Why are my S-03 "square" after storage?
 

I drove my car yesterday for the first time in close to 3 months. My tires were vibrating fairly strongly. I drove for around 45 minutes and the vibration did not go away.

These are S-03 with less than 2000 miles. They were inflated to 50 psi during storage.

Prior to these I had Pirellis on my car. After a few months of storage they would vibrate too but the vibration always went away after a few minutes of driving.

Are S-03 fragile to storage? Do you think they are damaged?

What can I do to avoid this problem in the future?

Try to heat them up more...a 45 minute drive in the cooler (?) temps is probably not enough to heat the tires and rid them of the shape taken up during cold storage...just a guess. The side walls on the SO3's are pretty stiff...


Really push those tires man..heat them up :-)

Would it make sense to jack my car a bit (1/2 inch) to take some of weight from my tires?

If you go a half inch just take all the weight off them. These tires seem to flat spot real bad, the fact is they are so bad Im going to build a tire shaver and try to save some of them, but then my flat spots are more of a driver problem not from setting so much!

If you are talking about flat spotting from locking the brakes up, that's not the same kind of flat spotting that happens to tires that site too long in cold weather.

I have had both, after sitting I can run them hot and smooth them out, after locking them up I can not, thus the shaver

I have the same experience with my SO3's when driving the car after sitting for 2+ weeks. Goes away in less than five minutes of driving, though.

Echoing the previous comments, you might simply need warmer weather and a bit more spirited driving to cure this ailment. I've also seen small mats you can put under the tires to prevent flat spotting, but I don't know of any real-world reports. The theory is the mats are somewhat curved to match the tires, thus distributing the load more evenly across the tire and preventing a "flat spot".

Worry not, it's not likely permanent.

I had same problem with my SO3's; used to park the car on a concrete floor but now park the car on used house-hold quality carpet; defintely helps in reducing flat spots...but doesn't eliminate fully.

911sc79; just thinking about your comment; 50psi.
This is pretty high.....if the tires were at a lot lower pressure you might find the load is spread somewhat....Just a theory.

Slightly off topic; I run my tires at 30-32 psi. This gives me the most even wear across to rubber; too high a pressure and it wears the middle section.

I only use 50 psi for storage. That was the advice I received several years ago, from my mechanic.

Of course in the spring I bring pressure back to normal.

ah, yes; 50psi in storage. This is probably the way to go vis-a-vis low pressure.

Try the carpet thing though....

Most high perf tires will take a temporary set when stored forextended periods of time.

I tried a 1" thick braided rug, may have helped a tad but the first few miles after winter storage where still lumpy

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1140223137.jpg

My wife's car had the same problem with the SO3s and it seems even worse with the BF Goodrich KDs. I'll let her know the solution is to let me take it to the track to "warm" up the tires! ;-)

Matt

I found the same thing with my S03's... It really takes a hot summer day to get rid of the out-of-round. Best way to store them of course is off the ground or on their side. Since I can't do this on the street car I'll often put them up to 50+ psi over the winter to help prevent this.

Would it make sense to use jack pads to jack the car up a bit, say 1/2 or 1 inch? This would help take some weight of the tires

I hope somebody is collecting all of Bill's rug photos....

I've used rubber 'welcome' mats cut into pieces and stacked. Mostly I just drive 'em a while and they are fine.

the problem with jacking the car up is that it exposes the working parts of the shock to corrosion.