How should you store winter tires?

We are talking about storing winter tires here, but it is actually also about summer tires in the cold season. The principle is the same! What should you pay attention to when choosing a good storage place for your tires?

The room where you store the tires

The most important thing when storing the tires is that they are protected against the influences of the weather and temperatures. What does that mean for space?

• The room is dry. So no basement. Good ventilation helps to keep a room dry.
• The space is cool. Does the sun have free rein in the summer? Does it get stuffy quickly? Then the space is less suitable for it. Also pay attention to heating pipes or pipes for hot water. If they are close to the tires, they can also cause faster aging or dehydration.
• The room has little light. It doesn’t have to be dark, but light also has an aging effect. Especially the UV light from the sun.

What is the best way to store the tires?

There are certain oils in a tire. They ensure that the rubber remains in good condition. If you put the tires in a tire cover, this often already protects the tire against light and other influences. It also ensures less drying out of the tires. It may be useful to wrap the tires in plastic first if the tire cover is thin or light.

Then you can put the tires away. It differs whether you have the tires on the rims or whether they are stored without rims.

• It is best to store them horizontally on the rim. You can easily stack them, but it is even better to use a rim tree. This ensures that the tires do not come into contact with each other. As a result, they deform less. They don’t even have to be expensive and they often have wheels so that you can easily move the rims with tires.
• It is best to store the tires side by side without rims. You can use a tire rack for this, but you don’t have to.

We have already mentioned it: if you store the tires in the same way for a long time, they can deform. That is why it is good to rotate or move the tires on a regular basis so that the pressure is not always in the same place and the tire remains in better condition. The oils in the rubber can also continue to distribute themselves regularly.

Other points for saving

What else can you think about to store the winter tires? Actually, that is obvious. After all, you have removed the tires from the car so you can apply a check. Doing the check on storage can help you fix problems before using them again.

• What is the tire condition? Is the profile still sufficient? So at least 1.6 mm (but then you really have to replace them, we advise you to think of new tires at 3 mm tread depth)? If not, you have time to choose new tires and change the tires.
• Check the profile for small stones and remove them with a flat screwdriver. Then you also prevent deformation of the tread here.
• Before storing the tires on the rim, check the tire pressure and valve. At the correct pressure, the tires remain in better condition even when they are stored!