As the seasons change, you may need to think about changing your seasonal tires. Whether you're switching to winter tires or to summer tires, it's important to think about how you store your off-season set.
You may have them changed by a professional or do it in your garage at home. But what do you do after they have been taken off? Knowing how to store tires after removing them from your vehicle is essential. In fact, it’s more important than most people realize.
If you don’t handle and store your tires properly, their characteristics can change. This can shorten their life. They can even deteriorate so badly in storage that they need to be replaced.
But if you handle and store them correctly, they will deliver years of service – and you’ll save money.
Using some detergent, water and a tire brush, clean tires before storing them. This will help remove a season’s worth of road grime and brake. Clean your wheels, too, if you store your tires on them. Make sure they’re completely dry before the next step.
This next step requires inaction, rather than action. Tires don’t need any kind of dressing or gloss product applied prior to storage. Tire compounds are formulated to resist ozone cracking and other environmental stressors. Such products can hinder rather than help extend the longevity of your tires.
Find a large, airtight plastic bag to fit each tire. Try yard bags or leaf bags. Ensure the bag (and tire) is free of moisture, then remove as much air as possible from the bag (use your vacuum cleaner!) and tape it shut.
This airtight environment will reduce evaporation of oils from the rubber compounds. Specific tire storage caddies or tire totes are also available. These make transporting and storing tires easier and help keep them grime and dust free. However, they aren’t air tight. If you want to use them, bag tires as above first, then place them in your tire tote.
UV rays and the sun’s heat can wreak havoc on rubber. Your tire storage location should keep them out of direct sunlight.
In cold weather or in warm, tires should never be stored in the open air, even under a protective covering. Think cool, dry, moderately ventilated – and of course out of the sun. Your basement or another climate-controlled space is ideal. If there is a heat source in the room, the tires must be shielded from it. Most garages, sheds and attics undergo a range of temperatures, precipitation and humidity. You want to avoid these fluctuations.
Avoid chemical exposureYour number one chemical to avoid: Ozone. It’s particularly damaging to tires. Electric motors that use contact brushes generate ozone. These can include:
Ensure your storage area contains none of these items. The following should also be avoided:
Got whitewalls – or other white parts (like lettering) on your tires? In case you’ve decided not to bag your tires, store them with white areas touching other white areas, and black touching black. Here’s why: The black rubber on the white side is compounded differently than the black rubber on the other side. A layer of non-staining black rubber is used on the tire's white side to prevent oils migrating from the black to the white areas and causing discoloration. The black sidewall uses standard rubber.
Therefore, store black-to-black and white-to-white to help keep white rubber bright and avoid marks.
You have three options for how to store your tires:
The best option is standing, as it puts less stress on the tires. If you must stack, try not to stack too high. You want to avoid it tipping and damaging the tires. Tires mounted on rims? Stacking is actually preferable in this case. Another great option for tires on rims is hanging them from tire racks or hooks. Never hang unmounted tires as this can distort and damage them.
Tires will age. But these tips will help extend their life. If you want to make sure that the storing of your tires is in professional hands we would recommend to let them be stored at your tire dealer. And remember: It’s a great idea to get your tires checked by a tire professional before they are mounted onto your vehicle again for another good season of driving.
With the winter finally being over – at least officially – our automotive pets surely can’t wait to be properly cleaned, to have their fluids checked and replenished and other major systems being examined by your trusted mechanic. However, the first thing that comes to mind for most drivers when the season change is replacing seasonal tires. Given the size of the investment, high-quality tires can, and it’s important to store tires properly after taking them off to make sure they don’t lose their characteristics and thus prolong their lifespan.
1) During normal use, tires accumulate brake dust, dirt, and road grime, which can cause tire damage if it sits on your tires for a long time. That’s why before storing them, you should grab soap, water and a tire brush to clean your tires. If the tires are still mounted on the rims, it’s also a good time to clean the wheels (use an approved wheel cleaner).
Wipe the tires and wheels down with a towel, leave them to dry completely and don’t apply any type of tire dressing.
