xiaoman1 

Hello to all,
I have a number of sets of tires that I bought for future builds....is there a certain way to store them so that that the beads and sidewall stay in good shape.....folded /unfolded? do they have shelf life?
I assume that manufacturers rotate their stock frequently so they don't have the same concerns.
Regards, Ben

72Paramount

I keep my tires unfolded in a plastic bag. But that's just what I do, I don't know how much it does or doesn't help.

due ruote 

https://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/resources-.../15-1-eng.aspx

A Safe Place: Storage Strategies for Plastics (Article)

Here's a summary: Ideally, rubber and plastic objects should be stored in cold, dark, dry, and oxygen-free conditions.

Myself, I keep them in a cool, dark place (my basement) but not for extended periods.

I know back in the day (maybe still) people would age tubulars before use, but there must be a limit. Time eventually takes a toll on most things.

easyupbug 

Store in reasonable temps, bags help with cracking from ozone. For extended periods I apply 303 Aerospace Protectant which we use in auto C&V for our tires/rubber and I understand it is used by RV people who put few miles on there tires.
Auto tires have UV/ozone protection added in the rubber compounding but I don't know about bike tires. Might get a good response from the manufacturers. I doubt manufacturers or others down stream rotate stock, maybe a big wholesale warehouse might.

Ex Pres 

Don't store them in the same room as your furnace/HVAC. I had a pair of barely used nice tubulars hanging in my mechanical room, and the internal tubes turned to mush. Hopefully didn't affect the casings the same, but I have not retubed them yet to ride.

unworthy1

not dumb at all, a very useful question. The rubber (natural latex and "synthetic" butyl rubber compounds and for that matter Neoprene, EPDM, and silicone "rubber") will degrade with time and are particularly affected by heat, humidity, UV and Ozone.
So storing your rubber products away from all these things will prolong the life of the material, but also keeping them "relaxed" or at least periodically unfolding and refolding along different fold-lines will keep the rubber and the textiles in the casing, from taking a permanent "set".

jeirvine 

Hmmm... what is it about the furnace/AC? That room has most of my bikes/wheels in it.

SJX426 

@jeirvine - heat and ozone as well as CO2. Major contributor in those conditions is heat.

xiaoman1 

Thanks for the responses cool place, in plastic bag.....what about folded unfolded?
Regards, Ben

Ex Pres 

Mine is a small room, too small for complete bikes (maybe 2 comfortably) but large enough where I was storing some components. A larger room should have a lower ozone concentration.

RobbieTunes

Tires can be folded?

Kidding.

I like to store them all in an old tire bag, unfolded.
It keeps it's shape with enough in there, and I can hang it.

The Golden Boy 

This thread is relevant to my interests.

dddd

Keep in mind that tires slowly degrade no matter how they are stored.

Different materials are bonder together within the tread and casing, and these bonds simply lose strength over time, such as the tread attachment and also within the overlapping layers of the casing.

It is the nature of many polymers to experience some migration of the "plasticizers" used to maintain flexibility, which can degrade bond strength over time. Oxygen also cannot be removed once tires have been made, so oxidation is one of many chemical alterations that may also happen over time to reduce bonding strength between layers in a tire.

Tires that are ridden at pressures closer to their published limit should be newer than tires that are to be used at reduced pressures, but it's impossible to say how much.

In general, I keep tires in plastic bags, indoors if they are not "smelly". Tires can stink and can pollute indoor air! The closed room where I store tires does smell like a tire shop to some limited degree, even with the tires all in plastic bags. Note that these are a mix of new and used tires, and some just randomly stink more than others.

Prowler 

I'm a bit more pragmatic as "all the science I don't understand", so I unfold the tires as soon as they come in and ease them into shape with an old inflated inner tube stuffed into each one. After a few days the folds relax out of them and they are much easier to mount onto the rims. I do store them in the loft above the shop which is dark and dry but can get pretty warm on hot summer days (though less than 100 deg). No motors, no heaters, no ozone up there.

However I've seen 30 year old tires that are in surprisingly good shape and I'm only going to store tires for,maybe, a year before using them. I'm not worried about them degrading any measurable amount. I just want them easy to work with when its time to spoon em onto the rims.

Chombi

It will be good if you can maybe vacuum seal it in a plastic bag like the do with food, as oxygen is a major component that breaks down rubber/latex products......
Also, keep them in a dark, cool place. As light and heat breaks down rubber/latex too.

old's'cool

Excellent question; here's how it works, especially if you have them in your emergency roadside repair kit that you carry along all the time: The folded tire will look perfect visually forever, but when you actually need it for a roadside repair, it will fail immediately after you inflate it and start riding.