How to stop Tyres Cracking in storage?

[ChrisRx718 4470]

I've been pulling cars out of storage (brick shed, no heating) and many of them have suffered from tyre failure.

Most of the failures are in the sidewalls, where the weight was resting on them - a strong argument probably for stands beneath the chassis to lift the weight?

But others are in circular shapes on the sidewalls of models which haven't been load-bearing under their own weight, which I'm gutted about because I'm not sure I could have done much to prevent it? Is it a moisture thing or lack thereof?

Temperatures are only ever 2-3°C higher than outdoor temperatures in my shed. I have nowhere else to store them at this moment.

Is there anything (other than investing in some chassis stands) which I can do to prevent this happening again? Pictures below of some of my pain and suffering. 

 

[Willy iine 18806]

Basically all my cars are on stands including these M38's to prevent flat spotting.  For nurishment, I use Aerospace 303 and try to keep the cars in 25-50% RH room away from direct sunlight and excessive humidity.  

[Pylon80 2631]

I give all the tires I have a smear of tire sauce (SXT 3.0) every 3 months. It is like a little ritual that takes an hour or so to do  I am in AZ with extremely low RH... we are talking 20% most of the year. To keep it practical, I have been limiting the amount of RC tires I own at any given time... I never 'stock up' on tires.

I also have all the cars that have tires on placed on wood blocks to prevent flat spotting as @Willy iine does.

[OnTheTrail 1152]

Can you at least remove the tires (err....tyres  ) during the colder months and store them inside?  

[ChrisRx718 4470]

1 hour ago, Willy iine said:

Basically all my cars are on stands including these M38's to prevent flat spotting.  For nurishment, I use Aerospace 303 and try to keep the cars in 25-50% RH room away from direct sunlight and humidity.  

I think stands is a must, I had dismissed it as one of those "it's overactive collectors habits" and didn't think it necessary, but it very clearly is. My (expensive) RC4WD crawler tyres seem OK, but they had managed to stick to the melamine coated wooden shelf they were sat on 

Aerospace 303 - this stuff?

 

£16 on Amazon for 1 bottle!! How far does it go? Does it have any negative effects on tyre writing (paint pen)?

3 minutes ago, OnTheTrail said:

Can you at least remove the tires (err....tyres  ) during the colder months and store them inside?  

 Be quicker to take the whole wheels off, especially in the case of the crawlers with beadlock rims and 99 nuts and bolts! But it's definitely an idea. Perhaps I should relocate one of the children to the shed and commandeer their bedroom as a hobby room?  

[Willy iine 18806]

@ChrisRx718  Yeah, the one I use is for interior/exterior.   If you go to your auto parts store (or perhaps gas stand, convenience store) you might be able to find a tiny bottle of it with a mist head.   You really only need a dab per tire.  I have a tiny 2-3oz bottle of it in my pretend RC shop.  

[OnTheTrail 1152]

3 hours ago, ChrisRx718 said:

 Be quicker to take the whole wheels off.....

LOL!   Yep, that's what I meant.  If I had to take the bead locks off every season and put them back on, I'd let them crack!   

[alvinlwh 5895]

Hang them up?

 

[Super ally 412]

16 hours ago, Willy iine said:

Basically all my cars are on stands including these M38's to prevent flat spotting.  For nurishment, I use Aerospace 303 and try to keep the cars in 25-50% RH room away from direct sunlight and excessive humidity.  

Would the wild willy be your favourite tamiya rc by any chance.🤣

[MadInventor 3884]

I've just taken the wheels off a lot of mine, or if there's a lot of wheels or bolts to remove (The War Rig wheels are connected to the hubs with 10 bolts each, so 60 bolts to remove the wheels) I've got the vehicle sat on things to raise the wheels off the ground. I've had a set of lunch box tires fail in the exactly the same way as yours have, I think it might be an age thing as mine were over 10 years old.

 

[ChrisRx718 4470]

I've just had an epiphany - I have some "Gummi Plfege" in the car for the window seals... That's basically the same thing right? Rubber care. I'll give that a whirl. Even has a little sponge applicator head on it.

Meanwhile, compare what I'm dealing with vs. @Willy iine's amazing showroom / shop floor: 

[OoALEJOoO 3127]

Something that is used to prolong life and premature ageing is simply "compartmentalization". I.e., place your item in a bag, drawer, somewhere. This will reduce and/or prevent direct UV light, dampen any sort of transient (humidity cycles, temperature cycles) and limit oxidation (given there is not an unlimited supply of fresh air). This would not apply if your space is very damp though, in which case ventilation would be best (or actually, less bad).

[Willy iine 18806]

@ChrisRx718  You got quite a collection yourself!   

I use Gummi Plfege specifically on my door and window seals of my German cars..  Aerospace303 is a bit thinner, I think.  Aerospace303 is also known for its satin/matte finish.  On the interior plastics of my 1:1 car, I use it diluted 50:50 with water for even less shine and protects against scuffs.   Actually I apply it while my car is brand new and maintain periodically. My interiors are basically scuff free even after many years of use. 

[OoALEJOoO 3127]

I wonder if the recently announced 87220 Tamiya Tire Coating Fluid has similar or better performance compared to the widely-regarded Aerospace 303 (which I haven't tried myself).

Tire Coating Fluid (tamiya.com)

[ChrisRx718 4470]

Temperature is dropping, which means my trusty little shed is getting very cold indeed. I didn't fancy any nasty surprises next spring, so I've decided to heed the advice given here.

