How long does it take to develop flat spots from storage?
How long does it take to develop flat spots from storage? I just put my car away for the winter. The tires only have about 15 psi in them. I'm worried about them getting flat spots from sitting for too long. The place I have it stored is heated but the tires are on concrete. The tires are hoosier qtp's and the fronts are M/Ts. How long does it usually take to get flat spots? Any info or help on this would be great.
TIA,
Lou
TIA,
Lou
Put something under the tires, especially the QTPs. For regular radial tires, pieces of carpet or plywood work well. Last year I went to the hardware store and got some cheap doormats, the heavy carpet ones, one for each corner, and it worked well, no flat spots. But with the QTPs, they may flat-spot anyways, since they are so soft. Is it possible to put the car on jackstands? Spare wheels/tires?
Shawn
Shawn
Thanks for your help. Unfortunatly I have no other wheels to put on. My rear was shortened so the stock wheels won't fit. How long does it usually take for it to happen? I only plan to have it in there for about 3 months. I think it helps that the place is heated and I'm not even sure if the problem with flat spots happens in a heated place, I think the cold has a lot to do with it, but not sure.
PUMP UP THE PSI!!! Blow them up to the max recommended presure for storage. It will lessen the chance of getting flat spots. Are the Hoosiers bias ply tires? Not real familiar with them. Once you get the car back out in the spring, drop the PSI back down to whatever you normally run.
Thanks, I thought that might be best but didn't know. I didn't want to have to pull it out if I didn't have to. The gass station I stoped at before I put it away had a broken air pump and I was in a hurry to get to work so had to put it away as is. Guess I'll have to pull it back out, hopefully this snow stops soon. The QTP's are a bias ply, does that make it worse?
Bias ply's don't have as stiff a sidewall as a radial and are more prone to flatspotting. Radials rarely have flatspot issues. Why take it to a gas station? Go to Walmart or somewhere and pick up a cheap $10-15 cigarette lighter plug in air compressor. I keep one in every vehicle. They're handy at the track too when you drop your pressure for racing.
