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Hello everyone,
I wish to introduce myself. I am located in Bergen County NJ.
I am the new owner of a 2017 F-Type R coupe. The car only has 11,000 miles on the odometer. The car has been in storage for several years. The car is in mint condition. The car would be taken out during the summer season for an annual oil change. The previous owner drove the car to empty the gas tank, refill the tank with fresh premium gas and add the Stabil fuel additive into the tank and then put the car back into storage. The car has all of the service record receipts.
I plan to hopefully get the car out from the storage facility by the end of the month. There are two immediate things that have to be done to the car. The car has the original battery and original tires. The tires look perfect with no sign of dry rot and zero cracking on the sidewalls. This storage facility is maintained with a constant cooling/heating air filtered system, keeping the indoor temperature at 60 degrees.
Will you please help me with my two questions.
I need to get a car battery. The original battery still works but I dont trust it. It could die any day. Should I get an AGM battery for the car or just get an OEM battery? If you think AMG battery is better, will you please tell me exactly which AMG car battery is best suited for the F-Type R. Battery brand and model number please.
Also, I need to replace the tires. I don't trust the 9 year old tires. I know Michelin has the Michelin Pilot Sport S5 tire out but it's only available as an OE tire for high performance sports cars.
This tire was released 3 years ago and it's still not available as an "aftermarket tire" for the public. I want to get the Michelin Pilot Sport S5 tire but no one has it, including TireRack. Anyone have any information why this is the case. My only options are the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tire or the Continental
Extreme Contact Sport 02 tire. Will you guys/girls please give your input on which tire is the better choice. The tires are basically compared as being even on the TireRack website. I've been doing a lot of reading on this wonderful forum, so I will sincerely appreciate your feedback.
I've included some photos my the car.
Thank you everyone!
Cheers.
Wow, that's quite a collection they have. Congratulations! I'm hoping to pick mine up tomorrow.
As to batteries, I have no idea as I haven't looked at anything but the lithium ones, but in terms of tires, I had old Continental Extremecontact DWs on my STI for around a decade and replaced with a newer model a couple years ago. I plan to go with Conti ECS 02s b/c of the apparent slight nod to driving comfort.
Congratulations and great color. Hard to tell from the photos but is that an aftermarket spoiler or is it the factory one stored in the upright position?
The OEM battery is a Varta AGM battery. However, Varta is a British brand (I think) and it’s prohibitively expensive to ship one to the US.
I installed a Duralast Platinum (AGM) from Autozone some years ago. Unfortunately, the Autozone website isn’t currently showing anything for the F-type, which is weird.
Regarding the OEM Varta battery being a British brand, couldn't I simply get it from a Land Rover dealership ?
I imagine you are happy with the Duralast AGM car battery, yes?
Not that it matters but Varta is a very old German brand. No problem getting one from another brand. Don't know about 2017 F-Types but the OEM battery that come from factory with my 2018 was an Italian FIAMM AGM battery.
When it comes to tires the consensus seems to be that there's still nothing better out there than the 4S if you prioritize dry condition handling. I think the 5S is still only sold with some new Astons but not publicly available. I just finished a set of 4S and was super happy with them so I'm going for another round of 4S.
Item Number 1624801
Group Size H8 (49) AGM
CCA 900
CA 1000
Invest in a good battery maintainer and plug in when not driving the car for more than 7 days. CTEK is the most consistently used brand on this forum.
Keep an eye on your center console red hazard triangle light to make sure it does not stay lit after locking, especially after plugging in an OBD2 adapter.
It sounds like you are shopping Summer tires. I have Continental DWS-06 but they are all-seasons so I can't help there.
Since this was a stored car, I would give all the rubber in your suspension a good look and "moisturize" with some silicon lube / spray.
Your plastic coolant pipes should be closely watched as the plastic cracks with ageing and heat cycling underneath the supercharger. Use a real time OBD2 coolant and oil temperature monitor while driving to avoid engine loss in case there is a leak. Any reading creeping up to 230F should be considered the danger zone.
