Learn Tire Care Tips You Need To Be Doing Regularly

What are the basics?

If you switch between sets of tires, proper storage ensures that your tires’ appearance and performance are maintained.
Tires should always be stored in a cool, dry, clean, indoor environment.

If tires sit outdoors, unused for long periods of time (a month or more), their surfaces will become dry and surface cracks can appear.

Before storing your tires:

Before removing your tires, note their position on your car. This will allow you to properly rotate your tires next time you mount them to ensure that they wear evenly.
Inspect each one for damage or uneven wear.
Clean your wheels and tires with water and dry them well to limit any corrosion.
Remove any stones or debris that have been trapped in the tire grooves.

Storing your tires:

Store your tires indoors in a clean, cool and dark location away from direct sunlight, sources of heat and ozone such as hot pipes or electric generators.
If you are storing outdoors (recommended for a short time only), raise tires off the ground and use waterproof covering with holes to prevent moisture build-up.
Be sure the surfaces on which tires are stored are clean and free from grease, gasoline, solvents, oils or other substances that could deteriorate the rubber.
For aesthetic reasons, if your tires have whitewall or raised white lettering, store them with the whitewall or raised white lettering facing each other. Otherwise, black rubber could stain them.
If tires are on a vehicle parked for a long period, the weight of the vehicle needs to be taken off the tires by jacking it up or removing the tires. Failure to do this may cause irreversible damage.

Tire Registration

Make sure your tires are registered to receive direct notification in the event of a safety-related recall.

Read our Frequently Asked Questions.

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Keep them in a cool, dry, indoor location away from direct sunlight, heat sources, and ozone generators such as electric motors or generators. Before storing, clean each tire with water and dry it thoroughly. Remove any stones or debris from the tread grooves. Mark the position each tire came from so you can rotate them correctly at the next fitting. Where possible, store in a sealed plastic bag to limit the ozone exposure that dries out rubber over time.

Both are done, but the approach differs. Mounted tires can be stacked on their sides or hung horizontally — their weight is distributed around the rim rather than resting on the rubber. Unmounted tires should stand upright on their tread and be shifted occasionally to prevent flat spots from developing. Don't stack unmounted tires flat on top of each other for long periods; the weight of one tire pressing on the bead of another can distort it.

Properly stored tires retain their performance characteristics for a reasonable period, but rubber does age during storage. Michelin recommends inspecting any tire closely if it has been stored for several years. The same five-year inspection and ten-year replacement guideline applies from the manufacture date, whether the tire was in use or sitting in storage. Tires kept in poor conditions — exposed to sun, ozone, or temperature extremes — will age faster than those stored correctly.

Short-term outdoor storage with adequate protection is manageable, but it accelerates aging compared to indoor storage. If tires must be stored outside, raise them off the ground to prevent moisture absorption from below and cover them with a waterproof cover that has ventilation holes — trapping moisture under a sealed cover creates its own problems. Avoid direct sunlight, which degrades rubber compounds. Get them indoors as soon as possible.

If the tires are mounted on rims, reducing the inflation pressure before storing is advisable — not to flat, but below the normal driving pressure to reduce structural stress during storage. When you refit them, inflate to the vehicle manufacturer's recommended pressure before driving. If the tires are unmounted, pressure management is not a factor in the same way.

Inspect them before refitting. Look for surface cracking in the sidewall or tread — fine surface cracks, sometimes called weatherchecking, indicate the rubber has started to dry out. Significant cracking, particularly cracks that open when the tire is flexed, means the tire has degraded beyond safe use regardless of tread depth. Check the manufacture date in the DOT code and apply the five-year inspection and ten-year replacement guideline from that date, not from when the tire was last driven on.