Bought the last five remaining 959 tires in the country today...

[Wayne 962]

Bridgestone makes the only tires for the 959. TireRack sells them (believe it or not). Over the summer they had like 5 sets. I checked the other day, and they only had five left. So I bought them all.

Anyone know the absolutely best way to store tires? I figure in a big plastic bag, in a cool, semi-dry area away from the sun. Rub some oil on the rubber, what else can I do? The car is obviously useless without tires...

-Wayne

[kycarguy 935]

I wouldn't use any oil on the rubber. I have heard using talcum powder but would check around first before doing it.

I found this on Yokohama's site:

Store tires in an area that is clean, cool, dry, dark and well ventilated with circulating air. It is better to store tires in a dry basement than outdoors or in a hot garage or attic. Basement temperatures tend to remain cooler and more stable, while outdoors, garages and attics can become hot and experience large temperature fluctuations. Store tires away from electrical devices such as motors, generators, furnaces, sump pumps and switches because these are sources of ozone.

Never leave tires on oily floors or otherwise in contact with solvents, oil or grease. These materials are readily absorbed into rubber and will weaken it. Incidentally, while tire dressings may make tires look great, but they can accelerate deterioration. Many foreign materials decrease the effectiveness of tire compounds that are formulated to resist ozone cracking or weather.

It is better to store tires vertically rather than stacking them horizontally. Storing vertically reduces stress and possible tire distortion. If you stack tires, place them on a clean wood foundation to protect them from dirt oil and grease. Then cover with a sheet of opaque or black polyethylene film to limit exposure to oxygen and ozone in the air. The best advice is to store each tire in its own large, opaque, airtight plastic bag. You can get them at tire stores or use lawn and garden bags. Tape the bag shut to prevent moisture from entering and remove as much air as practical. Horizontally stacked tires should be piled symmetrically and never stacked so high as to cause severe distortion in the bottom tires.

When stacking white letter tires, stack "white-to-white" and "black-to-black" to prevent staining the white rubber. Black rubber and white rubber are compounded differently. The tire's "white" side uses a top layer of non-staining black rubber over the white to prevent oils in the tire from migrating into the exposed white rubber and discoloring it. Stacking all tires white side up can let the oils from the black sidewall migrate into the white rubber.

[m110]

....vacuum pack them airtight, store upright, rotate, no light.

[Steve W]

Ozone is what forms surface cracking which grow rapidly into deep disruptive fissures under stress. You can see this with old bicycle tires. Vacuum packing and store them in a clean cool dark environment is probably the only way to seal them from atmospheric elements.

[ZAMIRZ]

Since we don't have basements in Los Angeles, store them in your pantry. Make sure your wife doesn't turn the light on when she's rummaging around for food, I'm sure she'll understand...being the last 5 tires available for your car and all.

[Elombard]

Interesting, what size are they?

[TVRLOTUSTR3]

I think the Salt Lake speed guys store them in nitrogen.

[mthomas58]

Originally Posted by m110

....vacuum pack them airtight, store upright, rotate, no light.

Another great use for the Food Saver

[sezme]

You can't store them in a room with an electrical motor (boiler). I store mine on plastic pallets for dry air circulation - UNstacked.

BTW - Andial had tires in stock 9 months ago when I last checked. Canepa has them as well.

Stu

[calling911]

Originally Posted by Wayne at Pelican Parts

Bridgestone makes the only tires for the 959. TireRack sells them (believe it or not). Over the summer they had like 5 sets. I checked the other day, and they only had five left. So I bought them all.

Anyone know the absolutely best way to store tires? I figure in a big plastic bag, in a cool, semi-dry area away from the sun. Rub some oil on the rubber, what else can I do? The car is obviously useless without tires...

-Wayne

If it were me, Id twice a year use a racing rubber softener on them. You can get this from any racing supply house. It will replenish what evaporates. But thats me... I'd use a spray bottle and spray liberally and put them in garbage bags and seal them tight. I would leave one set untouched and spray the rest as you will use the 2nd set soon enough. Keep them as close to 60f as you can obviously. A nice dark basement is the way to go if you have one..

Air circulation is the worst thing you can do by the way. The yoko reference is in regard to keeping them dry. Air circulation is going to help the chemicals go bye bye. Since you have ready access to those dry bead things for shipping.. throw several in each garbage bag.

[dtw]

Bridgestone - really? What ever happened to the Dunlop Denlocs from the 80s?

[RarlyL8]

I had the same dilemma when Yokohama discontinued the 345/35-15. I bought several sets and packed them for storage. At the time I was the QC/R&D manager for a chemical company that manufactured resins, so I had some insight into what would happen to the tires in time.
The moment a tire is produced it begins to leach the various plasticizes and solvents used in manufacturing. You cannot stop that, only slow it down. All the above suggestions help; cool dry vacuum packed environment. But the bottom line is that within 5 years the tires will have lost a significant amount of their original plyability.
After 5 years past I sold my remaining Yokos for $100 each every time I saw a post for someone looking for them. They needed to be used before becoming useless and eventually hard and dangerous.

[sezme]

I was referring to MOISTURE.

Originally Posted by calling911

Air circulation is the worst thing you can do by the way. The yoko reference is in regard to keeping them dry. Air circulation is going to help the chemicals go bye bye. Since you have ready access to those dry bead things for shipping.. throw several in each garbage bag.

[1982911SCTarga]

Forgive me, but what's so special about 959 tires? Are they not round and made out of rubber? (The 24-hour "A Christmas Story" marathon has taken its toll on me.)

Brian

[88911coupe]

Wow...begs the question of what the heck do you do when you wear these out. I guess you're not putting very many miles on them so it may not really be in issue for some time but still, it's an issue. Probably not a problem I'll ever have to face! LOL
Good Luck on finding a solution.

[Mikey_C]

Pro cycling teams(of the pedaling variety) are known to store their tires once they find a batch they like. IIRC sunlight and heat, moisture were the major concerns which made a wine cellar an ideal place to store them. A wine cellar is alot easier to come across in France(where many team are based) than in CA but speaking with someone in that industry may yield more insight.

[chrisp]

My tire engineer friends at Michelin (I used to have daily dialogue with them) say basically the same thing that kycarguy935 posted from the Yoko site. They go a little further to say that the closer to freezing (but not freezing) the better. Ideally you would store them in a refrigerator. Basically what's happening is that as soon as the tire comes out of the mold it starts curing (hardening). On the car through the normal driving, hold/cold cycles and changes in weather they will last a few years. Refrigerating them slows the curing process.

If you double bag them, put 'em in the basement (dark & cool), free from ozone they will last several years. If you can refrigerate them they will last much longer. They also recommended that if you can't find a totally ozone free environment to change the bags periodically because they will breakdown from the ozone before the tire does. If you keep the bags fresh the tires will stay fresh.

[URY914]

Send them to me. I'll store them for you.

[chrisp]

QUOTE]Pro cycling teams(of the pedaling variety) are known to store their tires once they find a batch they like. IIRC sunlight and heat, moisture were the major concerns which made a wine cellar an ideal place to store them. A wine cellar is alot easier to come across in France(where many team are based) than in CA but speaking with someone in that industry may yield more insight.[/QUOTE]

part of the rationale here is that tubular cycling tires get better with age. the aging process hardens the rubber a little and makes them more puncture resitant. I used to store a lot of tubulars.

[cgarr]

Since they are the last 5 ever I would put them in a safe!