Why the plywood squares?

 

There’s lots of myths about tires sitting on concrete too long, but according to the Goodyear website, it’s moisture exposure that is bad for the tire, and they recommend not storing tires directly on concrete. Moisture will leach out of concrete, rain runoff and snow melt from other vehicles in the garage will add moisture to the floor as well.
So, I park on the plywood for the winter.

 

Never heard about such thing here.
Maybe the concrets building norms are different in the US. Over here such concrete floor would'nt be allowed.
If moisture goes in concrete to the point it might hurt any watertight material , the concrete will destroy with time from frost and heat .

What I know here, is that leaving tires on hard floor for too long will unshape the tires creating a flat.
Wood being much softer might absorb the curve ...(Although i would prefer plain wood over plywood unless you have 1" poplar plywood that is softer than the usual exotic hardwood plywood we find in Europe).

 

Supposedly the plywood (or just wood) spacers do help if the area is subjected to rain or snow or such, but not directly ON the vehicle because wood absorbs much more water than does concrete. On the other hand, in a covered and never flooded concrete floor is at least AS dry as any wood for the top several cm. "Soft" wood also does not compress from vehicle tires to any significant amount, so that reasoning fails. Park a 20k KG lorry on wood blocks, it won't compress the wood at all.
I understand the reasoning, but it fails in application.

 

Well, never said that this is efficient.
But anyway for sure poplar plywood is really soft.
I have a fretsaw in my workshop. It's around 25/30kg on 4 feet. It stand on a spare poplar plywood piece to have it a little higher and trust me it left a mark.
So if any material could absorb the shape, i would bid on soft wood over concrete.

All in all this wood piece thing appears almost for sure to be useless.

 

As a side note to go with this, if one measures the tire contact area of all four tires individually, then multiply that figure by the pressure inside each tire, then add those figures together, that's the total weight of the entire car. That does assume that the sidewalls do not support any weight due to tire under-inflation. An approximation and not a definitive, of course.

 

Could be, but I’ve got the wood, been using it for a number of years, certainly does no harm, so what the heck, I’ll keep doing it.

 

just overinflated the tires, they will come back to round in the spring after driving a few miles. As to the moisture, part of my winter storage is simply laying down a plastic paint tarp and park the car over it. Yes moisture will leach up from the concrete all winter. The tarp protects the car by blocking the moisture.

 

Probably a better idea than the cardboard I put down to catch any potential leaks over the winter.

 

Wouldn't any precipitation collect ABOVE the plastic and remain there in a puddle? Unless of course it's a covered area. But in that case, there wouldn't be any moisture in the top layer of concrete anyway.
It probably doesn't hurt regardless, so whatever seems best.

 

Just thinking about something:
Why not using the car in any season?
Is the XK dangerous during winter time?

 

Those that park their XKs in the winter probably do so to avoid salt and snow exposure. In the northern climes a lot of salt is used to alleviate snow pack on city and suburban streets.

 

There usually isn't much snow around me in winter since I'm at a lower altitude, and during clear street days I still drive my XKR during the winter. Sucks I have to put the top up though, at sometimes -20C temps. I do use Snow Mode though because the tires are not very good below 0C.

 

Ralph is spot on. It's not the snow. Doesn't really snow much here in Minneapolis anymore but they love to dump the road salt. That's when and why I store the car. Even if they didn't slat the roads like crazy, the slightest snow at rush hour draws out the stupid in people and 100 "fender benders in and around the city isn't uncommon. And yes, even in a garage, moisture will leach up through the concrete floor so the plastic tarp is a cheap $3 preventative. I have my floor sealed but my brain keeps telling me to do it anyway. I haven't had any condensation under the tarp since sealing the floor but I did in my last garage. Climate isn't arid here like it is out west.

 

I disagree, Sir. It looks MUCH better than with fully black doors.
Oh and WTF do you guys have with black rims, srsly ??? 😒 They look like crap compared to the contrast offered by nice, shiny silver wheels!

 

I can't argue with the classiest man in the world now can I George, especially given the "officially" status:-)

 

hahaha I have the shiny hypersilver wheels!! ...although for only one very brief moment did I have ever had black wheels, and when I say brief, it was literally one day then I went back to the wheel shop and had them changed immediately!! Its a pity as I think the particular wheel would have looked fantastic in silver; they were BBS motorsport wheels

 

Hey, what can I say when even teh Wiki sez it?

Anyway, your seats really are killer!

 

In response to “are our cars dangerous in the winter”. how?!?
The car is wonderfully balanced. Put on the right rubber and head up to the ski hills.

 

I bought the car last year January so I have to get it inspected safety and emissions both again in the next two months (my state wouldn't give me a 2-year plate tag last year for the combination of even year model in odd caledar year). And winter is coming so I wanted to get out to have her inspect today ASAP so she can get back in the garage before salt and snow arrive.

So the first good news is everything passed, and they like my car if course. Some great guys at this shop I go to who are my backup because I want to do a lot of the work.

The other thing was there was a new guy there that I think is their detailing expert, and when he saw mine his first comment was looks great who washes it?
That seriously made my day.