The chassis is bonded, not welded. That single engineering decision changes what heat cycling does to the car in storage.
Aston Martin has built its cars on a bonded aluminium structure since the VH architecture arrived in the DB9, and the current cars continue it. The panels and extrusions are held together with structural adhesive rather than welds. It is light, it is stiff, and it has one characteristic worth knowing about before you leave the car in a Las Vegas garage for a summer. REVCity Auto Storage, 7185 Bermuda Rd, Las Vegas NV 89119. Call 725-272-1803.
An adhesive joint is a polymer. Polymers have a glass transition temperature, and their mechanical properties change as they approach it. Aerospace-grade structural adhesives are specified with a healthy margin over anything a road car should see, so a single hot day is a non-event.
Storage is not a single hot day. It is ninety or a hundred consecutive cycles, each one running the structure from an overnight low to a peak with a closed cabin sitting at 160 to 190°F, then back down. Bonded joints, adhesive-set glass, and the bonded attachments behind trim and body panels all expand and contract together at slightly different rates because the materials on either side of the joint differ. That is where the fatigue goes.
You do not see a failed bond. You see the second-order effects: a panel gap that has moved, a windscreen surround that has started to seep, trim that has stopped sitting flush, a rattle from behind a door card that was not there before. All of it is cheaper to prevent than to chase.
Holding the car at 50 to 70°F removes the cycle rather than reducing its amplitude, which is the point. The full picture of what this climate does to a parked car is in our breakdown of Las Vegas heat damage.
Aston interiors combine hide with Alcantara, and Alcantara headliners are attached with a contact adhesive. Sustained cabin heat is the classic cause of headliner sag — the adhesive softens, gravity does the rest, and the repair means dropping the liner and re-covering it. It is a well-documented failure on cars that live outdoors in hot climates, and 160 to 190°F in a closed cabin is exactly the condition that causes it.
None of this is covered by insurance. Gradual deterioration from heat and ultraviolet exposure is excluded from essentially every motor policy as wear — which is worth reading before you assume otherwise. It is an engineering problem, not a claims problem.
The current V8 cars use the AMG-sourced M177 4.0 twin-turbo; the DBS and the outgoing V12 Vantage use Aston’s own 5.2 twin-turbo twelve. Both are dry-sump or semi-dry-sump designs with meaningful oil volumes, and both benefit from the same discipline: change the oil warm, immediately before the car goes in, so that combustion acids and fuel dilution are not sitting against bearing surfaces for months.
Fuel matters more on the older cars. A DB9 or a V8 Vantage from the VH era on a tank of untreated E10 will start to see the ethanol separate out over a long sit, and phase-separated fuel attacks the aluminium and zinc in the fuel system. Treat the tank before the final drive, not after — the stabiliser has to reach the rails under load. The ethanol-free option removes the risk entirely where you can get it.
Those earlier cars also have a deserved reputation for battery drain, and a flat battery on a VH-era car can mean a trip to a specialist to wake the electronics rather than a jump start. Every bay here runs a maintainer.
The DBX shares the interior materials and the heat problem, but it is a two-and-a-quarter tonne SUV on large wheels, which changes the tyre arithmetic. Load per contact patch is far higher than on a Vantage, so flat spotting arrives sooner and sets harder. On a DBX we default to lift storage rather than treating it as optional. The mechanism and the timescales.
If the car is a weekend or seasonal vehicle rather than a stored asset, the pattern most owners here settle into is described in second-home car storage — the car stays ready to drive rather than needing recommissioning every time you land.
A DB7, a V8 Vantage or a first-generation Vanquish is now a twenty-year-old car with a specialist-only electrical system, and the failure modes in storage are different from a DB12’s.
If the car is a genuine classic rather than a modern usable one, the general protocol in storing a classic car long term applies on top of everything above.
Short list, in order, and worth following even after a two-month sit.
The thing to avoid throughout the storage period is the monthly ten-minute idle. It never reaches operating temperature, so every start adds moisture and fuel dilution to the oil and shuts down before removing either.
REVCity sits on Bermuda Road minutes from Harry Reid International, an easy run from the Strip residences, Henderson and Summerlin. Drop-off and collection do not consume a day.
Approximate drive times from 7185 Bermuda Rd, Las Vegas NV 89119. Actual times vary with traffic and route.
Not in a single hot day — structural adhesives carry a large margin. The risk is cumulative thermal cycling: ninety or more cycles across a summer, each running a closed cabin to 160–190°F and back. The symptoms show as moved panel gaps, seeping glass surrounds and new rattles rather than as an obvious failure.
The Alcantara headliner is fixed with a contact adhesive that softens at sustained high cabin temperatures. Once it lets go, the liner drops from the centre outward and the repair means dropping and re-covering it. Storing the car at 50–70°F prevents it; nothing reverses it cheaply.
Yes, and do it warm, immediately before the car goes into storage. Used oil carries combustion acids and fuel dilution in suspension, and those sit against bearing shells and cam lobes for the whole storage period. It is the cheapest insurance available on either the M177 V8 or the 5.2 V12.
The interior and thermal issues are identical, but the DBX weighs around two and a quarter tonnes on large wheels, so load per tyre contact patch is much higher and flat spots form sooner and set harder. We default to storing a DBX on a four-post lift rather than treating that as an option.
Almost never. Gradual deterioration from heat and ultraviolet exposure is excluded from essentially every motor policy as wear and tear. With a summer UV index of 10 to 12 in Las Vegas, this is the largest uninsurable risk the car faces, which is precisely why enclosed climate-controlled storage pays for itself. Call 725-272-1803.
In a controlled building with a maintainer connected and the tyres unloaded, indefinitely — we hold cars for years. In an uncooled Las Vegas garage the useful answer is weeks, not months: the battery goes first, the headliner adhesive and hide follow across a summer, and untreated fuel starts to separate at around three months.
The storage protocol is the same, but the 5.2 V12 carries a larger oil volume and a dry-sump arrangement, so a warm oil change before the car goes in matters more rather than less. On both engines the point is to remove combustion acids before they sit against bearing surfaces for months.
Founder of REVCity Auto Storage and Nostalgia Hot Rods. Dustin has spent decades building, restoring, and protecting collector and exotic vehicles across the Las Vegas Valley. He built REVCity to be the climate-controlled facility he always wanted for his own cars. Read his story →
Enclosed, held at 50–70°F and 40–50 percent humidity, on a four-post lift, battery maintained.
REVCity Auto Storage · 7185 Bermuda Rd, Las Vegas NV 89119 · 725-272-1803
