wheel and tire storage

**koj11** · 10-10-2014, 05:19 PM

Somewhat off topic...I will be purchasing snow tires and wheels for my 2014 Ford Fusion in the next week or so. I previously drove a 4WD truck so didn't switch out summer/winter tires. This got me thinking about what the best way to store the summer wheels and tires would be. My garage is detached and not heated or insulated, so I thought perhaps the basement. The wheels are the stock 19" dark stainless aluminum wheels. Should I just make sure they're clean and dry and bag them, or something else? What does everyone else do?

**MPBGT** · 10-10-2014, 05:29 PM

I always clean the rims and tires very well. Wax the rims with Collonite 845. Dress the tires with your favorite water based protectant then bag em and stack em.

I've never had an issue.

**KMdef9** · 10-11-2014, 01:35 AM

Clean and dry. I never dress mine. I stack them, seperating each rim with a few towels/blankets.

**Setec Astronomy** · 10-11-2014, 10:36 AM

You can use a Tire Tote if you want to spend the money. I don't think you'll really have any problem with them in the detatched garage as long as you clean/wax/dress and keep them dry (don't put directly on concrete floor).

**Blade** · 10-11-2014, 12:51 PM

I clean everything thoroughly and dry them. I reserve the tire dressing and sealant for when I switch them back on. Bought tires from Tire Rack years ago and they came with these circular cut cardboards. I use these to layer in between tires/floor/top when I stack them in the corner of my garage. I also label the tire position (on the back side) so that I could rotate them when put back on.

**Fat Mike** · 10-14-2014, 01:17 AM

I've read that as long as they're on rims, it doesn't matter if you stack em or rack em. However, I lost a set of tires (on steel rims) that were stacked. In the summer heat, the winter rubber got soft and the two tires on the bottom of the stack got crushed. Since then, I store them upright on a rack

**SameGuy** · 10-14-2014, 01:52 AM

How high was the stack??? There's no way a tire can get "crushed" by the weight of two or three more wheels and tires unless you deflated and de-beaded them. There is no reason to deflate tires for storage.

**SameGuy** · 10-14-2014, 01:59 AM

Call me a troglodyte, but I store my whole family's wheels and tires under my back deck. They are stacks of four on wooden shipping pallets. In summer I have the winters there, steel rim faces down, with a piece of corrugated (sign board) plastic over the top wheel and a large trash bag over each stack. In winter, the summer wheels are there, but with the rims facing up. I've never had an issue with damage to tires or alloys, and no real acceleration of rust on the winter steelies during summer. Been doing this for decades.

**oldmodman** · 10-14-2014, 03:23 AM

Since I have access to nitrogen I made sure that I let all the air out of the wheels and tires I was going to store. Filled them with nitrogen, let the nitrogen out then filled them with just five psi of nitrogen. This was after the wheels and tires had been washed, the wheels coated, and the tires rubbed down with GummiFledge. They were then bagged and stored upright in a back bedroom.

**Fat Mike** · 10-14-2014, 09:22 AM

Just four high. They were winter tires and stored in a garage that was super hot over the summer. The bottom tire was warped along the tread, second from the bottom was a little damaged but not nearly as bad. Other two were fine. It surprised me as well but it cost me enough money in replacements that I won't do it again