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Long Time Car Storage Tips
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Comments
All tires flat spot. It's just a matter of load, inflation pressure and time.
Overinflating the tires helps flat spotting, but that drives more oxygen through the internal structure of the tire and ages it faster. If the plan is to reuse the tires, it would be best to get them off the ground.
Essentially, my personal experience has been that this isn't an issue unless we were talking about long term storage with tires going cold and flat for years.
Sorry, but this is a matter of degree. While modern tires are less prone to flat spotting, they still will - and the amount will depend on the storage conditions. We can actually generate flatspots in the lab and watch as they disappear while running, but they do not disappear completely.
I'm reluctant to suggest to people that they raise a car off the wheels for short term storage because modern cars can be damaged this way. There are good ways to lift a car for long, *long* term storage but this requires strategic support of various suspension points without actually lifting the tires off the ground completely.... a rather complicated process and I don't think necessary in this gentleman's case.
1) Tires with high speed ratings have nylon overlays (sometimes multiple layers) and of all the materials ever used in tires, nylon is the most prone to flat spotting.
2) 6 months is on the other side of what I consider to be "short term". I think "short term" means 3 months or less. Just for reference, I've seen S and T rated tires (no nylon overlays) flat spot in 3 months under certain conditions.
Given how expensive tires for Porsche's can be, I think he would be much further ahead taking the time to do it right.
This might be an interesting compromise solution:
FLAT SPOT STIOPPERS
"Only six months is not an issue; six years is another story. The tires still may flat spot some, but they will regain their original shape once the car is driven and the tires are heated up. Raising the psi for storage will help."
They also suggested, if the car will undergo *repeated* spells of long term storage, the same basic Flat Spotters than I posted earlier.
Hope this helps.