter storage for them if your car will be subject to freezing or below temps. Just my .02cents

 

When removing the tires for winter storage, does something have to be done so the alarm does not go off when jacking up the car? This may have been covered elsewhere but I didn't find. I have had the wheels off before, for brake work, but that was on a lift. Never have jacked up the car but have heard that the alarm could go off.

Thanks,

Jim

 

 

Thanks bluecoupe for that information. Saves my hearing in my small garage.

Jim