Congratulations on your new F-Type and welcome to the F-Type community! I'm pretty familiar with Bergen County as my wife was born in the Bronx and raised in Glen Rock before moving to Hawaii after college more than 50 years ago. We have made a number of trips back there over the years to visit family.
My Duracell AGM came from Sam's Club and cost $190 plus a refundable $20 core charge. I've used this brand of battery in our other cars and they have all lasted long past their warranty periods. I keep the F-Type on a CTEK whenever I plan not to drive it for a week or more.
I will stick with the 4S tires on my two sports cars until Michelin comes out with a successor tire. The 4S is a big improvement in ride, noise, and grip over the new P-Zero Pirellis that came with the Jaguar. Got them from Costco during one of their Michelin sales promotions. Great tires, price, and service.
Let us know how your car does after spending so much time in storage.
gnlchang1717,
Yes, I know the Bronx. Sadly its a dangerous section of the 5 boroughs of NYC. Glen Rock is a beautiful quiet community. I have friends in the neighboring town, Ridgewood. Gorgeous area.
Thank you for your input on the tire choice. Michael Pilot Sport 4S is probably the way to go.
I will look into the suggested AGM battery recommendations.
Last, the car only has 11,000 miles. Does the coolant pipes really have to be changed? Do the plastic pipes degrade over time whether you drive the car or not, or is it based on the engine operating and heat cycles from driving that degrade and damage the Y coolant pipe. I don't know what to do with this situation.
I have an Interstate AGM battery, sourced from my local dealer. One of the pictures shows what I take to be a battery maintainer cable, so perhaps the battery isn't as bad as suspected, although it's reasonable enough to replace it based on that age.
Tires? Many speak highly of the Michelin PS4S, myself included. For all-season tires, many recommend the Continentals. If I ever had to deal with cold, I'd probably go with those. We didn't drop below freezing here last winter, but pay for it in summer.
I think the coolant pipes degrade from heat so low mileage should be safe. It's your peace of mind though, so you'll need to decide how much money to spend to quiet those little voices in your head. Two of the three are now available from JLR in aluminum, and they're the ones that are harder to replace. The third is much more accessible, but only available in metal from the aftermarket. It was the one that leaking for me last year, so I had all three replaced, plus the water pump.
2. Flush the coolant, make sure the flanged coolant pipes have been replaced. Plenty of posts here on that topic.
3. Flush brake fluid and any other OLD fluids.
4. Make sure the center vent raises and closes quietly.
5. Check the headlights for microcracking. Plenty of posts here on that, too.
6. I went with the Continental DWS all Seasons. I don't track the car, and they work well here in Wisconsin and our weather. Do not trust the exterior appearance of tires. Check the DOT code for production date.
7. You may want to do an upper engine clean with as much as the car has sat. It has Direct Injection, which means additives won't do much to clean the insides of the engine. A Wisconsin- based gas station company, Kwik Trip, sells Top Tier labeled 91 no-ethanol gas. "Top Tier" is a specific label, only for gasolines that contain cleaning agents, and not all gasolines carry the "Top Tier" label. I have had my 2017 for 6 years and only use that gas. Tech reports that engine is remarkably clean at 44,000 miles.
8. Check engine air filters. Tech found dried remains of a mouse in mine, a puzzle to me, given the excellent garage that the car lives in.
9. Check the condition if the O2 sensors. They have a longer warranty than the rest of the car.
10. Check condition of all belts. Age is a factor here rather than mileage.
11. Do an oil change and send a sample to Blackstone Labs for analysis. They will send you free sample kits and the shipping is prepaid. Analysis is $40.
@POLHUSARIA I would be OK with keeping the plastic coolant pipes on that car ONLY with real-time temperature monitoring while driving. The dash temperature gauge is of limited function and overeating warning may occur too late to save the engine.
@POLHUSARIA I would be OK with keeping the plastic coolant pipes on that car ONLY with real-time temperature monitoring while driving. The dash temperature gauge is of limited function and overeating warning may occur too late to save the engine.
New member introduction.
