Tire protection

[28RPU]

Is there anything you can put on tires to protect them from dry rot if you keep the car stored in a dark garage most of its life? I have had two sets of new tires on my cars dry rot and one still has the nubs on them they are so unused.

 

[MikeK]

You actually have TWO surfaces to contend with. The inside as well as the outside. Both need to be protected from Oxygen. The outside is easy. After a good detergent scrub, rinse & dry, simply wipe them down with a damp rag saturated with an acrylic floor wax. Inside is another problem. The side-wall dry-rot of tires is accelerated by oxygen diffusion through the compound from pressurized air, even if it is in an inner tube. The fix here is to fill them with dry Nitrogen. This will take 2-3 deflatations/ inflations to get most of the air out so you have 98% N2. Put 'er up on blocks to keep the tires from flat spotting. You can get the Nitrogen from your local welding supply.

 

[28RPU]

I had heard of using nitrogen but never thought of getting it from welding suppliers. Funny how I have some tires that still hold air and look ok after sitting on an old truck since the 70s but my 10 year old tires show rot. I will have to look into the nitrogen.