Who has inexpensive products for preventing flat spots on your car's tires when in storage? Eckler's has a plastic product you drive your car over, but they want $270 for the 4 piece set. Seems a little pricey to me. Any others out there for less? Other suggestions?
You can jack up the car and put it on jackstands, you can put the maximum amount of air in the tires, or you can sit it on a set of these dollies from Harbor Freight that allow you to move the car around if you need to: http://www.harborfreight.com/2-piece-vehicle-dollies-67511.html
Exactly ^^, that is what we used to do to anything that was going to be parked for a month or more. I think in the good old days we may have been a little more industrius.
If you don't want to use stands, park it in a place where you can roll it back and forth 8-10 feet from one end of the space to the other. Then move it a little every week or so, to ensure it doesn't sit in one spot for too long. But if you aren't going to drive it for a long time, why not jack stands? Gary
jack stands may be for the best, as during your down time, you might wipe / work on the BEAST. one never knows when one might feel the need to get under Her and it relaxes your springs ( and that's a good thing )
HeHe...jack it up and turn the wheels a quarter turn every now and then..flatting don't happen overnite.
Get some HF wheel dollies item #67511 on sale now at $39.99 pair.... Linky.... www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result?q=dolly
they only get flat on the bottom!, haha yeah lame joke i know, but small jack stands do the trick, i put all my stuff on stands for the winter, or put them on junk old roller tires and wheels and put the good shit in the basement....
what about the ramps called flatstoppers. has anybody tried them? i was thinking of getting a set because i have a roadster with bias ply tires and didnt want to put in on jack stands all winter.here is a link to ones on ebay. http://www.ebay.com/itm/FLAT-SPOT-S..._Automotive_Tools&hash=item4cec1ee188&vxp=mtr
i clicked on your link henryj1951 and it takes me to the harbor freight site but not to a particular item. the ramps on ebay are supposed to be soft so your tire sink in to them a bit. and they don't conduct heat or cold. i dont know if they are good or not i was woundering if anybody else has used them.
ya linkie no workie so ...when u go there search dolly and it should show up and there 39bucks and i use some ... so far so good but not 2hundered sheckles worth on the b bay
Jack stands are not a good idea over long periods. It keeps any rubber bushings in a twisted position which damages them. This is a big no-no on an early Vette with the independent rear
Ha, When I was in highschool I had an old ford that we put walnut shell tires on the rear for driving in the snow. After a cold night the tires would bump for the first mlle or two at least until they got warm and round again. They used to know that bias ply nylon tires would get flatten with times of no use but they used to say that you lifted them off the ground to keep them from rotting. Maybe that was left over from earlier tires and the rubber coumpounds that they used.
YEP, thats what i do. pull it out of the garage into the driveway a few times over the winter months once the roads get salty. That is if the OP can access the car once its stored away.
Just start the car up, pull it forward until the front bumper touches the back wall of the garage, and light 'em up! After two or 3 minutes of a good ol' fashion burnout, No more flat spot. Now, rotate your tires and repeat. CAUTION!!!! Do not attempt this while the wife is entertaining her snooty friends, they never seem to understand.
You'll be OK if you place the jackstands on the suspension and not the frame. The suspension is still "loaded" just no weight on the tires.
Be my luck the tires would grip and i'd go through the front of the garage. I suppose the tires would still be round. How's a "Horrible Fart" dolly gonna keep a tire from getting a flat spot while sitting on the dolly? Use cheap jack stands if not planning on working under the car. Or take the wheels off and store them in the living room. Makes good chairs for company during holidays.
Cut up a sheet of that foam type insulation, the 4x8 sheets. Cut the pieces in 1 foot squares and then jack the car up and slide the foam underneath the tire and set it back down or just drive on them. I have used the insulation board or just chunks of packing foam before. I have had cars on them for up to six months with no flat spots.
Why are there so many posts on this thread? The only options were given long ago: move the car, put a ton of air in them, jack the tires off the floor, rest them on something curved (like the dollies I linked to, see below), or don't let it sit very long. I'm guessing the "drive it" guys don't live in the snow belt? But now I have to add one more reply to explain how the H.F. dollies will keep the tires from getting a flat spot: because they are CURVED, that's why. Personally I'd have looked at the photo in the link before throwing that one out. And yes, putting the jackstands under the SUSPENSION, not the frame, will prevent bushing and shock damage. Good lord, people, this is a simple problem with a few simple answers. (Yes, I am feeling cranky today. I have a baby at home and he is trying to kill me via sleep deprivation.)
Sorry. Raising kids is a full time job. It'll make ya tough and proud. You can sleep after they get out of college. H.F. dollies will keep the tires from getting a flat spot: because they are CURVED, As for those dollies I still can't see how this will keep tires from getting flat spots. They are still sitting on their bottoms, just spread out a little more. Kinda like us. I lived in Illinois and tried to at least drive up and down the drive way when it wasn't coverd with ice or snow. Other times just pushed it forward and then back a little in the garage. Also a chance to get away from the rugrat.
They are curved a lot, enough that the bottom of the tire isn't "flat" and enough that the weight of the car is spread out more than you'd think when they're on there. (I drive my car throughout the winter, but I stored my current project on those dollies to make it mobile and immediately noticed that the tires weren't bulging at the bottom when it was on there. Just a latent function of the shape they gave'em.) I seriously believe my baby son wants me dead! My daughter (now 7) let us sleep much longer stretches every night. I think he figures he can have the shop, the cars, and all the tools with me out of the way!
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