Asked the same question a while back and got some great responses.

http://www.minimania.com/web/threadid/85542/InfoID/1/SiteMessages/11/msgthread.cfm

 

one more pointer about storing tires that I remember reading some years ago: it is best to store them stacked on their sides, rather than upright on their treads. I guess so that gravity will not tend to make them less round over time.

(and in a cool, dark place, in plastic bags)

Norm

Darn!!! now I have to sell my ozone generator, and you thought it was pollution that caused the holes over the poles. peter

No more cars left, Westpaminis is now just a memory, Good luck to all those hard working dealers left out there, We can tell you its not easy. We have fully enjoyed meeting all the fine folks we have in the business.

Also keep them away from electric motors or anything which creates any kind of electrical spark.  Sparks create ozone, which will attack rubber (and many other things) quickly.  At one of my previous jobs we made ozone generators for calibrating ozone analyzers. As a special project, one of our engineers made a high concentration ozone generator, something like 3% or 4% ozone in air.  He called us over one day when he had the ozone generator running under an exhaust hood.  It was one of those "Hey... Look at this!" moments.  He held a small piece of rubber hose in front of the ozone generator outlet.  As we watched, the rubber hose started swellng and cracking, and turned into a pile of hard granules in a matter of 30 or 40 seconds!  Of course the low part per million of ozone generated by a sparkig electric motor commutator will take much much longer, but the cumulative effect is the same. 

Don

Why take the time to learn when ignorance is instantaneous?..... Hobbes   (to Calvin)

I don't like anything older than 5 years for "spirited" driving, though I'll use tires longer than that on close inspection for more sedate purposes...

Bill

I have just taken off a set of A008s that I stored in the roof of my parents garage for 10 years or so.

Metric is for people who can't do fractions.

Bill I was hoping you would answer, so how long do you think I could get away with storing them for? I can't imagine having the car more than 3 years, I never had a car that long before.

Cheers for the comments folks. peter

No more cars left, Westpaminis is now just a memory, Good luck to all those hard working dealers left out there, We can tell you its not easy. We have fully enjoyed meeting all the fine folks we have in the business.

Plastic is to shield them from oxygen as well as light...

 Bill

I thought, wrapped in Paper, out of light, and in the cool....

Cranium
Inner and outer sills, left and right door steps, left-right-front-rear floors, and inner wings welded in place.  Moving to the boot area, then to the a-panels/front end.  Should have the welding done in 3 more years! :)

Battery Box removed, and rear valence removed.  Time to clean up the rust, and find the holes.

First of all, they're T I R E S, Mr Peter.

I think if you store 'em in bags to block the light and keep them out of the sun it'll be ok.  Then again, I thought that big wooden horse outside the city walls was a gift for us, too! 

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My Higher Authority is the German Purity Law of 1516 . 

Hello Folks, I know several things about tyres, 1) they don't last as long as they used too that is, in terms of age not milage, they get hard, 2) I know to store them in a cool dark place, preferrably in a black plastic bag to keep off dirt.

My question is this, I have a set of 4 near new BMW mini runflats, I am getting no action worth having on ebay and have decided I would like to keep them, possibly for a future full size spare (car has no spare and a new tyre would go for almost what I am being offered for all 4!) or if 2 of my new ones wear I can try 2 runflats instead of spending tons of dosh or if when I want to sell the car the current tyres are well worn I can put on the near new shoes. BUT my concern is that these tyres won't last long on the shelf.

anyone have any comments?

regards: peter

No more cars left, Westpaminis is now just a memory, Good luck to all those hard working dealers left out there, We can tell you its not easy. We have fully enjoyed meeting all the fine folks we have in the business.