I've grown up in a climate where I didn't have to worry about snow for winter but have moved to Germany and this will be my first time living through a cold, humid, and snowy climate. My question for any of you who live in similar climates, how do you store your C63 (or any other car that you wish to preserve) for the winter months to protect from rust and any other issues that may arise from a winter climate?

I'll be getting a place with a garage of course. But what I'm really curious about are stuff like dehumidifiers, battery tricklers, etc. Any tips, advice, opinions, etc. are greatly welcomed.

 

An enclosed garage is all you really need. Todays cars don't rust unless you really neglect them for a lengthy time. IMO it's the severe temperature change for cars that are not garaged for years that affects parts. You will be fine, just keep all the road salt off. People here have been storing their cars in garages for years with no issues.

As for the battery trickle, yes if you don't plan on driving the car this would probably be a good idea.

Not that complicated.

 

Everything places said.

I'll usually air up the tires to the max recommended pressure as well, fill up the tank with some fuel stabilizer, and I have one of those little solar trickle chargers I hook up to maintain the battery over the winter and that's about it

 

Is there any fuel stabilizer that you'd recommend?

 

Not to hijack the thread, but I also plan on storing my car for the winter (~6 months). Is it true that I shouldnt start up the car once or twice during this time to "get the fluids moving"?

 

As above all is great advice, I usually either air up the tires a bit or just move the car once a month to not flat spot the tires. Trickle charger for sure or pull the batter and put it somewhere else and trickle charge if you have no power fuel conditioner in the fuel and run it enough to get all the way through the system before you put it away.

If it is somewhere that mice might be able to get to I like to put dryer sheets under the car to deter them (or mothballs etc) anything to keep nesting rodents out from under your hood.

I always put it away clean so wash it well and then put an indoor cover on it if stored indoors and that is about it.

If you are going to say start it once a month (you don't really need to) but if you are you really want to run it for 15-20 minutes to get up to temp and burn off any water vapor.

Come spring change the oil in the engine and check air pressure in the tires and you should be good to go.

 

If you wash it, thoroughly dry it first, roll on the brake rotors a bit, and don’t put a cover on it without getting all the water and moisture out of the spaces. Keep tank full, battery tender, and air in tires. Ideally you should turn it on every 2 weeks or so to let fluids circulate and roll over on tire spots. Beware mice.

 

I didn't think about rodents, great idea!

I heard if you're storing a vehicle for a long time it's better to not run it unless you actually are going to drive it; running it idle does more harm than good.

 

Not true on running idle....it’s a myth...please prove it.

 

In additional to the usual best practices, I started to add an odor/moisture absorbent (something like ) in the interior.

 

Good points made on the full tank and starting the car. Won't hurt anything if you start the car every few weeks and let it run for a few minutes. I live in a building with underground garage and one of my neighbors is a car collector, lots of super high end cars and he starts his every few weeks and lets them run for 15 minutes or so.

 

Agree with all these, also recommend putting carpet under tires or cardboard to avoid flat spot

 

The rule I always was taught was if you need to run it for more than 15 seconds run it for 15 minutes to get it hot enough for all the moisture to evaporate and not be left in the engine or exhaust. Generally for 3 months I just don't start it for longer I would probably run it once every 3 months or even take for a short drive just to rotate and keep everything moving.

For fuel stabilizer I use the StarTron Enzyme stuff, I store a lot of small engines, motorcycles, dirt bikes etc and they all start first kick in the spring never had an issue. I never had great luck with Stabil - if you can only find Stabil you need at least the marine type for ethanol fules (not probably an issue in Germany).

 

If you want to be really fancy they sell plastic things tire shaped to stop flatspotting but too rich for my blood.

 

What about changing the engine oil before storage? Would it be bad to store a car for 6 months with engine oil that is 3400km old?

 

Dude, it’s not a Formula 1 car. Relax. Fill it with gas, throw it on a trickle charger and cover it. It’ll be fine.

