Resting up for winter

[chevronb37]

Chaps,

Following a truly dreadful drive home in some biblical rain last Tuesday, I've decided to rest the Elise for a couple of months. It will go back to my parents' for Christmas as my other car's too crap for a long journey but otherwise I want to leave it tucked up until the end of January. Any advice on what a 111R needs during a month-long hibernation? Is a trickle charger necessary? Also what would the PH collective recommend in terms of checks afterwards prior to re-use? It is currently in the garage with a soft cover on awaiting a polish.

I know it's not the macho response, but I really cannot find any pleasure in driving it in heavy rain and darkness, which seem to be the prevailing conditions at the moment. Feels like waiting to have an accident half the time...

Thanks loads,

Andy

[TIPPER]

I think I know how you feel but generally once the Autumnal stuff goes through it gets considerably drier. I just keep the car ready for those lovely crisp sunny December/January days when the sun is shining and there's not a cloud in the sky: lovely weather for roof off drives.

[chevronb37]

Must say I enjoy roof off in the cold - lovely feeling of freedom. I'm not going to SORN the car or anything drastic, just want to make sure I do everything correctly to leave it sat for a month without all the fluids falling out and the battery dying :-) I'm fortunate enough to have a short commute and a car for the purpose (albeit a rubbish one) so I'd rather make sure the Elise is safe and dry for a little while - out of risk while the weather's at its worst and the conditions at their least favourable.

[RedFred]

It's no fun driving in this weather I agree, so don't feel bad about tucking her up until it passes. I've left mine in the garage for a month before and had to jump start it, so I'm hoping Santa is bringing me a trickle charger. Only thing I would recommend is to leave it in gear with the handbrake off as the discs will bind.

[stinkysteve]

If you're not worried about the alarm being activated, just disconnecting the battery is the best option for medium term storage.

brakes off as said.

the other thing i'd do is go down to where its stored every fortnight, and roll it forward or back a foot. This just stops any deformation of the tyres possibly occurring. (although that kind of deformation normally works itself off after a few hundred miles, just feels like you wheels are unbalanced until then)

Mine will be out occasionally, but i agree it's no fun in the current weather. My wife span it last week, and i was struggling to keep up with grannies in fabias recently. No fun!

[Stitch]

There is a wiki on SELOC that has all the advice on this.

[Fidgits]

i'll resist the urge to mention me driving it in the snow

better safe than sorry, and if your not enjoying driving it, not really worth doing so.

[Spitfire]

Mine is living in a friends barn at the minute but I'm taking it for a spin on Sunday if the weather is not too crappy. I thought about taking it off the road during winter too but I agree with the previous post about crisp dry sunny winter days - fab for topless driving all wrapped up in a chunky fleece I read somewhere that it takes about a month to flatten the battery due to the immobiliser so every 2 weeks I'll be taking it for a run, or rolling it out the barn and running it for about 20 mins - this should do I hope!

[chevronb37]

Fidgits said:

i'll resist the urge to mention me driving it in the snow

better safe than sorry, and if your not enjoying driving it, not really worth doing so.

Haha well there are plenty of guys who do use them in the snow, but I've done 12,000 happy miles in it this year so don't feel too hard done by. Every journey recently has been in the rain so not much fun. As motor racing season's over and I can use the Clio for work, I figure I might as well let the Elise stay warm and dry and out of danger.

Thanks for the responses re the battery, I can probably just start her up or give her a run around the block every couple of weeks so probably won't need to worry about draining the battery. Will be spring soon enough