Official Tire Storage Guidance | GTAMotorcycle.com

Official Tire Storage Guidance

Relax

Relax

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There's a questionable post on FB from someone complaining that their Q5 tires were defective and developed multiple huge blisters after only 200 kms. The consensus from commenters was that they were probably allowed to freeze when parked and/or ridden when frozen, in which case some trustworthy people said this is expected. This was news to me, so I started looking into what the actual manufacturers recommend for storage and found these links which were enlightening. Continental seems to have the most comprehensive guidance.

Continental:

Tire storage recommendations | Continental motorcycle tires

Tire compounds are formulated to resist deterioration caused e.g. by sunlight, humidity and ozone. Nevertheless, stored tires should be protected against these and other potentially damaging conditions.
www.continental-tires.com www.continental-tires.com

Dunlop:
www.dunlopmotorcycletires.com

Care & Maintenance |Dunlop Motorcycle Tires- Street & Off-Road Tires

From tire mounting and wheel inspection to motorcycle maintenance, find important Service & Safety info for Dunlop customers and tire fitters.
www.dunlopmotorcycletires.com www.dunlopmotorcycletires.com

Pirelli (Page 71):
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I've got a brand new set of Pirelli SuperCorsa V4 SP sitting in my basement for this reason. The sticker on them is roughly consistent with the Pirelli guidance listed above, but it says to store them above 5*C if possible, and not to mount or flex them below that point to prevent cracking.

I've also got an unmounted Dunlop Q5, and the sticker doesn't say anything about storage temperature. I had a not-great experience with my first set of Q5's and also thought about whether the storage temperature had anything to do with it. Not much I can do about the Q5's that are still mounted on the bike in my unheated garage, though.

I wrapped the tires in the basement in plastic kitchen cling wrap to keep the stink down. Works pretty well.
 
Relax said:
There's a questionable post on FB from someone complaining that their Q5 tires were defective and developed multiple huge blisters after only 200 kms. The consensus from commenters was that they were probably allowed to freeze when parked and/or ridden when frozen, in which case some trustworthy people said this is expected. This was news to me, so I started looking into what the actual manufacturers recommend for storage and found these links which were enlightening. Continental seems to have the most comprehensive guidance.

Continental:

Tire storage recommendations | Continental motorcycle tires

Tire compounds are formulated to resist deterioration caused e.g. by sunlight, humidity and ozone. Nevertheless, stored tires should be protected against these and other potentially damaging conditions.
www.continental-tires.com www.continental-tires.com

Dunlop:
www.dunlopmotorcycletires.com

Care & Maintenance |Dunlop Motorcycle Tires- Street & Off-Road Tires

From tire mounting and wheel inspection to motorcycle maintenance, find important Service & Safety info for Dunlop customers and tire fitters.
www.dunlopmotorcycletires.com www.dunlopmotorcycletires.com

Pirelli (Page 71):
(screenshot in case this link dies):
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Interesting. I've ridden on many tires that started the trips well below freezing with no obvious tire damage. In those conditions, I am obviously riding the bike more gingerly out of necessity though. I've never had "race" tires.
 
GreyGhost said:
I've never had "race" tires.
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The SuperCorsa and the Q5 are trackday tires. Basically the sportiest street-legal tires you can get without jumping to actual race slicks. The Q5 replaces the Q3+, which was the spec tire for the CSBK lightweight class for a handful of years.

The optimal Q3+ operating temperature range is approximately 50-60*C, although they work fine at lower temperatures. I've managed to hit over 50*C on a low powered bike on the track, but you have to be riding hard to get there. No way to reach those temperatures on the street (not on the front tire, in any case). When it's up to temp, even a street-ish tire like the Q3+ will pick up small gravel like it's made of chewed bubblegum when you come into the pits.

I've no personal experience with race slicks, but tire warmers typically operate at about 90-100*C on their high setting to get close to the optimal operating temp for those tires. So the rubber composition is obviously way different than a typical street tire. I don't think most people need to worry about storing their street tires in freezing temps.
 
GreyGhost said:
Interesting. I've ridden on many tires that started the trips well below freezing with no obvious tire damage. In those conditions, I am obviously riding the bike more gingerly out of necessity though. I've never had "race" tires.
Click to expand...

I think the news is really that the newer generation of double-duty street and track-day tires need to be treated more like race tires than street tires, which could be a rude awakening for many.
 
Relax said:
I think the news is really that the newer generation of double-duty street and track-day tires need to be treated more like race tires than street tires, which could be a rude awakening for many.
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I even hesitated ordering the SuperCorsas over the winter, but they were unavailable in the correct size for a long time and I grabbed them as soon as they came back into stock. Were they stored in a heated facility to begin with? Did they sit in a freezing transfer depot, or have a fridge stacked on top of them in transit? No idea.

Might be nice if the sticker had an integrated temperature storage indicator, but I suspect there would be a lot of tires returned if they did.
 
With street tires I'd be more worried about storing them in excessive heat (the rafters of the garage) than in the cold.
 
I don't need to worry about this, having switched to sport touring tires. But the RoadSmart 4's aren't living up to the mileage I was expecting, so I'm paying a premium for wet traction that I'll rarely, if ever, need. I want to try the RoadSport 2 next, and even if I get half the mileage, I'll still come out ahead. I don't think the compound is as extreme as the Q5 series to warrant special precautions over the winter.
 
Relax said:
..................the RoadSmart 4's aren't living up to the mileage I was expecting.;.......................
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I always try to have a spare set of tires to avoid availability issues. I store them upright in the basement.

I'm just on my second set of RoadSmart 3's and got about 14,000 km on the first set. What did you get on the 4's and what were you expecting?

Mileage aside, I'm happy with the performance of the RoadSmart 3's.
 
mimico_polak said:
And here I am laying my tires down on cold concrete in the shed. Haven’t seen any issue with em in decades.
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Same. Hell my neighbor throws a tarp over his bike and lets it sit outside all winter. I at least have mine in a garage, but never heated and haven't had an issue with the tires yet.
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