Hope this is on topic. I'm involved in the restoration of a 60yo truck. Have just purchased 4 new tyres @ 1100 a lump. The truck will spend most of its time outdoors and will probably not travel more that 50 miles pa. When in storage it will be put on blocks to eliminate flat spots on the tyres. Is there a product that could be applied to the tyres to inhibit cracking/perishing etc.
Thanks, Nick.
I've never heard of a product that would give you the protection required, although I suspect there are some that will claim to.
My first thoughts are to cover the tyres to prevent the sunlight reaching them.
Chris
IIUC the main degradation comes from UV light, so tyre/wheel covers made of something totally lightproof, maybe damp proof membrane or something along those lines would help the most. Tyre technicians say that all tyre dressings degrade the tyre.
UV light and ozone. So don't store it where a lot of arc welding is done. (Gas welding is OK).
There may be some advantage in inflating the tyres with 100% nitrogen rather than compressed air.
Utter bullshit, this nitrogen fill business.
The air we breathe is 78% nitrogen, just how much of a benefit could there be in ramping this up to 95%? - especially when this will only ever get further diluted over time. Unless you pay for extra snake oil top ups.
The argument isn't the extra Nitrogen is usefull, but that less oxygen is good. How relevant this is to cars is another question.
I'm intrigued to know how the exterior of the tyre will be protected from oxygen contact.
Nobody has suggested it would be.
Which says everything about the value of the suggestion to the OP's problem.
Not at all relevant. Putting straight nitrogen in tyres comes from the aircraft industry where oxygen has been known to react with volatiles in an overheated tyre (eg a stuck brake on take off) and cause an explosion.
Scott
Which is then extrapolated by marketing to the oxygen attacking your tyres from the inside. But I've yet to see anyone claim oxygen is good for your tyres.
Sorry,anyone say /Nitrogen/ is good for your tyres.
Which is of course highly relevant to a 60 year old truck doing 50 miles per annum. ;-)
Tim
I believe that most all aircraft tyres are pumped with Nitrogen only at quite some pressure 200 odd PSI IIRC...
Usenet: Going that extra mile off-topic since 1980.
:-)
My 2p: Axle stands. Saves buggering about with pumping them up hard (and letting them back to normal) or ending up with a wrecked tyre if there's a slight leak that lets it get to a pancake state between visits.
But as somebody else has already pointed out, that's because they really did explode. I've yet to see any studies on the long term difference in a car tyre.
But as you yourself pointed out, it's just marketing. And when have marketing departments ever really worried about proof. And there's no studies because anyone with half a brain[1] can point out it's rubbish and the other 99% will happily believe it and pay extra.
[1] Roughly 1% of the UK population, I reckon
The odd bit is I've ever seen any studies on storing vehicle tyres & given the military do it a lot that seems odd. Which might just be that knobbly tyres don't grip tarmac in the 1st place but you'd think omebody would have looked into it.
Still won't help the natural degradation over time that leads to the tyres hardening and cracking, though.
Not sure there's much that can be done - it's down to the rubber itself degrading over time. IIRC, it's an unstoppable continuation of the vulcanisation process. UV and heat make it worse, but it happens all by itself.
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