Storing tyres properly between seasons
6 min readBy Wheel Fit
The short answer: clean them, mark which corner each came from, and store them cool, dark and dry. Tyres on rims can be stacked or hung; tyres off rims should stand upright.
Before they go away
- Clean them. Brake dust, road salt and grit all attack rubber over months. Warm water and a brush; skip the tyre-shine products, which can contain solvents.
- Dry them completely. Trapped moisture against a rim causes corrosion.
- Mark each one with its position — chalk or a sticker saying NSF, OSF, NSR, OSR. This lets you rotate sensibly next season instead of guessing.
- Check tread and date now, not in six months. If a tyre will be illegal by the end of next season, you may as well know before you store it.
How to store them
| Type | Position |
|---|---|
| On rims | Stacked flat, or hung from a rack. Do not stand them on the tread for months. |
| Off rims | Standing upright, side by side. Turn them a little every month or so to avoid a flat spot. |
Where to store them
- Cool and stable. Heat accelerates ageing.
- Dark. UV is one of the main things that degrades rubber.
- Dry, with some airflow.
- Away from electric motors — freezers, compressors, generators. Motors produce ozone, which attacks rubber. This is a real effect, not folklore.
- Away from solvents, fuels and oils.
- Off a bare concrete floor if you can; a pallet or board is enough.
A garage or shed is usually fine. Outside under a tarpaulin is not: the tarpaulin traps moisture and the temperature swings are large.
Bags: yes or no?
Opaque tyre bags are good if the tyre is completely dry and clean first, because they slow evaporation of the oils in the compound. Sealing a damp tyre in a bag does the opposite of what you wanted.
Deciding when to swap
Temperature, not the calendar. The usual guide is around 7°C sustained — see winter, summer or all-season. In practice most people swap to winters in late October and back in March or April.
A second set of wheels
If you swap every year, mounting each set on its own wheels pays for itself: swapping complete wheels is quick, and you avoid the cost and the bead wear of taking tyres on and off rims twice a year. It also means it can be done at your home rather than at a garage.
One thing to check: on cars with direct TPMS, a second set of wheels needs its own sensors fitted and paired, or the system will report a fault every time you swap — the TPMS warning light.
Common questions
- How long can tyres be stored?
- Stored properly, a season or two is unremarkable. But they keep ageing on the shelf, so check the date code before putting a stored set back on — how long tyres last.
- Should I deflate them?
- No. Leave tyres on rims at roughly their normal pressure; a soft tyre deforms under its own weight. Check pressures again when they go back on the car.
- Is a loft or a cellar a good place?
- A cellar usually, if it is dry. A loft often not — summer temperatures up there can be high, and heat is one of the things that ages rubber.
- Can you store them for me?
- We do not offer storage, but plenty of garages do. If space is the obstacle to running winter tyres, it is worth asking locally before ruling the idea out.
Getting the swap done
We can do seasonal swaps at your home or workplace, which removes the two trips across town. Call 07989 606060.
