How to Properly Store Your Porsche

Exterior Care

Before parking your Porsche for its extended sleep, it's recommended that you have the car washed and waxed. If you can, have it professionally done or on that level if you do it yourself. Use at least two coats of wax to really seal off the car and get rid of as many impurities as well as debris on the paint and protect it from moisture, ultraviolet light or anything harmful that may be in the air. Also, if you will  be using a car cover to wrap the car, the movement of it will not scuff the paint due to the waxy layers. 

Rust Prevention

Unless your Porsche will be inside an inflatable hermetically sealed car bubble, then it will be exposed to the ups and downs of the environment by the air. Most likely the underside of the car will be exposed and proper care should be taken to prevent damage to it. The bodywork should be coated with a protective wax-based substance with a corrosion inhibitor to keep prevent condensation from the temperature. This condensation could cause rust, which can eat your precious Porsche from the inside out! If you live in a region that sees snow or somewhere near an ocean, then it would be prudent to have this done every few years to keep rust at bay. 

Interior

You should also detail the interior of the car and get the inside all cleaned up properly. This includes a thorough vacuuming, cleaning, and conditioning of the dash, and doing the same to the seats. Any organic dirt can promote growth in changing temperatures to mould and other biological items that can cause permanent damage. 

The Battery

While your Porsche is stored away, it is recommended to make sure the battery is completely disconnected during winter storage. Unfortunately, we cannot do anything about air being around the car, but we can reduce electrical activity by removing the battery during storage. For rust and corrosion to form, certain conditions need to be met. Two of those are air and oxygen. 

While the battery is removed from the Porsche, it would be a good to connect it to a battery conditioner. A battery conditioner will constantly monitor the battery, top it off as needed going through charging and discharging, and stop it from degrading. 

Fuel

Fuel can and will evaporate over time with oxygen attacking it. Condensation will form in the tank and along with the condensation can corrode the fuel tank. With this mind, the fuel tank should be filled all the way up before storage. However, once the car is to be brought out of storage it is recommended that you use a fuel system cleaning additive which will help with lubrication to the fuel pumps and injectors. 

Engine

Even though the car will not be run during its storage, the engine still needs care. Accumulated hydrocarbons from when the car was running can react with humidity during the winter months of storage to form chemical compounds which can attack the engine oil, bearings, and any metallic surface within the engine. So prior to storage you should have the engine oil and filter changed, then drive the car long enough for the engine oil temperature to reach fully operational level. This should be a spirited drive where the engine is under load and lasts for a minimum of thirty minutes. 

If your Porsche is a water-cooled engine, it is important to make sure the coolant is also up to a minimum protection level. Ideally, up to 50% and down to minus 30 degrees Celsius. A protection level that high will ensure the antifreeze anti-corrosion properties are up to snuff and will prevent damage to your radiators, engine block, cylinder head and water pump.

If you can, remove the spark plugs and have anti-corrosion winterising spray applied to the bores and then replace the spark plugs. If you are unable to do this, see if you can have a mechanic make a house call and do this bit of service for you. This will avoid bore or piston ring damage due to humidity or changes in the temperature. 

Wheels and Tires

Now onto the wheels of your vehicle and how to safeguard them from the environment. Remove the wheels and place the car on axle stands during storage. This will prevent the tires from becoming deformed and being ruined by a flat spot when the car is taken out of storage. Either find a place where the tires can hang just off the ground or just stack them up and off to the side. If you need to leave the tires on the car, then over-inflate them as to cut down on deformity while the car sits. 

You'll also want to give the wheels a thorough cleaning to reduce brake dust and contaminants from eating away at both painted and unpainted wheel surfaces. After the wheels are cleaned, go ahead and apply petroleum jelly to it to remove oxygen contact with the surface. This can be easily removed when you are ready to take the car out of storage by simply washing. 

Brakes

We know that you don't want your beautiful machine going anywhere but you CANNOT apply the hand-brake on a long term basis. The mechanism can seize and your car can be stuck wherever it is being stored. What you should do is to gather or purchase wheel chocks to either side of the car if you are leaving the wheels on the vehicle. It's recommended that you occasionally remove the chocks and roll the car forward and backward by six-to-twelve inches to keep the brake pads from sticking to the brake discs.  

Windshield Wipers and Washer Fluid

For the last two steps, you'll want to make sure your washer fluid reservoir is filled to the top with washer fluid of the highest strength. This level of strength will prevent freezing during the storage period. This is really important if you want to avoid tons of repairs having to do with the washer pump, bottle, pipe-work, and jets, which will be damaged if the fluid freezes. 

Take the windshield wipers and wrap them with plastic wrap to prevent the rubber from sticking to the glass during changes in the temperatures. 

Now you've prepped your Porsche for storage and you can rest easy knowing that everything will be properly preserved during its time away from the road. 

For information on maintenance and repairs, check out our do-it-yourself technical articles at http://rennlist.com/how-tos.