Car on jack stands

[drtruong]

Is it a good idea to put the car jack stands for storage? Good for the shocks but bad for the car frame?

 

[fastfwd]

It's a car, so not bad for the frame/chassis. Unnecessary for the shocks. Maybe good for the tires.

 

[Wild Turkey]

I think you'll find your answers here from when it was discussed last spring:

Wheels off while on Jack Stands

I am curious if I should remove the wheels while the car is on jack stands for a few days? Just wondering if the weight of the wheels would put too much stress on the suspension while the car is on jack stands. Thanks.

www.nsxprime.com

Note that the 2001 owner's manual does call for putting the car on jack stands if stored more than 1 month, presumably to prevent flat-spotting the tires.

 

[RyanRA]

I think you'll find your answers here from when it was discussed last spring:

Wheels off while on Jack Stands

I am curious if I should remove the wheels while the car is on jack stands for a few days? Just wondering if the weight of the wheels would put too much stress on the suspension while the car is on jack stands. Thanks.

www.nsxprime.com

Note that the 2001 owner's manual does call for putting the car on jack stands if stored more than 1 month, presumably to prevent flat-spotting the tires.

Ditto for the NC1

 

[Old Guy]

Yep! The car on jack stands does appear to be 'a thing' in all the first gen NSX owner's manuals. The advice isn't bad and will never lead to a bad outcome (unless the car falls while on cheap jack stands or you drop the car while jacking it up); but, may not be necessary. Or the guidance may not be sufficient. A lot of this will depend on what kind of tires you are running and the storage conditions / temperature.

If you are running super gummy warm weather only tires and storing in an unheated garage with below freezing temperatures, you should be putting the car up on jack stands and then removing the wheels and storing them in your heated basement. If you are running all season tires, I suggest crank the tire pressure up and store as is. That is effectively Continental's recommendation for dealing with flat spotting. Continental says:

• Similarly, if you’re about to park your car for a long time without driving, then slightly increasing the inflation pressure of the tires by +0.2 bar before parking will help to reduce the chances of flat-spotting.
• In both instances, however, it’s important to remember that you should never exceed the maximum recommended cold inflation pressure for your tires.

0.2 bar is a whole 3 psi! Unfortunately, Continental is a little unclear. Is the maximum recommended cold inflation pressure the vehicles recommended cold operating inflation pressure or the maximum recommended pressure on the sidewalls? I use the maximum recommended pressure as a guide, inflating the tires to just under the max recommended pressure just before it goes into storage. I adjust the pressure down when removing from storage and any flat spotting is gone with about 5 - 10 minutes of driving depending on the ambient air temperatures.

 

[RYU]

I haven't read any of the "best practices" published out there but here's my take from having worked on the platform for nearly 20yrs.

Yes, you can leave it on jackstands BUT (it's a BIG BUT) you shouldn't have the suspension sitting in full droop if you care about your suspension arm bushings such as the upper rears. The uppers are not a free floating bushing design. Having the weight of the wheel and the unweighted spring tension pushing down on the control arms is not good for the long term storage of these bushings.

If you'd like you can distribute the weight on the control arms and the chassis.

Long story short... I would not do this to my car.

If you're worried about flat spotting I'd find a cheap seat of these on Amazon or just drive your car regularly. Cars don't like to sit idle. I'd rather buy tires than new suspension arms. Then again, most people can't even tell if their bushings are worn out or not.



$0.02.