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tyre softener and shelf life

marcoturbo

marcoturbo

New member
Hi,

I'm about to upgrade my rims from 16" to 17" so my current wheels will be stored.

My 16" tyres are not worn and I want to prevent them from being too hard.

Has anybody ever tried some tyre softener (from Grip, it's the easiest to get) ?

It looks to work to get a better traction but my main concern is to keep the compound soft enough to be able to run these wheels when needed/required (or when I want to get my Fuchs back [:D] )

Thanks in advance.
 
Tyres are degraded by UV light and oxygen so the only way to protect them is to hide them away from any light in a vacuum! The only way you can feasibly do this is to remove the tyres from the rims (to prevent the air inside the tyres oxidising from within), cover them in some form of plastic heat-shrink covering where the air is sucked out, and put them in a big bag to keep the UV light out.

I suspect that treatments like the one you describe are just stop gap measures to treat the symptoms and not the causes of the degradation and oxidation of the rubber.
 
Some hill climbers I have spoken to have tried it but say it ultimately turns the tyres to goo, great for one event on an old set of tyres, but that's about all. Their recommendation was to remove the surface of the tyres (slicks in this case) with a cheese grater type device... Somehow I don't think this is a terribly good idea for anyone else!

I'd have thought that keeping them in the dark and above freezing should be about all you need to worry about, but why not wrap them in cellophane as well, it'll keep them clean at the very least and reduce the air flow around them.
 
Thanks for the replies.

I don't want to remove the tyres from the rims, I want to be able to run these wheels when needed (inspection etc)

Of course, tires will be cleaned before storage. Surfex (10:1) works great for cleaning tyres. I also plan to wrap the wheels in black cellophane and store them in a dry cellar. I wonder if I paint them with tyre softener before wrapping or leave bare rubber. I only want to prevent them from hardening, I don't seek a "snake oil" to make my Bridgestones as sticky as slicks tyres [;)]
 
ORIGINAL: marcoturbo

Thanks for the replies.

I don't want to remove the tyres from the rims, I want to be able to run these wheels when needed (inspection etc)

Of course, tires will be cleaned before storage. Surfex (10:1) works great for cleaning tyres. I also plan to wrap the wheels in black cellophane and store them in a dry cellar. I wonder if I paint them with tyre softener before wrapping or leave bare rubber. I only want to prevent them from hardening, I don't seek a "snake oil" to make my Bridgestones as sticky as slicks tyres [;)]
Click to expand...

Are they normal compound road tyres? How long are you storing them for?

Over the winter a dry shed and out of the sun is sufficient.

Its only particularly soft compound trackday tyres or slicks etc like ACB10`s and 888`s etc that require `special` storage and frost protection due to heat cycling properties, normal road tyres wont need that degree of protection (unless storing them for long periods in which case sell them and buy new in a couple of years time)

If they are ordinary road tyres then the ones on the car will suffer more over the same period but you`ll be running on them!
 
I still don't know how long they will be stored... They're Bridgestone S-02s (225/50x16 and 245/45x16). It's currently hard to find good tyres in these size (245/45x16) and it should be worse in the next years...
 
You could sell them to me, they will fit nicely on my spare set of D90, and this would give you an excuse to have your Fuchs refurbished, with polished outer rims.
 
I have two decent SO2`s that are taking up space that I dont need (been stored in a dry garage, laid flat out of sunshine)

Offers?
 

ORIGINAL: TTM

You could sell them to me, they will fit nicely on my spare set of D90, and this would give you an excuse to have your Fuchs refurbished, with polished outer rims.
Click to expand...

Want to keep the stock finish of the Fuchs. I don't want to make them polish...
 
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