While at VTR, there was a technical session done by an engineer from Michelin.
I sat in for a while just for yucks. Anyway, the question of storing tires came
up in the session.
There were a couple of things worth mentioning. First, storing cars on older
tires that are inflated to high pressure does not make any differnce with
respect to flat spotting. IF the tires are newer (say manufactured after 1989
or so) the construction of the tire should eliminate any of the flat spot
problems that older tires can have. Second, if you put the car on stands the
tires should be stored laying on their sides. This will prevent the tires
taking a set from being stored upright. I believe that this only applies to
deflated tires, but I can't remember specifically.
According to the engineer, the basic materials and construction techniques have
made the tires much better. Older tires should be replaced with the newer ones
simply from the reliability longevity standpoint. Of course, the speaker did
work for a tire company...
My personal experience: I had older tires on my car when I got it, they were
Perelli Cinturato 185/15's. Each winter, I would pump the tires to 36 pounds
(or some rediculously high pressure) prior to putting the cover on. Over time,
the tires got worse and worse (out of round, I guess) and I eventually had to
replace them due to one of the tires incurring a steel belt separation. After
hearing the Michelin engineer talk about this issue, I have no doubt that the
tread seperation was related to storing the car the way I did. I bought new
Michelin tires this year, and I was amazed at how smooth the car was with
actually ROUND tires. Big difference.
So, if you have old tires, and you want to store the car all winter, put the
car up on jack stands, pull the wheels, break the bead and lay them on their
side somewhere out of the sunlight (oh, and DRY too!!!) If the tires are older
than 1989, think seriously about getting new tires! With regard to the comment
about dry storage: the rubber on tires is pourous to a certain extent, and
while standing water is obviously bad for storing steel belted tires, a damp
environ is just as bad. So keep 'em dry too!
bye,
rml
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