I just removed the OEM wheels and tires with 11,000 miles on them. New 17" snow tires are now on the car.

The OEM tires are now in my unheated garage. Will the tire life or quality be affected? It's 3 months at 40 degrees or below, possibly 10 or 20 degrees at times.

I heard that the number of heat/cooling cycles affect the life and hardness of the rubber. And that at cold temps, the OEM tires do not grip well.

What will happen if the just sit in the extreme cold for a while?
Should I move the tires indoors??

 

anybody??
I think its a valid question...

 

best i can help...
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=37

 

Thanks

 

If I may interject, this question comes up for bicycle tires often. One point that was not made in that tirerack TB was that you should keep tires away from long contact with cement and concrete. I am not sure why, but I have seen the effects myself (black stain on the floor and very hard rubber.) If I may speculate as to why this happens, concrete hardens over very long time (decades) so is still relatively active in newish homes. This hardening process must have some side reactions with the rubber. Dont quote me on it though.

 

Hey fellas, during my almost 60 years living in Florida it has only really snowed twice where it was on the ground all day...so I am not an expert on storing tires, but I do remember a notice from the CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) many years ago that it's not a good idea to store tires in an area of close proximity to a running electric motor. Somehow there was a potential for breaking down the tires. Have you ever heard anything like that?

 

Old electric motors generated some ozone due to electric arcing of the brushes. Since most new electric motors are brushless this effect in eliminated. I doubt even the old motors generated enough ozone. After all if the motors did generate enough ozone there would be a lawsuit somewhere of everyone that developed lung cancer. If you store your tires away from sunlight and extreme heat they will be fine. Cement contains calcium hydroxide which is basic. The high pH may help break down the tires. Just put a piece of plastic between the tire and the floor and it would solve the problem.

 

I got construction size garbage bags deflated a good bit and wrapped each tire in it, i used the cardboard boxes and cut them up into peices so it went like this floor 2 peices of cardboard deflated tire in bag another peice of card board deflated tire in bag another peice of card board deflated tire in bag another peice of card board deflated tire in bag another peice of card board another peice of cardboard and some tape just to hold it all nice.

 

I asked this (your) question to Falken Tire concerning my RT-615s and got this reply. As the RE040 as somewhat similar hi-per summer tires you may consider this advice:

"Recommend storing the Tires inside in a dry, warmer location if possible. The Tires should also be stored flat or on top of each other rather then sitting on the tread.

Tim @ Falken Tire"

 

How about keeping them under pressure? Good or not?

 

Race tires are very subject to heat cycles, in fact, tires are pretty much not competitive after 5 heat cycles or less, regardless of the amount of tread left... that's one reason tire warmers are used to stop the tire from cooling down to extend their life over the period of a day's testing.

Road tires, including sport performance tires on the other hand are designed to take a virtually infinite number of heat cycles.

Storage of tires while rotating summers and winters is not a big deal, unless you plan on dusting them off after 10 years in which case they may be dried and cracked. As long as you don't keep your tires over 4 years, storage in the garage is ok while basement is better.