Here's the state of my shed at the end of the warmer season:

And with a tyre wrench and 15 minutes later:

Now, You'll note a couple of the cars still have tyres.

I never had issues with the road car tyres (MX-5, Mini, 306) so I'm taking a risk and leaving those on. 

The turquoise Jimny however:

It's already fallen victim. Instead of unbolting all of the remaining wheels, I've simply lifted this chassis up on an old broken Lunchbox tyre so there's no weight bearing down on it. Sad times right?

This leaves me with a bucket o'tyres which are all going to get the Gummi-phlege treatment before being brought indoors (probably on top of my daughters wardrobe )

I hate to think what some of these tyres would cost to replace, especially the RC4WD / crawler ones which are hideously expensive!

Is anyone else prepping their fleet for winter?

 

[toyolien 4681]

2 hours ago, ChrisRx718 said:

Is anyone else prepping their fleet for winter?

This year I've insulated and carpeted my garage so I'm hoping the temperatures in there will stay reasonable. 

Would you say that the plastics are also susceptible to going brittle in the cold months? I only have an old Lunchbox and a Super Hotshot that use the older plastics. My other few cars are all newer reinforced type plastics so I'm hoping they'll be fine.

[ChrisRx718 4470]

47 minutes ago, toyolien said:

This year I've insulated and carpeted my garage so I'm hoping the temperatures in there will stay reasonable. 

Would you say that the plastics are also susceptible to going brittle in the cold months? I only have an old Lunchbox and a Super Hotshot that use the older plastics. My other few cars are all newer reinforced type plastics so I'm hoping they'll be fine.

I'd imagine it's to do with temperature fluctuation more than extremes. Rubber is different (clearly, mine is knackered!) but plastics should be fine as long as they don't get 'heat cycled' quickly and frequently. That's what kills a lot of polymer roofing products; not the extreme of hot or cold, but fluctuating between the two often (ie. hot summer, sudden storm = very hot then immediate cooling). 

I could of course be talking complete nonsense, as the two plastics might behave very differently. 

Don't scare me into bringing my entire fleet into the bedroom though. I don't think my wife would tolerate it 

[toyolien 4681]

Just now, ChrisRx718 said:

I'd imagine it's to do with temperature fluctuation more than extremes. Rubber is different (clearly, mine is knackered!) but plastics should be fine as long as they don't get 'heat cycled' quickly and frequently. That's what kills a lot of polymer roofing products; not the extreme of hot or cold, but fluctuating between the two often (ie. hot summer, sudden storm = very hot then immediate cooling). 

I could of course be talking complete nonsense, as the two plastics might behave very differently. 

Don't scare me into bringing my entire fleet into the bedroom though. I don't think my wife would tolerate it 

Thinking about it, what you say about plastics makes sense. My Lunchbox has lived in my garage since 2006 and I've just been and looked at it, and it's all good.

[Willy iine 18806]

@ChrisRx718  I will be bringing my outdoor Scorpion, Beetle, and XV01 inside from my garage and place in large storage bins placed on a shelf in my basement storage space.   I was going to wait until temps drop to where I bring my 1:1 car detailing products inside as I'm still driving my RC cars on occasion when weather is nice.  

My garage gets quite a bit of radiated heat in the winter, but can drop below 20F ambient on the coldest cloudy days.  Since this year is ElNino, it probably won't get that cold.

When I place the cars in bins, I will place the cars on some random box I have to keep the weight off the tires.  While in the garage, they are placed on service stands (they're cheap these days like $15 a pop for an aluminum one) so the tires are always off the ground.

[Juggular 4964]

On 4/21/2023 at 6:49 AM, OoALEJOoO said:

I wonder if the recently announced 87220 Tamiya Tire Coating Fluid has similar or better performance compared to the widely-regarded Aerospace 303 (which I haven't tried myself).

Tire Coating Fluid (tamiya.com)

I wonder if this stuff could work as well?  

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003VSATBI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

They advertise it as tire protectant for aircraft tires, but I suppose it's all the same.  If it's good for car tires, why not for aircrafts?  

I use it to prolong the life of 1:1 tires. 

On our old tires, tread remained, but after 8 years, tires cracked.  We only drive 3 miles a day. The low mileage didn't help.  

The dried rubber didn't grip well.  The driver side saw more sun, and that side was worse.  

After replacing them 21 months ago, I use this stuff on the new tires 4 times a year.  

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003VSATBI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

It's milky. The shine disappears after a couple of days.  No smell.  Would it extend the life?  So far it doesn't look bad after 21 months.  

IF it's similar to Tamiya coating fluid, you get 50 times more for twice the money. I've only used on bicycle tires and automobile tires for a year, and it seems good.  Since I haven't used it on my RC tires, I don't know if it could have prevented this. 

They were always indoors, no sun for the past 20 years. (Granted, 20 years is a long time.)   My RC room is a bit on the humid side (about 50% relative humidity).  It might be the indoor ozone. Or the oil or plasticizer that just broke down after decades.  Replenishing with tire-care products might help. (Or just wrap tires with plastic bags, with weight off). 

Some years ago, I've tried tire sauces, but I wasn't impressed by them (I think it was too stinky for indoor use.)

Several years ago, I soaked some vintage tires on WD40, and they didn't crack (40 year old Fast Attack rear tires).