2) After cleaning, place each tire in its own large, airtight plastic bag (lawn and leaf bags work well here) for storing. Avoid moisture in the bag and remove as much air as possible (you can draw out air with a vacuum cleaner). Close the bag tightly with tape to create a personal space for each tire to reduce oil evaporation from the tire compounds. Avoid using tire totes as they don’t necessarily protect tires from the atmosphere (even though they make tires easier to move around.
3) Keep tires out of direct sunlight. The sun’s ultraviolet rays and heat are detrimental to rubber since they tend to soak up a lot of solar heat because they are black. They can easily heat up to over 50°C!
4) Place the tires in a cool, dry location. A basement or climate-controlled garage or workshop works best while a standard garage, shed or attic often sees a wide range of hot and cold temperatures as well as precipitation and humidity.
Also, make sure to store your tires away from things like electric motors, furnaces, switches and sump pumps because they are sources of ozone.
5) If your tires are NOT mounted on rims, the best way to store them is standing upright – it puts less stress on the tires. If you have to stack your tires, try not to stack them too high to avoid them toppling over and damaging themselves.
However, if your tires are mounted on the rims, you should store them stacked, not upright. Also, hanging them from hooks is a great storage option. But unmounted tires should never be hung – the stress can cause distortion and damage.
6) If you don’t store your tires in individual bags, and instead stack them, make sure to stack them “white to white” and “black to black” to prevent staining of the white rubber as white and black rubber are compounded differently.
7) If you can, avoid letting a vehicle sit on tires for extended periods of time as the constant weight can cause them damage.
Make sure to move the vehicle or take it out for a short drive every once in a while – you’ll relieve the stress on the tire and help keep the tire’s rubber compounds lubricated and supple.
The rules for storing tires of a passenger vehicle and a light truck is the same, but you will need more room to store the truck tires. When you stop at a traffic light in your car and a light truck stops in the next lane, you immediately see the difference in vehicle size. Clearly, there are differences in tire size as well, but what are they?
Passenger vehicle tires. Passenger vehicles are generally fitted with P-metric tires as they are designed for coupes, crossovers, sedans, and other lighter vehicles. These tires are created for paved roadways and standard load sizes and perform well under dry and wet conditions. P-metric tires offer a smoother, quieter, and more comfortable ride than LT-metric tires generally used on light trucks.
They are, however, not intended for off-road use on rough terrain. Many SUVs, vans, and lightweight pickups also leave the factory with P-metric tires.
There are three main types of passenger tires, Low Rolling Resistance tires, Touring tires, and Performance tires. Low Rolling Resistance means the tires can go further than conventional tires while using the same fuel and energy.
Touring tires are known for their road comfort, superior responsiveness, noise control, and longer tread life. Depending on the manufacturer, they offer mileage warranties and higher speed ratings. Performance tires, as you might use on your Mustang GT Coupe, have a bold appearance, increased traction, and high degrees of responsiveness.
Light truck tires. Whether you store tires upright or flat, these tires are bulky and need more storage space than passenger tires. Light truck or LT-metric tires have deeper treads and more rigid sidewalls than P-metric tires. They are designed to navigate off-road terrains and haul heavy loads, so they handle better tough driving conditions.
Due to their heavy-duty construction and rolling resistance, they are heavy on gas while giving you a noisier drive on the highway. If you do a lot of highway driving, consider installing P-metric tires on your truck, your wallet will thank you.
At CRS Automotive in Hamilton, you will find a full-service vehicle care facility specializing in passenger cars as well as light and medium-duty vehicles and trucks. We know how to store tires, as we also offer tire services that include rotation, balancing, rim repairs, and flat tire repairs. Do you drive a Ford, Nissan, Land Rover, Chevrolet, Mercedes, Audi, Hyundai, or Mercury? We specialize in these and other brands. Correctly storing tires in a garage at home and maintaining them regularly is a choice that keeps you and your loved ones safe. And your safety is important to us.
