As some will remember I had a blow out last week on old dry rotted tires. I purchased new front tires, but still have the old rears on… Today a car came in that was to be Certified and the tires needed to be at 5/10th to be certified… These are at 4/10 (full set), so I am getting them for free and will put two on the rear to get rid of the dry rotted tires. With that said, I will have two others I want to keep as spares (or to replace the rear tires in a year or so… BTW I only drive this car about 7-8,000 miles a year)… Any way I don’t have any room in my garage, so my question is can I put them in my attic?? If so will they last up there, or will they dry rot out very quickly?? I live in Coastal South Carolina, so it does get HOT in the summer…
The main killer of tire rubber is outdoor sunlight. Storing them in an attic should not harm them at all. I live in OK where 100 degrees plus is the norm (60 something days of it last summer) and I’ve had a set of brand new tires stored in my attic for 7 or 8 years now. They’re as good as they day they rolled off of the production line.
I’ve also got a pair of used Goodyear NASCAR slicks (practice tires) in the attic and they’re fine in spite of 10 years of storage.
You can also add a little preservation to them by placing them in a trash bag and liberally dousing them with talcum powder.
I’ve seen 30 year old motorcycle tires preserved in this manner that were still as new.
Heat is also a factor in tire aging. The attic sounds like a terrible idea. So is ozone exposure. Sea coasts are noted for higher levels of ozone, so that’s not in your favor.
Since you’ve already experienced a problem with old tires, I assume you have learned that tires have age limits that are somewhat independent on how they look. You need to look at the date codes on the tires. ( http://www.barrystiretech.com/dotcoding.html) If they are going to be too old by the time you get around to using them - what’s the point. In your case, the age limit is probably about 8 years.