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I've winterized the car, fuel stabilizer, battery tender, etc.. This year I wanted to get the tires off the floor (flat spots) so I don't have to move it through the winter. I decided to jack it up but keep the shocks compressed (prevent rusting of shock piston arms) by putting the jack stands under the lower arms of the suspension system. I haven't seen any post of anyone else doing this, any educated input would be appreciated.
Hey Little Fryer, my winterization is identical to yours with one exception. Instead of blocking up the car I add about 10 psi of air to each tire, eliminates flat spotting and helps to maintain the seal on the rims. Also, I'd worry a little about supporting the weight of the car on the aluminum rods. I've done the added air on my FFR Cobra for the past 10 years, I learned this technique from some racing buddies and verified with a local tire dealer. He said newer tire compounds are much less likely to 'flat spot'. Just don't forget to go back to standard tire pressures in the Spring. Larry
Hey Little Fryer, my winterization is identical to yours with one exception. Instead of blocking up the car I add about 10 psi of air to each tire, eliminates flat spotting and helps to maintain the seal on the rims. Also, I'd worry a little about supporting the weight of the car on the aluminum rods. I've done the added air on my FFR Cobra for the past 10 years, I learned this technique from some racing buddies and verified with a local tire dealer. He said newer tire compounds are much less likely to 'flat spot'. Just don't forget to go back to standard tire pressures in the Spring. Larry
Hi lgl314, thanks for the response. Adding 10 psi is what i did last year and I was rotating the tires about every two weeks. The tires that are on the car are only a few years old and when driving at certain speeds i get a low vibration (had the tires balanced) that i figure is because of flat spots from the previous owner not winterizing correctly. I haven't talked to any tires dealers, but i will check into it. As for the aluminium rods, they are designed liked small "I" beams, and a local mechanic thought it would be "OK". I just haven't seen any other post of people doing this, and am hoping to get some more opinions. Thanks!
Little Fryer, In my job as an ME we never used an I-beam to support weight as shown in your picture. The 'web' of the beam is the strongest section, look at any bridge or building structure. It may be strong enough in this particular application, however, try to keep the jack stands close to the end of the rod. Larry
I contacted my local Porsche dealer and spoke to the service manager (who spoke to the mechanics) and they thought it looked O.K.!
Then they are idiots. The car should be supported by its lift points or by its tires/wheels. Anywhere else is asking for it. The way you have the car supported can result in those alum. arms being bent.
There is no reason to get the car off the ground. Inflate the tires to their max. inflation pressure and done.
Have to agree with this. This is why Porsche put specific jack points on the car.
Originally Posted by Macster
Then they are idiots. The car should be supported by its lift points or by its tires/wheels. Anywhere else is asking for it. The way you have the car supported can result in those alum. arms being bent.
There is no reason to get the car off the ground. Inflate the tires to their max. inflation pressure and done.
I went to "tire Rack" to look up about flat spotting, here's a couple of quotes:
"Flat-spotting can be temporary (the tire will round out as driving warms it up) or in the most severe cases, permanent (in which the tire’s ride quality is effectively destroyed). A flat-spot’s severity is often a function of the tire size, internal structure, load, ambient temperature and time spent stationary.
Low aspect ratio tires have less sidewall flex due to their short sidewalls and much of their load carrying capacity is absorbed by the deflection of their wide footprints.
The tread compounds and firm, nylon reinforced internal constructions used on high performance and high speed-rated tires are more susceptible to flatspotting."
" If you watch the professional race teams at an event, you’ll see that they always remove the race tires immediately after stopping in the pits at the end of a session (if they plan to continue using the tires)."
I don't think there's a debate on whether the tires will flat spot, it can and does happen.
What we're trying to say is you have the jack stands incorrectly placed, they should be on the jack points Porsche has built into the frame, not the suspension.
