Exposure to heat, light, and the elements can reduce the life of your tires. If you have to store tires, here are some hints to help prolong their lives.
Before you store tires, you should first clean them thoroughly. The tires may have accumulated brake dust, dirt, or road grime during driving. If these compounds are allowed to sit on the tires for a long period of time, they can damage the tires. Use soap, water, and a tire brush to clean the tires. If your tires are still mounted on wheels, you may also want to clean the wheels using an approved wheel cleaner. Use a towel to wipe the tires and wheels dry, and then let any remaining moisture evaporate, allowing the tires and wheels to dry completely. Do NOT use any additional tire dressings or shine products.
Once your tires are clean and dry, put them into large, dark/black airtight plastic bags, such as lawn and garden bags. Try to remove as much air from the bags as possible before sealing them with tape. Some people use a vacuum cleaner with the hose attachment to draw out as much of the air from the storage bags as possible before sealing them. Keeping the air out of the bags will help keep the oil within the tire compounds from evaporating.
Some people have seasonal tire totes that they use to store and carry tires. While these totes are convenient and make carrying easier, they are not airtight and they do not necessarily protect the tires from the atmosphere. If you want to use seasonal totes, it is recommended that you first place the tires in plastic bags (as described above) prior to placing them inside the totes.
Whenever possible, keep the tires out of direct sunlight. Because tires are black, they absorb heat more than a reflective surface would. Just sitting in the sun, tires can easily heat up to over 120°F. Besides the heat, the sun's ultraviolet rays can cause rubber to deteriorate more quickly than normal.
Ozone also damages tires. Therefore, do not store the tires near machinery that can generate ozone such as motors, pumps, or furnaces.
If you have to store a vehicle for long periods of time, the constant weight on the tires can cause tire damage. Long-term inactivity is more harmful to tires than regular use because during regular use, the regular flexing of the tires keeps the oil and rubber compounds within the tire lubricated and supple.
When it comes time to store your tires, make sure you store them in a cool, dry location such as a basement, climate-controlled garage, or workshop. Avoid storing the tires outdoors, in a standard garage, or in an attic that can become very hot or cold and/or be exposed to extremely wet or humid seasonal conditions.
If you have tires with white letters or a white stripe and you choose not to enclose your tires in plastic bags before storing them, you should be careful about how you stack them. The compounds that make up the white portions of the tire are different than the compounds in the black portions- the tires actually have a layer of non-staining black rubber covering the side of the tire where the white letters or stripes are located. This is done to prevent the black of the tire from migrating onto and staining the white portions. Thus, make sure you stack the tires white-to-white and black-to-black so that the white sides are touching each other and the black sides are touching each other. This will help keep the white portions from being stained during storage.
All tires will experience some aging, no matter what precautions you take. However, following the above guidelines will help to prolong the life of your tires, should you need to store them for long periods of time.
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