Car Hibernation

A few essential steps:

Keep it charged

The most expensive mistake when keeping a car stored is poor battery maintenance, we all know someone who's neglected their battery and on more than one occassion their classic car goes through a battery a year. To preserve and maintain the charge in your car's battery there are a couple tips. If your car is pre 1996 and doesn't have an alarm then it's it's best to disconnect your negative battery terminal, a quick solution to this is the Projecta Battery Terminal quick disconnect tap, this stays on your battery and allows you to quickly disconnect your negative terminal with the spin of a tap, this is both safe and requires no tools once it's been installed. Next is to get yourself a battery charger with a trickle charge function. This is perfect for all cars old or new. The trickle charge function ever so slightly keeps you battery topped up by charging intermittently just set and forget. You can also keep an eye on your battery on your mobile phone with a Bluetooth car battery monitor. Hook one of these up to each of your vehicles, whether it's a boat, jetski, ride on lawnmower or classic car.

Fill it up with fuel

If you can, fill your tank with fuel and add in a fuel stabiliser. Filling your tank up prevents any air entering your fuel tank, air contains water and can mix with your fuel over time. Adding a fuel stabiliser stabilises the performance of petrol or diesel and prevents any ethanol from building up, this build up can end up varnishing or rusting engine components or gumming the fuel which can block injectors and carburettor jets.

Clean it one last time

Give your pride and joy one last thorough car wash and chamois it dry before putting it away. Water spots, tree sap and bird droppings can eat away at paint very quickly if it sits on the paint so you want to make sure your car is completely clean and dry before you put it under a car cover or in your garage. For the best results, give the car a good polish and wax, this will give it more protection from the elements and you'll be even more impressed once it's time to take it back out of the garage.

Throw a car cover over it

To prevent dust and moisture build up - After giving your car a good clean make sure you keep the dust, grit and moisture off your car by getting a car cover. Even if your car is in a well sealed garage it's best to keep a cover over it, it prevents scratches or damage that can occur when you're moving things in and out of your garage. If you don't have a garage space for it or it's only in a car port then we suggest a heavy duty weatherproof car cover but still suggest to find some adequate undercover storage if it's for the long term.

Chock it and release the handbrake

If you're planning to leave your car for some time, and have a level garage, to prevent you're brakes from sticking to the rotors, we suggest keeping the car in gear, putting a wheel chock under the wheel and releasing the handbrake. we've all seen those barnfind recovery videos where the brakes seize up and prevent the car from moving and in often mean replacing brake parts.

Get it off the ground to stop tyres from flat spotting

To prevent your tyres from getting flat spots for long durations, make sure you either move the car every 3 or so months, keep your tyres inflated or, if your car is getting some engine work or it can't move at all, then we suggest you jack the car up and put it up on axle stands, this keeps the tyres off the ground and also prevents the weight on your wheel bearings that over time cam cause them to rupture and fail.

Change the oil

If your car is due for an engine oil change prior to putting it away, we suggest you do so. At least look to changing your oil once it comes out of the garage. With fresh oil and a fresh oil filter you have yourself the recipe for worry free motoring once it's out of the garage and back to its best. For best results we suggest you use an engine oil flush before emptying the old oil, and don't forget to change your oil filter.

Treat your leather

If you have a leather interior, now's the best time to give it a leather clean and conditioner treatment. This penetrates and nourishes your leather keeping it moisturised, soft and prevents cracks by stopping the leather from drying out. Leather conditioner or hydrating cream works best when given time to sink in, so what better time then when it's under wraps. continue to apply leather conditioner every 3-6 months to maintain soft plush leather. Apply to your leather seats, headrests, leather steering wheel, leather gear boot and leather door trims. After a day or two, wipe off with a microfibre cloth and apply again if there are dry patches. If it's dry then the leather has soaked up all the leather conditioner and may require more. the older the car, the more likely it is to guzzle the leather hydrating cream.