How To Store Tires in a Garage- [Detailed Guide!!]

To store tires in the garage, first, note the tire position. Clean and inspect them for damage. Then, put them in an airtight plastic bag and tote them. The garage should be safe from UV, ozone, and excessive heat. Hang or stack horizontally for mounted and store vertically for unmounted tires. 

But, that’s not all. So, stick with us till the end to find out more.  

Storing Tires in Garage- Procedure

Storing tires is the best way to extend their lifespan and maintain optimal performance. Here, you might think about how to store summer tires or how to store winter tires. The process is exactly the same for both of them.

Here, there are different steps to follow. And, some of these steps might have slight variations for different tires. We’ve tried to enlist all of them.

How to Store Mounted Tires in Garage?

Mounted tires mean tires attached to the rim. So, how do you store mounted tires? Simply, follow these steps:

Note Tire Position in Car

The first step is to remove the tires from the car. While doing it, note down the tire’s position in your car. You can also take a picture. This will help to mount the tire back on and rotate them appropriately. 

The wheel alignment can be set as before which will prevent tire wear and steering problems. Some tires perform best in terms of noise reduction and handling in a certain position. Thus, reinstalling them, in the same manner, is highly beneficial. 

Inspect for Damages

Next, inspect for any damage to the tires. Check if there are any cracks and damage marks on the tire. Also, measure the tread depth to see if your tires are worn out. It’s useless to store a damaged tire.

Although if you can fix the damage by patching, the tire should work well. In that case, you can store them for the future. 

In case, you’re dealing with extremely damaged tires and planning to get new ones, there are options like Yokohama & Goodyear Tires, BFGoodrich Vs Goodyear Tires, and so on.

Clean Wheels and Tires

Before storing, first clean the tires and rims with a brush, soap, and water. This will clean off contaminants like dirt, grime, and brake dust. Then, dry the tires. It’ll also remove excess humidity from the tire surface. Be sure to not apply any tire dressings. 

Bag The Tires

After cleaning, put them in airtight plastic bags. You can also use lawn and leaf bags here. Now, suck out as much air as possible. You can use a vacuum here. 

Then, tightly close the bag. Every tire has some amount of oil in the tread rubber. Tightly closing it ensures that the oil doesn’t get evaporated from the tires. 

You can also use tire totes instead of plastic bags. But they aren’t airtight. So, you can put the tires in plastic bags before using tire totes.

Protect from UV, Ozone, And Heat 

Keep the tires away from sunlight as they’ll absorb UV radiation. Rubber compounds in tires deteriorate due to radiation which is called degradation. 

Tires are originally coated with carbon which tries to resist this radiation. But, it wears out after some time. Thus, it’s safe to keep tires away from sunlight. 

Rubber compounds can also get damaged due to ozone. Thus, it’s safe to keep ozone-producing equipment away from your tires. For example, electric motors, generators, fluorescent lamps, etc. Also, keep away from any chemical solvents. 

Moreover, store tires in a comparatively cool place. Too much heat along with oxygen causes thermo-oxidative degradation. Thus, make sure that the temperature in your garage is between 30º-77ºF.

Hang or Stack Tires

The best option for storing mounted tires is to hang them. Here, the wheel supports the weight and maintains your tire’s condition. You can just install a tool holder on your wall. You can watch this video for guidelines:

But make sure that it can support the weight of your tires. A typical tire mounted on a rim will weigh about 40-60 lb. If you want to hang 4 of them, make sure your tool holder can handle 160-240 lb of weight. 

You can also stack the tires on top of each other. This will put less pressure on the tires. But, you may need to reduce the air pressure. However, keep it higher than 10 PSI. You shouldn’t store mounted tires upright.

Note:

For some reason, if you didn’t bag your tires like the picture, there’s an additional tip. You might see white parts on your tires. While storing, make sure that these white parts don’t touch the black parts of other tires. 

The white parts should only touch the white parts of another tire. The same goes for the black parts. It’s called storing the tires white-to-white and black-to-black.

How to Store Unmounted Tires in the Garage?

Now, how do you store unmounted tires? The process is almost the same as mounted tires. But, you can’t hang or stack them up. Rather, store the tires vertically by standing them upright. It puts the least pressure on your tires. 

Here, you can use wall-mounted tire storage racks. You can install the racks by yourself. Watch this video for instructions:

How Long Can You Store Tires in Garage

Usually, tires can be stored in the garage for about six years. Even if you don’t use them, they’re always subjected to oxygen. Thus, the rubber particles get harder over time and eventually dry rot. However, winter tires might be stored for up to 6-10 years. 

FAQs

Bottom Line!!

Hope you got to know everything about how to store tires in garage? Still, we’ve one last tip for you. Do not store tires directly on concrete. At least use a piece of wood. Thanks for reading the whole article.