How are you guy winterizing your cars?

[rustedrotors]

This is my 1st modern car I put away for the winter. It is also my 1st summer car at house without a heated garage.

What are you guys doing for the winter?

I am running it once a month, and driving it in and out of the garage to move the rotors around and tires. I run it with the back sitting down, to help pour out condensation on the exhaust. Run it about 10 minutes. I trickle charge it every 2 or 3 weeks. I found where the mice have been sneaking in the garage and fixed it right before winter. Mouse traps all around the car, mice bait, and 2 mothball bags under the hood closer to the wiring spots.

Maybe I should of put gas additive in the tank. This is my 1st summer car I drive with ethanol gas. Motor seems to make more power with 93 ethanol than 90 or 91 non-ethanol.

No car cover in the garage either.

This is a summer daily driver, bought it in august and stop using it mid november, already 7k on it. Likely be another 12-15k each year. Not sure If this will be a permanent keeper car, or sell it when I retire in 10 years with 150-200k on it.

With these oddball winter of late, I could drive it around town a couple of times without getting salt on the car. Especially today and the next few days until snow shows up again.

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[Dxm]

I never bothered doing anything with my previous '07 Mustang in terms of winter in NYC. The only thing that I experienced one time is that it rained and then the temps dropped to something like 7* F. Since then, I coat the rubber seals around the door with special WD-40 with silicone. I spray it on a paper towel, and just make sure that the seal has a layer of that stuff. Otherwise, you may not be able to open a door one day..
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00631GSSI


In terms of rodents, I got this:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DJSCJW3D . I took 2 3M adhesive squares, glued it to the bottom of the jar, and taped it to my plastic fuse box. I took 2 tabs because the jar has a weird shape, so it would not be flush against the flat surface.

Otherwise, just make sure to wash the car after the salty road every once in a while. Also be careful you don't bottom out on ice--it can rip up the felt fender liners, etc. On my old Mustang I bottomed out many times and had no issue because it was hard plastic.

If you are not yet aware of this issue, make sure you close up the fender liner holes, otherwise you'll be scooping up all the salt/rocks, sand as you drive during winter:
https://www.mustang7g.com/forums/threads/front-inner-wheel-well-issues.158833/

In terms of running the car, I always try to warm up the car so the RPMs go down to the normal operating range. It takes a few minutes. If there is ice on the windows, I never scrape it, just blast "max air" until all the ice melts away.

So in short, the Mustang is perfectly capable of being driven year 'round, just watch out for the salt and the fuzzy felt fender liners.

 

[robvas]

Wash it. Park it. Connect to battery tender. Cover it. Put the drag radials in the basement.

No gas additives. No starting it unless I'm going to drive it (figure we get a 55 degree, dry day and I'm bored). Worse for it to start and not get up to temp for a long enough time to get the water out of the oil.

Stepdad starts my mom's Mustang every week for 3 minutes over the winter. Drives me nuts.

 

[JAM486HP]

If the roads are clear, I drive it. This thing runs like a beast when it's cold outside. I keep it garaged on a battery tender on year round, this car does not like a weak battery.

Remote start, heated seats, steering wheel, climate control and "slippery mode" she is a pleasure to drive in the winter. If the roads are slop or covered I'll drive something else, otherwise I'm driving it. I fully expect something like the dash screen to cause issue before the salt, by then it's gone.

 

[Trap]

I definitely would not start it and Idle it, If I can't drive it, it just sits with a battery tender. Mine usually sits for 5 months without starting.
I do fill the tires to the max inflation rate on tire sidewall, this helps a little with flat spotting. Other than that I just make sure it is good and clean before storing it.

PS I also make sure that the gas tank is full, and I do add Stabil to the fuel

 

[WayneK]

I have a heated garage that stays around 50 degrees so I don't fill tank but do put some Stabil in it. Battery tender connected and tires to 50lbs. Every other month on a nice day I move it around in the driveway only because of salt on the roads and run it at 2000 rpm or more for about 30 minutes while using the heater and A/C for a while. I operate window and mirrors and any other electronic functioning devices. So far I haven't had any issues to deal with come spring.

 

[jeffnudi]

I take it to the winter home in southeast Georgia.

 

[s650vert]

I've decided that I'm going to drive my new to me 2024 EB convertible all winter in New England. I've always kept my 2010 RX-8 out of the salty months but this will be a daily driver with M+S tires with decent wet traction. We will see...

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