How to store your tires in winter ?

It is getting colder and colder, winter is coming soon.Once you’ve installed winter tires or all season tires on your BMW 3 series or Honda CRV,you’ll be left with another set of tires that will need to be properly stored until temperatures rebound in the spring. Properly storing tires when they’re not in use can be something of an afterthought. You might wonder if a tire can even wear out when it’s not spinning beneath a vehicle. Tires do in fact age and weaken, even when not in use, and storing them properly will help them last longer. To correctly store tires that will not be used continuously, we recommend the following:

1. Cleaning your tires

1. Stacking is best

Brake dust, dirt, and grime from the streets can all build up on your tires over the course of their usual use. All that dirt can cause damage to your tires if they’re left to sit over time. The best time to clean your tires is right when you take them off your car,if the tires are still mounted on the rims, it’s also a good time to clean the wheels (use an approved wheel cleaner).

Water, mild soap, and a brush will suffice to get the cleaning job done. Make sure that the wheels are cool to the touch before cleaning, and avoid using products like tire shine. Make sure the tires are dry before putting them into storage.

2. Marking and bagging

Before you put your tires away, mark each tire (or the bag it will go into) with the position on the car they were removed from: front left, rear right, etc.

Once the tires are clean and dry, set aside a few large garbage bags or other water-resistant bags. Each tire should have its own bag. Before sealing the bags with tape, try to get as much air out of the bag as possible. You can use a vacuum cleaner to draw air out of the bags before sealing them up. Taking the air out of the bag will help prevent the lubricating oil found inside the tire compounds from evaporating.

3. Stacking is best

Avoid resting the tires on the tread. Even without the weight of your car on them, the tire treads can wear down after resting on a hard surface for a period of months. Stacking your tires is the preferable storage setup.

Unmounted tires should never be hung. Doing so can cause damage and distort the tire's shape. If your tires are mounted on the rims, you could potentially hang them from hooks to store them, although stacking is still considered the better option.

4.  Keep your tires in a cool, dry place

Tire rubber soaks up heat, and can quickly dissipate heat. That dissipation can dry out the rubber and age your tires. With that being the case, it’s a good idea to keep tires away from sunlight. The best place to store your tires is a climate-controlled, moisture-free area like a basement. Variations in temperature and humidity levels can damage the tires.

Keep your winter tires and all season tires away from any electric motors, like those in a furnace, hot water system, central vacuum system, or sump pump. These motors emit ozone, which can be harmful to tire compounds.

While tires will age somewhat regardless of what precautions are taken, these procedures will help slow the process compared to taking no precautions at all and tires will last longer.

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