How long can you store tyres?

Alibran
Alibran Posts: 370
edited September 2010 in Road beginners
I bought a couple of new tyres for my road bike about 18 months ago before moving to Spain, and haven't been out on it at all since we've been here (mainly due to living 2 miles up a dirt track up a mountain). I'm about to start cycling again, and I was wondering if the tyres will still be OK to use. They're folding ones and have been left folded in their boxes since I bought them.

Comments

  • Monty Dog
    Monty Dog Posts: 20,614
    Some pro-teams store tyres for years - rubber actually gets stronger with ageing due to the cross-linking of the polymer due to the vulcanisation process. Expose to ozone and UV does cause tyres to go brittle and crack - a quick visual to make sure they're OK and you should be fine.
    Make mine an Italian, with Campagnolo on the side..
  • kettrinboy
    kettrinboy Posts: 613
    i think you should keep them out of flourescent light and sunlight because that degrades the rubber compound, on motorbikes they reckon an unused tyre should be binned after five years as after that period they are no longer up to spec, i,d had a pair of tyres in stock for my road bike about 18 months before i put them on and they have been fine.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,612
    Quick-Step bought a big load of discontinued tubs a while back and threw them all in a cellar for a few years, only to bring them out for Paris-Roubaix.
    _
  • domhopson
    domhopson Posts: 259
    Monty Dog wrote:
    Some pro-teams store tyres for years - rubber actually gets stronger with ageing due to the cross-linking of the polymer due to the vulcanisation process. Expose to ozone and UV does cause tyres to go brittle and crack - a quick visual to make sure they're OK and you should be fine.

    I read an interview with Julien DeVriese, head Discovery Channel Mechanic at the time who mentioned that Armstrong's tyres were years old and are kept at a constant temperature when not being used in a basement then just reused for seasons on end so you should be fine.
  • Gav888
    Gav888 Posts: 946
    I watched this http://www.masterlinkfilms.com/ and one of the mechanics had a store of old tires in a cellar, they had been there years. Bit like wine and some women - they get better with age :)
    Cycling never gets any easier, you just go faster - Greg LeMond
  • Alibran
    Alibran Posts: 370
    Thanks for your replies. That's great news. I didn't want to have to buy more, since they're not cheap in the first place.
  • dennisn
    dennisn Posts: 10,601
    I'm not convinced tires get better with age. They start to degrade the minute they are made. Everything does. Why would tires be part of some fountain of youth? While the rubber may get a bit harder with age I don't see this "harder" as better.
    Strictly urban legend. How many OLD car tires have you seen that are geting better as they lay around in piles? They start cracking, fading, rubber flaking off. Not the kind of thing you'd want on you car, so why would old bike tires be any different?
  • apreading
    apreading Posts: 4,535
    spare wheel has sat below the boot in my car for 7 years now - nobody has suggested when the car is being serviced or MOTd that I need to replace the tyre at any point.
  • rake
    rake Posts: 3,204
    apreading wrote:
    spare wheel has sat below the boot in my car for 7 years now - nobody has suggested when the car is being serviced or MOTd that I need to replace the tyre at any point.
    i thought it was going to become legislation to put date stamps on car tyres. they go off after some time and can crack etc.
    http://miros-road-safety.blogspot.com/2 ... xpiry.html
  • apreading
    apreading Posts: 4,535
    edited September 2010
    Hmmm - done some searching and it seems your article is maybe scaremongering at 4 years - other suggest somewhere between 6-10 years but I get the impression if they have been stored well (out of sunlight/heat etc) that they could go much longer than that. In fact many of the car tyres we buy may be several years old already!

    http://www.aa1car.com/library/tire_expire.htm

    I also get the impression that this is not a 'likely' occurance but at car speeds there is more of a tendency to play safe because they *may* have invisibly deterioated on the inside. Examples they provide actually seem to refer to tyres in the order of 15 years old and which have been on low mileage cars exposed to the elements.

    I am quite sure the OPs 18 month old bike tyres will be OK, and if they are not he will be able to see that, but I will ask the garage when the car is next serviced. I would imagine if there were any doubt it would have been flagged up when they are checked each time the car has an MOT.[/url]
  • dennisn
    dennisn Posts: 10,601
    apreading wrote:
    spare wheel has sat below the boot in my car for 7 years now - nobody has suggested when the car is being serviced or MOTd that I need to replace the tyre at any point.


    I know what you're saying and I agree. My whole thing is that some people claim tires get better with age. I doubt that your spare is getting BETTER(than new) sitting below the boot.
  • apreading
    apreading Posts: 4,535
    No - I dont think they can get better either - otherwise they would age them before selling them at their optimum - the same way they do with wines. They would also sell us expensive storage racks and the internet would be full of stories of people converting their basements into tyre storage - again just like wine!

    I am sure they are constantly degrading once made but under the right conditions I am sure this degradation is very slow - perhaps to the point of almost being negligible.
  • rake
    rake Posts: 3,204
    it takes a long ime to go off. but it puts me off bulk buying.
  • furrag
    furrag Posts: 481
    dennisn wrote:
    Everything does.
    Beef
    Curry
    Cheese
    Wine
    Antiques
    Fruit Trees
    Brooks saddles
    Carol Vorderman
  • rake
    rake Posts: 3,204
    mickey rourke.
  • Berk Bonebonce
    Berk Bonebonce Posts: 1,245
    Tyres have a best before date on the inside of the casing.

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