How should tyres be stored

Jonnymac · Post by **Jonnymac** » Mon Sep 12, 2011 3:54 pm

Hey just wondering what the best way of storing tyres is. Obviously in a cool dark place but can they be on their sidewalls or should they be upright?

zxsixr03 · Post by **zxsixr03** » Mon Sep 12, 2011 4:36 pm

Side walls preferably....

Tack · Post by **Tack** » Mon Sep 12, 2011 5:40 pm

they should be wrapped in black plastic and then use one of those vacuum seal bags (the ones you use the vacuum cleaner on) and kept in a cool dark place.

Air as well as ultra violet light is your enemy. But don't expect to store them for a long time...a year tops if it's a soft compound.

Jonnymac · Post by **Jonnymac** » Mon Sep 12, 2011 5:48 pm

Really? I was told 5 years from manufacture ???

Gosling1 · Post by **Gosling1** » Mon Sep 12, 2011 6:16 pm

I still have some 18" Avon slicks.

These are *a bit* older than 5 years.

You can bet your arse they will see action on a bike sooner or later, and once they get that tyre-warmer heat into them.......well they should be just fine.

born green · Post by **born green** » Tue Sep 13, 2011 7:39 pm

I lay mine flat, in the garage( not sure if thats best)
But have been doing that for yrs with no problems

Gosling1 · Post by **Gosling1** » Tue Sep 13, 2011 8:08 pm

that is the best way mate. Even better if they are shrink-wrapped in plastic - but who has time to do that shit ?

Tack · Post by **Tack** » Tue Sep 13, 2011 8:27 pm

I've seen soft compound slicks that had been kept in a constanly dark warehouse in japan that started to chunk and separate at the tyre splice after 4 years.

I know of a case up here in Queensland where a tyre dramatically failed that was three years old when fitted...destroyed the bike.(caught fire after crashing and burnt to the ground)

It's not an accurate science...because every tyre from every tyre manufacturere has a totally different compounding mix which will behave differently with age. The softer the compound the worse the result.

I wouldn't recommend storing tyres if you can help it.

jefflthomas · Post by **jefflthomas** » Tue Sep 13, 2011 11:23 pm

Tack wrote:I wouldn't recommend storing tyres if you can help it.

not for long anyway...sold an old, well stored, Laser & Metronic to a mate & although initially they were great they got hard sooner than expected

i think their age catches up to them

Jonnymac · Post by **Jonnymac** » Tue Sep 13, 2011 11:32 pm

Surely Tyres could spend twelve months or more from manufacturer till it gets to us. I mean there made, then sitting in the dispatch warehouse, next boat to Aus, sitting on the wharf, next distribution warehouse in Aus. Then off to dealers and finally put on the bike.

Yeh it's probably not ideal to store Tyres but unfortunately sometimes costs outway idealism so hopefully with a set of warmers we should be able to survive.

Although the saying " the poor man always pays twice" does jump out at me........

jefflthomas · Post by **jefflthomas** » Wed Sep 14, 2011 1:22 am

Jonnymac wrote:Surely Tyres could spend twelve months or more from manufacturer till it gets to us. .

i think 6 months or more (or less) may be more accurate

bonester · Post by **bonester** » Wed Sep 14, 2011 7:00 am

I think tyres should be stored nearly vertically, (sometimes near horizontally) fitted to a Kawasaki, and kept occasionally warm (maybe even daily)
with a ride several hours long and returned to the shed again to be stored for another day or so.....

Tack · Post by **Tack** » Wed Sep 14, 2011 7:32 am

I've heard and read this before about tyre warmers reducing heat cycles.

Heat of any kind hardens the tyre.

If we arrived at a track where the hard compound was uncompetitive and the soft was too soft we would leave the tyre warmers on for 8 hours at 85 degrees to 'cure' the compound one compound range to make an intermediate. That's what keeping a tyre in a tyre warmer does over extended time. It similar to the final stage of tyre manufacturing. Cure times during manufacture can be varied to achieve different compound results. A manufacturer can use the same compound blends (family) to produce different compounds but it affects durability also.

The idea of a tyre warmer is to heat the tyre close to it's proper operating window to get maximum performance from the start of the race.
The problem is that the only people that have to worry about heat cycles are the poorer people that have to buy tyres and have them last. The professional teams use them once or twice and throw them. So you have no real guide from manufacture level of how to life the tyres.

jefflthomas · Post by **jefflthomas** » Wed Sep 14, 2011 9:39 am

Tack wrote:I've heard and read this before about tyre warmers reducing heat cycles.

Heat of any kind hardens the tyre.

yep...on a real hot day i see lots of bike with towels & the like over their tyres in the pits at the vintage races

oldman · Post by **oldman** » Wed Sep 14, 2011 10:28 am

jefflthomas wrote:
Tack wrote:I wouldn't recommend storing tyres if you can help it.
not for long anyway...sold an old, well stored, Laser & Metronic to a mate & although initially they were great they got hard sooner than expected

i think their age catches up to them

Unlike old humans who can't get hard when their old. Jim Beam and the pill help.

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