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Winter without a garage

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cinergi

Active Member
Sep 17, 2010
2,176
42
MA
Even with the cover (because it has vent holes), I can't really avoid the problem of snow getting into the radiator fans. And I can't fully clean them by hand, either. Fortunately they don't generally run in the winter (but can, especially with heat & A/C while sitting still).

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Also have to be careful about the way you clean it. The curves take more time to clean around, and you want to clean in the right direction so as to, for example, not shove snow in the air ducts

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Wow, that must be a pain cleaning the snow out of your fans.

I know the covers are vented, but it might be worth the effort to "customize" your cover & block off the vents with some duct tape...cheaper than putting up a garage, even a temporary one.
 
Unfortunately the cover isn't practical in general, either. There's a lot of snow, ice, and water when you take it off... It weighs a LOT and is difficult to deal with ... then you have to figure out what to do with it (generally would need to wash & dry it). Takes a lot of effort :-(

Yeah, this thing's is not designed to sit outside in a winter storm! Oh well -- it's still manageable. We've just been getting nailed with a lot of snow lately (had another 7 inches today ... 3rd big storm this season already ... and got some huge storm brewing for next week) ... cleaning out from these storms is starting to get old :)
 
Yes, I guess if people start putting tents up the place starts looking like a carnival... maybe you could sway the association with a test drive now and then :)

In addition to giving drives I would just buy a temp carport like shown and put it up for the winter. You could probably fend them off for the season and then pull it down when it stops snowing. You are leaving anyway so if some feathers are ruffled no worries.

Ask for forgiveness, not permission. :)
 
Ask for forgiveness, not permission. :)

I wish more people thought like that! I'm trying to build my garage here in Tokyo 1 inch bigger than spec allows and the builder is telling me it will get torn down. The people next door, who have a house that is like 40 years old or something, have a wall that extends at least 3 feet into the road somewhat blocking access to my house... and I can't even get a single inch in front of my own house. How times have changed... I'll definately get some pics up of the crazy garage I'm building (with Roadster in it)., it will give cinergi some inspiriation I think! To get out of the car I don't think I'll be able to open the door, and that's actually not a joke.
 
Yes, something like those pictures! It's funny how big cars start to look when you put them (or try to put them) in such tiny garages. The one with the Japanese garage and the nose of the car sticking out -- you see that all the time. It happens because there are mini cars available here that are < 3.5 meters in lengh and perhaps 1.3 or 1.4 meters in width. These cars get great milage, pay no or very low tax, etc. However, sometimes when an owner gets tired of driving these things around, they buy a bigger car such as the Roadster in my case, and find they can't fit it into there garage, can't get out of their car, etc. So the nose just sticks right out, and often the driver needs to climb out of the vehicle without using the doors.
 
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I've done it with the Roadster. Open up soft top from inside, climb out, put soft top back on.

I try to nearly always park in spots with no parking next to the driver's side, because I know sometime someone is going to park close enough that I can't get the door open enough to get in the normal way and I'm sure it'll be sometime when I have the hard top on.
 
10x20 storage unit for me

I also don't have a garage but I live just down the road from a storage facility. I rented out a unit on the ground floor and I just drive it right in (I have small ramps because there is about a 5 inch gap between the road and the unit). Only downside is that I can't plug it in there so I usually put it in the day it snows and try to take it out 1 day after the snow ends. So far so good. I could see doing this for a couple years but next time I move I will definitely get a garage :) We've also been getting an absurd amount of snow so I hope that this won't keep up.
 
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