Finally, for whatever type of vehicle maintenance , come to CRS Automotive. We are expecting you in our repair shop in Hamilton!
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With the onset of the new season, motorists have a question - how to properly store tires? Can I store them in the garage or on the balcony? What happens if the requirements are not met? We will tell you how to handle tires removed from the car.
Tires are made of soft elastic material that is subject to deformation. In inappropriate conditions, they quickly lose their properties. If you have not learned how to properly store tires, you may experience such unpleasant consequences:
Don't risk your safety!
According to GOSTs, tires can be stored in a dry place, sheltered from precipitation, at a temperature of -30 to +40 C°. These requirements are met by garages, outbuildings, storerooms, glazed balconies and other similar premises.
Interested in how to store tires in winter? The main enemies in this case will be snow and water.
They can damage the tire by causing the sensitive material to warp. The same applies to discs that can be corroded. To maintain the properties of the tire in winter, good ventilation should be provided. It will be even better if you can organize heating.
If you need to know how to store wheels in the summer, then you should pay attention to bright sunlight. UV radiation is also detrimental to tires: it deteriorates their properties, causing accelerated wear. Therefore, you should buy special covers made from natural materials. In order for the tires to remain elastic and durable after the end of the summer season, you need to periodically turn them or shift them, observing all the requirements.
If you don't have space to put your wheels in your garage or on your balcony, you can take your tires to a special warehouse. The advantages of such a solution are:
Properly storing tires is not difficult, but you need to do some preliminary preparation. Each tire should be thoroughly washed from dirt - adhering soil, asphalt particles and other substances can destroy the material. During this procedure, you can carefully inspect the surface of the wheel, finding cuts, punctures and other damage on it.
It is advisable to store tires on disks - in this case, they retain their original shape better. In addition, with the onset of the new season, you will save on the services of the service center. Each tire should be pre-treated with silicone grease. Do not confuse it with a color restorer that contains a solvent! In winter, the lubricant will prevent the formation of ice: it will fill the pores of the tire and push the water out of them. In the summer season, the composition forms a protective coating that will help prevent the elastic material from drying out.
To store summer tires, it is advisable to choose heated rooms.
With a strong decrease in temperature, they can “suffocate”, covered with microscopic cracks. This is fraught with rapid stratification during high-speed driving and a complete loss of control. If there is no heating, you need to put the tires in a dry closed garage or shed where snow and water do not penetrate.
If summer tires are afraid of frost and moisture, then winter tires are afraid of ultraviolet radiation. When folding them on the balcony, be sure to cover the wheels with a piece of thick cloth. But do not forget to leave a couple of holes for ventilation so that moisture does not accumulate inside. It is undesirable to store winter tires without disks: in the warm season they become very soft and easily deformed. The consequences of such damage will be unpleasant and even dangerous.
Most motorists are wondering how to store tires on rims? We have already said above that this method helps to save time and money during the off-season “changing shoes”.
The ideal option for placing tires on rims is in limbo. To do this, you can install special brackets on the ceiling or in the wall. In this case, the main load is assumed by the metal rim - the soft part is not subjected to unnecessary loads.
To know how to store wheels on rims, you also need to pay attention to pressure. The optimal indicator is from 1 to 1.5 atmospheres. At a lower value, the tires are at risk of squeezing, and at a higher value, bursting. Tires on steel or light alloy rims should be lowered before storage. In a specialized center, experienced employees will take care of this, but in the garage you will have to do it yourself.
What to do if there is no space for hanging tires on the rims? In this case, you can not put them vertically - if the pressure decreases, this will lead to deformation of the frame. It is best to stack tires in a pile, like a children's toy "pyramid". In this case, the following recommendations should be observed:
By knowing how to store your wheels on rims, you will save their properties, increase road safety and reduce your costs.
Many car owners have to store tires without wheels, a set of which is quite expensive. In this case, you will have to follow other recommendations. If you decide to store your tires without rims in your garage, never hang them from the ceiling or stack them. In both cases, the elastic material will be constantly subjected to excessive loads. This will lead to tire deformation, which we have already discussed earlier.
