VikingBlue

Have an almost new set of BFGs on a car that I haven't driven in a year and may not drive this year either. Car is covered in garage.

Will the tires go bad just sitting there ? Or should I put the car on blocks ?

Take wheels off altogether and stack on their sides ?

rustyroger

Put the car on blocks so the tires are clear of the ground and cover them to keep daylight off them as well, UV light is a killer for rubber.
Check the pressures when you put the car back on the ground, and go round with a grease gun as well.

auto_editor

If you have the ability to do so, put the car on jack stands (at the jacking points, of course, NOT on any part of the suspension--a more common mistake than it should be) with the tires not touching the ground.

This does several things: It keeps your tires from "flat-spotting" on the bottom with disuse; It saves your sidewalls from being "rubbed out" (as you stack, jostle and unstack them) or discolored where the sidewall rubber touches rubber vs. the air; and, best of all, it keeps the tires safely out of the way.

Nitrogen refilling has become popular, and some say that helps as well, though with modern radial tires formulated as they are for decades of hard use with "just air," I can't vouch for it myself.

REGARDLESS, I CAN vouch for the perils of improper storage methods for the rest of the car. I would have been more than happy to buy new tires for some cars I ended up having to overhaul thanks to gummy gasoline, powdered hoses, intrusive water vapor...

442Harv

That will help some, but even that will not keep them from getting old. I had a set of T/A s on my 70. They had less than 5 thousand miles on them, but they were olds.I looked close at them one day, and they were full of cracks. When I bought new ones, the tire store said they were in bad shape, not safe to drive on.

Lady72nRob71

At the very LEAST, keep them inflated to around 35PSI to help reduce flat spots.
Keeping away from the sun's UV rays is a good idea also. Of course it will depend how well the tires were made as to how long they will really last.
All 4 of my 2 year old michelins on the Caddy are full of cracks on both sides of the tires. VERY poor quality...

dmcianfa

OK, here's the deal with tires on your car that's being stored.

Take them off and put your car on stands like the first gentlemen said. Secondly, let the air out of each tire completely. Third, do not stack them on each other as the rubber particles will migrate onto your white letterring if you have raised letters. Finally, do keep them covered with a tarp that blocks any sunlight or store them in a shed that doesnt see any light. UV will break down rubber molecules with time. Cold climates for long periods of time will also adversely affect the tire strength by changing the crystallinity over time, but I'm not as worried about that as I am with the UV and release of pressure.

Letting the air out reduces stress on the tire and adds longevity. Keeping constant pressure in the tire fatigues it with time and will begin to add undue amounts of stress and strain to the rubber molecules, which in turn will cause "cracking" and failure at a shorter life span. Granted, it takes a good amount of time to do so, but for what I pay for tires I'm not going to risk it for the amount of work it takes to do this.

Oh, by the way, Nitrogen filled tires are a complete falsehood and total gimmick one should never pay for. Your everyday air that is normally used in composed of 18-20% oxygen and the rest nitrogen with roughly 1% inert gases. The only thing it "may" do is keep your steel wheels from corroding from the inside out more, which I really never tend to see happen being that most shop air is lubricated anyway and we will never have our car long enough to promote that type of corrosion anyway under the pressure it sees. Yes, nitogen particles may be slightly larger than oxygen, but with the size of leaks that develop in a tire, its deemed as negligable as they will both escape at the same rate. Were talking about molecular levels here. That's coming from a geeky engineer I guess, but it is what it is.

442much

I agree with all above....except for putting thje car on stands making it unmovable. I'd put junkyard tires on it and if I had to get the car out in a hurry (fire?), I could throw it in neutral and push it out. This beats knowing that there is nothng you can do to save it if it's on stands. And if this happens and you save it, you at least have something to put the tires on.

dmcianfa

A very good thought. Never crossed my mind and definetely changes my mind about leaving it on stands throughout the winter. Thanks.

gearheads78

I agree 100% that is a great idea and I have never thought about.

As for nitrogen filling...well is the best thing you could ever do. Just ask the guys that try to sell us a $10,000 fill station monthly.

ziff396

I was told by my local tire guy, that modern radial tires don't flat spot like earlier nylon. Not a problem to store for the winter.
?????? However, my old 4x4 truck with the nylons used to just thump down the road in winter after just one night!

gearheads78

Maybe not as bad but it still happens. We recently took in a 2008 Lexus LS460 that was owned by an elderly lady that got sick shortly after buying it. The car just sat and she finally passed away. We bought the car from the family with a couple hundred miles but over 1 year sitting in her garage. We sold it to a new owner and kept getting complaints about a vibration. We got them to wait several thousand miles hoping they would round back up. after multiple balance jobs and customer complains they finally bought them a new set of tires. Vibration instantly gone.

OLD SKL 69

Lots of good advice here on this issue. As far as flat spotting goes, to me it seems that certain tires seem to be more resistant to it than others. I had a set of General wide white wall tires I bought new in 1990 and put on my Riviera. If the car sat 4 days or 4 months, they never flat spotted. When they finally went, I replaced them with a set from Universal tire. These tires will flat spot if the car sits for more than a week. I have to drive it about 10 miles or so before it goes away. I spoke to Universal, and they told me it was normal. Normal? Not to me.

dc2x4drvr

I also just replaced 2 T/A radials with less than 5k on them, cause they were almost 10 yrs. old. Check your tire date codes, they may look good, but chances of a failure get higher on old tires. most tire mfg's are recommending tires be replaced after 8 yrs.