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What to use as car stands for long term vehicle storage?

I am looking to store my vehicle for a year while deployed. I came across a good article here where one of the points of advice was to put the car up on stands. This would prevent the tires from warping after sitting idle for such a long period of time. Anybody have suggestions on what to use to lift the car for the duration of the year?

Public Comments

1. Any set of jack stands from an auto parts store should work just fine for any passenger vehicle or SUV. Make sure you leave the car in park and put the E Brake on for safety. When you put it up on stands, only leave the tires about an inch off the ground for safety. I would also recommend taking the battery out for the year and put it somewhere (not on concrete) where it will be decently warm for the year. When you get home you can charge it for a day to bring it back up. Another option would be to have someone start the car every month or so to keep everything running well, the battery charged and engine oiled...not exactly safe when the vehicle is on jack stands though. If you can get one last oil change before you leave I would use synthetic, it is more expensive but will be the best lubricant for your engine after the long storage. MikeC
2. Jack up the vehicle & support the frame with four jack stands, let the wheels slightly touch the floor, this allows the suspension to relax and takes the weight off of the wheel bearings, springs, shocks & related suspension hardware. http://www.midcomustang.com/vehicle_storage_capri.shtml
3. Lift it with a jack and set it on manufactured jack stands
4. There are different kinds of jack stands on the market and just about any of them will work for your situation. Obviously, the better the jack stand the safer they will be. However, I have used jack stands from Wal Mart with much success. Safety is the important key here. Carelessness can occur regardless of the quality of the jackstands - good or bad. As far as the tires are concerned, warping is an interesting word to use for what could happen while the car is sitting. Actually, what happens is that the tires will flatten out some in the spot where they touch the ground after a period of time. Then when the car is driven after that, there is a thumping feeling everytime the tires roll over that spot on each of them. If you have a rear wheel drive car, place 2 of your jack stands under the rear axle housing (rear end) as far out as you can get them on each side, then place the front two stands under the "pinch weld" in the front if it is a unibody type or under the frame (in front) if it is a car with a frame. If it is a front wheel drive car, place the jack stands under the pinch welds both front and back. "Pinch Welds" are the places under the rocker panel where you would normally set a jack if you were having to change a flat tire. It looks kind of like a square or rectangular notch cut out along the edge. After you get the car up on stands, be sure to jiggle the car to see if it is stable or if it feels like it may fall. If it feels unstable, you may have to rejack the end or corner that seems unstable and tweak the placement of the jack stand(s) just a bit. Once again, safety is of the utmost concern. Speaking of safety, please be safe while deployed, and come back soon.
5. You've got a lot of good answers so far. One crucial thing to take into consideration IS what type of sur-face is your car going to be stored on? If it's going to be standing on a moist surface,by all means oil the "hell" out of the underside.Reason being,that the moisture that develops under that car will play havoc with your floorboards & any operational parts on the bottom side (brakes,calipers,lines,wheel cylinders,fuel system,etc.) Best bet----Go to wwwCarClinicNetwork.com & pose your question to them.Good people & they'll get right back to you.
6. ok, plenty of good advice here on keeping it in the air, but you should also prep that car for storage. here's how you do that. 1 Remove the battery 2 drain the coolant to keep it from rusting the engine out, but the oil in the engine. 3 drain the gasoline. It can coagulate and clog everything up, if left for any major amount of time. 4 If you can find dessicant plugs, replace the spark plugs with these, they absorb moisture from the cylinders. this step is optional, but if it were my car, I'd do it. 5 Make sure you have a way to keep plant and fungus life from growing inside the car. My mom put her cadillac in storage and within a month, all metal interior parts were rusted, and there were plants growing from the carpet. There you go, the way I prep cars for storage.