How to store tires without rims? To do this, install them vertically. In the absence of discs, this situation will be the only correct one. It will evenly distribute the load on the tire carcass. If you are interested in the question of how to store wheels without discs in the ideal case, you should know that they should be rotated periodically by 30–40 degrees.
If possible, you should do this once every two weeks.
To store wheels without discs in the garage, you can buy special cases. They protect the surface of the tires from friction, UV exposure and moisture. Summer and all-season tires require special care in the cold season - be sure to treat them with silicone grease and put them in a dry place.
We told how to store summer and winter tires, what requirements must be observed with and without rims. So you will significantly reduce the cost of car maintenance, as well as make your trips really comfortable and safe.
As a rule, any car owner has at least two sets of tires - winter and summer. Accordingly, the question arises of storing an unused set of tires. Some car owners do not wonder how to properly store tires. As a result, tires become unusable and you have to bear additional costs for the purchase of new rubber.
Moreover, you can spoil the summer kit literally in a season. As a result, in the spring, instead of taking off winter tires and putting on summer tires, you will have to purchase a new set of tires. And all the problems are only due to improper storage of tires in your garage. By the way, you can store tires not only in the garage. There are special organizations that accept car tires for storage, providing proper conditions and care.
When asked how to store rubber, you don't have to ask friends or acquaintances for advice, don't search on specialized forums and websites (although this is a useful and necessary thing). It is enough to study the legislation in the field of state standards. In particular, GOST R 54266-2010 provides the necessary information on the storage conditions of automotive rubber. It's called Pneumatic Tires. Packing, transportation and storage. Despite the fact that the standard was developed in the Russian Federation, it complies with European standards and rules for storing tires.
Briefly describe the main conditions specified in the standard:
Everyone understands that in a garage or in a country house, and even more so in an apartment, it is not always possible to literally follow the requirements of GOST for tire storage. For example, if the tires are on the balcony, the requirement to keep the tires outdoors for a long time will not be met. On the other hand, frost up to minus 35 degrees is not terrible for tires, so you can not be afraid to damage a summer tire. The main thing is to protect the tire from precipitation and sunlight, because ultraviolet is very harmful, it changes the structure of rubber, reduces elasticity. As a conclusion, tires can be stored on the balcony, covered with waterproof material.
It is important to ensure that the tires do not deform. In this case, it would be correct not to use cramped places, not to press down the rubber set with other objects, and to keep it on a flat surface. It is impossible to keep the tires standing up all the time, they can undergo irreparable deformation and only partially recover.
Tires can stand in one position for no more than a month, after which they must be turned over.
Suspended tire storage excluded. Although this option of staying rubber is found in some garages. On the other hand, the wheel assembly can hang safely without much harm. Moreover, this method is the most successful for the wheels in the kit, the only thing is to reduce the pressure in the tires.
Proper storage of tires means keeping them away from heating devices, including radiators and heaters. This is a very important note that must be strictly followed. Otherwise, under the influence of high temperatures over 30 degrees, the rubber may receive irreparable damage and deform.
Car owners often ask how long it is possible to store different types of car tires in the lying position. There is a GOST rule that regulates this option for finding rubber in a warehouse or garage. However, it is not always necessary to follow it strictly. It will be correct to find the tires in the supine position.
It is also allowed that the tire will stand upright, especially since many garages store tires standing up. Moreover, standing position is also acceptable for the wheel assembly. The main thing is to control how much the kit already costs and change the position in a timely manner.
With regard to the service of storage of winter or summer sets of tires, it is provided by many service stations that carry out tire fitting, as well as large centers selling automobile rubber. Moreover, the wheels can also be stored together with the disks. As a rule, such a service provides for the location of tires or wheels in a covered hangar without heating. The main thing is that the basic rule of storage is observed - the temperature regime is maintained.