 

This 100%. As I stated earlier my neighbor has a bunch of super high line cars (McLarens, Ferraris, etc.) and all he does is trickle charge them and start them up occasionally. I'm sure a C63 will be just fine.

 

I do not have enough knowledge to judge what is better or worse in terms of fuel stabilizer, but I buy a bottle of Stabil and I use it...

 

"Stabil" is the one I use!

 

I literally just parked mine in the garage with a full tank and that was it. No trickle charger, additives, nothing. I also live in quite a cold place and if memory serves me correctly one February the temp didn't go above freezing at any single point in the month.

Started up every year like I had just gone in and out of the grocery store for 10 minutes. I would let it idle a little longer than usual, meaning like a full 2 minutes, just to listen to it and let it warm up a little bit on that first startup. Expected some normal chatter from the lifters as everything has fully settled at that point but goes away quickly.

Cars are stout. At most I'd throw a trickle charger on it but even then, meh.

Best suggestion that sticks out here to me is the rodent one and being aware if you have mice or what not in your area and putting down some rodent preventatives (keeping children and pets in mind, of course).

 

The filling it full with gas is not really even needed anymore, I do it but the purpose was that a steel gas tank if not full would condense moisture on the inside above the fuel line and could cause rust on an untreated metal, all our cars have plastic tanks so not much of an issue anymore.

 

In the winter time if the garage isn't temp regulated you want to decrease risk of condensation from hot engine and cold air mixing so start the car for a longer period of time. The cold air in the engine starts forming steam from the little time it takes to heat up. If the garage is heated and has a humidistat or air circulator you don't run into condensation issues. Realistically though there is no real need to start it unless you miss driving it.

Rust will typically build where cam lobe wear has developed, I didn't take photos but thats what happens if moisture gets in.

Good luck!

 

Here's a different idea... get a set of winter wheels & tires and drive it. It's an "old-school" Mercedes that's fully galvanized so I wouldn't be concerned about rust. I don't put a lot of mileage on it, but I drive mine year-round in Canada and I am pretty sure that we get more snow here than in Germany. Take it out for a good run every couple of weeks, and driving it in the white slippery stuff is about as much fun as you can have with your pants on - plus it will teach you how to be very smooth with the throttle. Keeping the tank full does help with traction in the snow when you need to get going up an incline, but with a good set of winter tires it is not different than any other car.

 

If you are going to be starting it up, let the oil (not just coolant) reach operating temperature (~100C) and keep it running for at least 15 minutes - otherwise you're just going to end up with a lot of moisture in the crank case which turns the oil acidic.

Depends on how the car was driven during those 3400 km - see above. If you made a lot of short trips, change it before you store it. If you drove longer trips where the moisture from the crank case could evaporate, it's fine.

True. And, that will also keep everything oiled up so you'll completely eliminate any possibility of corrosion on the camshaft lobes that someone else mentioned (which I personally haven't seen... there are a number of old used cams pulled from various P-cars that have been sitting in the open on the shelves in the shop for years, and while they're dusty, they haven't rusted).

Adding fuel stabilizer is not a bad idea if you can only get gas that contains Ethanol, which absorbs moisture from the air that may lead to phase separation after sitting for a number of months... but that mostly happens with small engines (or, rather, small fuel tanks... like those found on a chain saw or lawn mower). Fuel stabilizers are just kerosene or a blend of kerosene and more alcohol to absorb more moisture. Now, a full tank of E5 premium gas contains enough Ethanol to absorb a few months' worth of moisture without adding stabilizers, but it won't hurt anything to add some. If you can get Ethanol-free gas you don't need to worry about it.

Nah... that doesn't make a difference. If you let the car sit for six months they will get flat spotted no matter what, but after driving for half an hour they'll return back to round. Inflate the tires to 50 psi to minimize the flat spotting, in which case they'll vibrate less when you get it going again in the spring and will bounce back to round in 20 minutes instead of 30.

This. And, if you can't connect a trickle charger and can't periodically start the car, just disconnect the battery. You'll just lose your mirror and seat position presets and "convenience" preferences you may have changed from the defaults.