Are there any tires that are any more or less prone to flat spotting during storage?

I drive my 300E during the Winter and put it away for the summer. Are there any tires that are significantly less prone to flat spotting.

In the past I have gone through a few sets of Kumho AS/795's. They were filthy cheap, balanced out well and lasted awhile. They now seem to be flat spotted.

My situation has changed and I'm considering a set of Michelin Harmony tires in 205/60-15. These are hard rubber compound tires. I don't mind spending the money on them as long as I don't find them flat spotted when I get the car out next Fall.

Thanks for sharing any experience that you might have in this area.

Hey Larry -

I would not expect the Michelins to do any better. I currently have the high-end MXV4 on both my 124 and 210 cars. I forget the name of the tire; it starts with a "P" - Proximity or Parody or something.

In cold weather, if you pull off a highway run and quickly park the car - e.g. a dinner stop while driving to Houston for the holidays - the tires take a set. Thirty minutes later they vibrate after getting back on the highway, though all is well after 10 minutes of warming up. I've had this happen multiple times.

Not the exact scenario, but it shows the expensive end of the spectrum isn't immune.

Have you considered putting the car on jackstands for the summer? I wonder if overinflating the tires would be safe & effective - perhaps air them up to 50PSI for storage.

Cheers,

- JimY

Jim,

Thanks for the response.

I don't know if I made it clear, but what I'm talking about is what seems to be permanent flat spots.

I drive my Vette in the summer and it sits over the winter. I seemed to whip the problem after getting it out in the spring by airing the tires to the max, which in that case is 44PSI I think and driving it a few hot days that way. I haven't had such luck with the tires on the 300E.

There seem to be more and more tires that have 44PSI as max inflation pressure. It might be that a newer set will be as such. I don't know that it makes a difference.

I like the idea of 50PSI for the Winter. When I get it out, it's a simple matter of deflating them and driving it away. It might very well do the trick. As far as blocks go, the place where I put it away is tight quarters, so it would be a real pain.

As always your comments and suggestions thoughtful and helpful. Thanks.

Larry

Why not set the car on 10"x10"wooden blocks for the summer? It would keep the tires from flat spotting, and, it would keep save the springs some also. I would spray the exposed area of the shocks with lithium grease to prevent rust though, but that's a minor storage issue...

Whatever to keep the tires off the ground, I just choose big blocks because I've got some rail road ties. As long as it's solid enough to support the car properly without damaging it... No cheap jack stands for a storage support...
~Nate

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Nate,

Thanks for the suggestion. The place where I store it is really crowded and blocks would be a serious PITA.

Larry, our four MB automobiles have Michelin tires. Two of them sit for months at a time and I've never had a problem with flat-spotting, and I only inflate them to 34psi. I suspect that Michelin Primacy MXV4's inflated around 45psi during storage of your 300E will resolve your flat-spotting problem.

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Fred Hoelzle

Yes, but your wallet will have a flat spot!

Seriously, it is a nice tire - extremely smooth and quiet, with good steering response and handling. But it's expensive, and Larry isn't as much a Michelin fan as some of us...

I've never had a set of far-east tires that didn't "flat-spot", actually driving them caused belts to shift and they would never stay round/balanced. You get what you pay for.

If you're parking a car for an extended period, park on something other than cement. Plastic can be good as long as it is NOT PVC. Cement tends to leach the oils out of the rubber (tires are made with lots of oil).

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- Jeff

Jim,

We've had a few tire discussions both on the forum and at dinner, but it's been quite a while.

I went through a period where I was experimenting with cheapo tires out of pure necessity. I was commuting 89 miles one way to the USData building and the company was cutting back, going through pay cuts et al. That also was at a time when I had a son at The University of Texas and a daughter in high school.

At that time I bought the Kumho's for $32 each with Michelin prices being not much different than what they are today. Now the Kumho's are well over $50.

I've never been anything BUT a Michelin fan, it's just that there've been some periods of time that I just flat couldn't afford the up front cost.

I won't be buying the MXV4's, however. My favorite Michelins are the rock hard compound versions that will go over 50,000 miles or more and stay round in the process. I will probably buy Harmony's. They won't have the best traction, but hopefully the best longevity.

In fact my original idea, that I forgot to articulate in the opening post was asking about hard tires versus soft performance tires and if there might be a difference as far as storage flat spots go.

Now that I have a good ramble going I might as well mention this: One of the problems with the Kumho's I used was that they did not have a very strong sidewall. This seems to cause some vague handling. It would be nice to do away with that characteristic since it's taking away some of the fun of my 500E sway barred 124 car. I have later rims on this car, so 205 60's should help in this area as well.

Best regards,
Larry

Larry, as you have experienced firsthand "you get what you pay for" in tires ... and generally most things. An inexpensive tire is not going to provide the handling characteristics of a premium tire.

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Fred Hoelzle

I am QUITE aware of this. As I said in a previous post, I was absolutely strapped for cash in those days and although Michy's might have been cheaper in the long run, I did not have the up front cash to spare and am not one to spend money that I don't have.

The cheapies that are on the car right now probably have 15 or 20 thousand miles left in them, but because there are out of round issues AND handling issues, I'm probably going to pop for a set of Harmony's. There's a $70 mail in rebate right now and I'm very close to placing a Tire Rack order.

Thanks for all the good responses folks.

FWIW:

I have several old cars that sit quite a while. (6+ mo. at a time)

What I noticed is the cars with a standard speed rating BF Goodrich tires(S or T) do not have this flat spotting issue whereas the cars with VR ratings (Firestone Pursuit PV41 or Goodyear RS-A Pursuit) do get the flat spotting which will go away once the tires warm up.

Maybe it has to do with extra belts in the speed rated tires?

Just an observation.

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390pi,

That is the experience that I was looking for someone to share. It would seem that the harder compound, stiffer built, long wearing type tires would be less prone to this, than would the softer compound versions with carcasses designed for good road compliance. Your experience appears to back up this theory.


An update on my situation here, and maybe this will be helpful in the future if someone were searching for similar information:

I had to drive about 130 miles yesterday in one sitting. Even though it was not hot weather, but was in sixties, this SEEMED to smooth out the tires some. I balanced alll four today and found the left front out by 35 grams outside and 25 grams inside. Two more were out of balance by about 20 grams. I haven't driven it since, but this will hopefully smooth it out some more. They still have squirrelly handling due to the weak sidewalls, so I might go ahead and replace them anyway.

For further information for anyone looking for it, my summer car is a stick shift, 88 Vette. As Vette tires go it has some of the longest living as opposed to the best gripping. When I got it out last Spring, the tires were pretty flat spotted. I aired them to the max inflation pressure 44PSI and drove it a few days. Then on an 85 degree day, I had to make a 100 mile run due to illness in the family. Those tires smoothed out BEAUTIFULLY.

My conclusion here is: use long wearing type tires for a car that will be stored for long periods. Air them several PSI above max psi at storage time. When getting the car out, release the pressure to the max inflation pressure as printed on the sidewall and run it for a few days that way, preferably on a long, hot run.

The obvious BEST solution to the storage flat spotting issue is putting the car up on blocks if practical.

I've had to store a car for 6 months at a time while going to school, along with other storage practices... I always inflated the tires to their max rating (stamped on the sidewall, ~50 psi for my Kumho SPT's). Then maybe once a month the car was driven a little and parked again. Never had any problems.

Hey Larry -

Perhaps I am confusing you with another forum member re:Michelins. I thought you were in the "not worth the money" camp. My bad.

There's an idea from the previous post - rotate the tires every now and again. Once a month, push the stored car forward one foot. Bet that would help.