As a general rule, car tires should not be near solvents or other chemical elements that can have a negative effect on rubber. It is also unacceptable to find nearby sources of ozone - transformers, electric motors and other equipment.
After the end of winter, for all car owners, there comes a period when it is necessary to change the winter set of tires to summer. At the same time, the fact of replacement causes a problem, and the need for proper storage of tires during the entire summer period of operation.
The rules are simple:
Winter Drive protection
Tires Goodyear UltraGrip Arctic 2 SUV
Winter Drive Protection Sound Comfort
Rating:
4.5
Tires Goodyear UltraGrip Ice 2
Winter Drive protection
Tires Goodyear UltraGrip Performance+ SUV
Winter Drive protection
Tires Goodyear UltraGrip Arctic 2
Winter Drive Protection Run On Flat Sound Comfort
Tires Goodyear UltraGrip Performance+
The procedure and rules for storing summer tires in winter is practically no different from a similar procedure for winter tires.
First of all, the tires must be marked and thoroughly cleaned of dirt and small stones, and be sure to rinse and dry. Car tires wear out very much in summer, so it is worth swapping them when installing after winter to ensure balance.
Car tires may be stored vertically or horizontally in summer. At the same time, if the tire is complete with a disk, then it should not stand. The wheel assembly will properly hang on cables or ropes. Also, the correct position for a tire with a disc is lying horizontally. Wheels can lie in a stack of several pieces, no more than 4-5. If there is no other option for storing the wheels in the kit, except for standing, then you need to keep track of how long they are in one position and periodically turn them to change the place of pressure. It will be correct to change the position every 2-3 weeks.
Wheels without rims must not be hung correctly, they can be deformed by prolonged lateral loads. It is allowed to store tires without rims in a stack, but not more than a month and in a stack no more than 5-6 pieces high.
Although this is not the correct position for summer tires in a garage or hangar.
The most correct option is to place tires vertically:
The main condition is a flat surface, without sharp edges and protrusions, so as not to damage the surface of the wheel. It will also be correct to rotate the tires once every 2-3 weeks.
In winter, temperatures can drop to very low levels. The main thing to remember is that the car rubber should not be allowed to stay at a temperature below 35 degrees, in which case its deformation is possible. It is best to store in the winter in a garage in compliance with the requirements indicated above.
If you have two sets of wheels, for example, winter and summer, then you will be interested in how the tires should be properly stored in the garage or elsewhere. In this case, it will be correct if the wheels do not lie at all.
In this case, they will not undergo deformation under the influence of gravity.
The best storage with discs is hanging. To do this, the wheels must be thoroughly washed and cleaned of dirt, and also dried. It will be correct to treat the rubber with a special care compound. The pressure in the wheels is lowered to the level of 1-1.5 atmospheres.
It is advisable to mark the wheels to understand where they were and change them after storage. In this case, you can correctly distribute the balance and prevent uneven rubber wear.
It is also allowed to store wheels on rims in the garage horizontally stacked on top of each other. How much can be stored depends on the size of the wheel and its weight, but no more than 2 meters in height. Properly store on a flat surface, without corners and irregularities - on the garage floor or shelving.
The rules for storing wheels without rims are no different from other options.
It is correct to carefully prepare car tires for seasonal storage - this is cleaning from dust and small debris, washing, drying.
The main difference in storing wheels without rims is the correct way to keep them upright. In this case, they stand on a flat surface, the main thing is to rotate them periodically by 20 degrees to prevent rubber deformation. The garage is an ideal place to store a seasonal set of wheels without rims. If, of course, the place allows and the basic requirements for temperature and humidity are maintained. They can stand on a special rack or floor, the main thing is the absence of bumps and sharp corners, otherwise you can easily damage the surface of the tires.
If the garage does not allow keeping extra property in it, there are not enough normal conditions for a car, then you can keep tires on the balcony or in the pantry. The main thing is to withstand the temperature regime, properly store in direct sunlight (cover), avoid staying in conditions of high humidity or vice versa, excessively dry air.
