Winter storage and resulting tire flat spots

[jdbs3]

1990 Vanagon GL

Since purchasing the van second-hand, it has never seen winter. I park it in the garage for 6 months, inflate the tires to 50 PSI, put some gas stabilizer in, and remove the battery (else it drains within a few weeks).

I recently rotated the tires and am now getting a fair amount of uneven riding (shaking) at speeds greater than 40 mph. I was also getting a shake in the steering wheel from around 50 - 60 mph.

I took it to my mechanic who knows vanagons. He test drove it with me and then balanced the front tires; they were off a bit. He noted that the wheel balance might help, but based on the ride and when the shaking occurs, he expects I have a flat spot on the tires, most likely from letting the van sit for 6 months. Yes, the shake at 40 mph + is still there, though the steering wheel no longer shakes.

He also noted the shake will probably go away if I re-rotate the tires with the flat spot to the rear of the van. I will do this later this week.

The question is, when storing the van for a long period of time, how do I avoid this problem in the future?

thanks

[wasserbox]

Put the van up on blocks.

[dubstar]

roll it forward and back by hand every week so that it's not in the same spot all winter...I wouldn't leave the emergency brake on, either
_________________
1963 Type II Kombi
1977 Type I Fuel Injection

http://instagram.com/john_aka_dubstar/
http://web.stagram.com/n/john_aka_dubstar/


"you could transport really tall things too, like a giraffe"

[iceracer]

I have stored Vw's for years and never have had a flat spot yet. I do inflate the tires to the max though and when I think of it from time to time push the van/vw to a new spot even if it is 6 inches or so. Sounds like you may have other suspension issues. Try rotating tires and see what happens. You could also jack up each tire and spin it to see if you can visually see a flat spot.
_________________
86 Syncro Wolfsburg edition
63 Beetle (The Iceracer)