Hi all, I’m keeping my car with summer tires on them in my unheated garage this winter.

I don’t plan to drive it, the car will just sit there. Garage is attached and typically 20+ degrees higher than ambient outdoor temperatures.

We are going to get a cold snap next week of up to -9 F lows outdoors. Is there much risk to my tires with this? I don’t plan to drive or move the car.

I read that cold storage is bad for these tires, but...you know how the internet is...always getting one unnecessarily paranoid

 

If they are inflated to maximum pressure and allowed to warm up to 30F before driving there is very little risk. We ship performance cars to northern dealers all winter long without issues.

 

Given that I drive my summers through north TX winters, where temperatures are often in the teens and twenties, and have had zero issues in 30-something years, I think you're good. I think most of the paranoia around summer tires turning to ice cubes and loosing all their structural integrity come from people who sell tire$. Do know you'll have significantly less traction, but don't worry about damage.

 

They aren’t overinflated or under inflated. They’re in the 30’s psi as they are recommended to be.

 

Your risk is extremely low. It's not zero and thus the hyperbolic warnings you can find on the net. If you are really, Really, REALLY concerned, you can buy a small floor jack and four jack stands from Harbor Freight or similar. Jack each corner (or end) of the car high enough so that when set on the Jack Stands the wheels are off the ground.

You'll need/want: One Floor Jack ~ $80, Four Good Jack Stands ~$60 (total for all four) and a Hockey Puck ~$3. You use the Hockey Puck Between the Jack and the Jacking Points on the car, instead of spending a small fortune on the Porsche "special" tool for this purpose. The color of the Hockey puck is not important.
.

 

It' not temps that kill tires in storage, its ozone. So if in the garage, keep them out of the sunlight or sleeve them if that's unavoidable. Also keep away from any furnaces as they emit ozone.

​​​​​​https://www.lowes.com/pd/GarageMate-...E&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

My car is in a windowless attached garage and kept covered, which covers about 85% of the tires. Literally the only sunlight it is getting is those moments that the garage door opens and closes when our other car pulls out.

I thought about putting it on the jack. Ultimately, though, the consensus here is that it’s a pretty low risk situation and as usual I’m being spooked by the internet. So I will probably just keep doing what I’m doing

 

Do not leave the suspension hanging, that can cause damage. Your tires will be fine just leave it alone

 

Tupper, for a number of years I kept either my 993 or Cayman R in my unheated garage in Chicago over the winter. Like you, I prepped it for winter storage and never moved or started it until the Spring. I keep high performance Michelin tires on my cars. I did only two things different from you: inflated my tires to 50 PSI and kept it in a Car Bubble. Inflating the tires to higher pressures is recommended in each of my cars' owner manuals. The Car Bubble eliminates condensation but otherwise has no impact on your question. I never had any problems with the tires when firing up in the Spring. Also, my 993 owner manual warned against putting jacking the car up for risk of rust on shock stems, just like Quadcammer said.

 

Need to pump up the tires to avoid flat spots.

 

Not for long term storage. Pump em up!

 

^ I drove them once in January, I'm sure I'll drive it briefly in February.

I'm not pumping up my tires to 50 psi. Sorry....

 

With the car static and parked, there really isn't any risk with the tires and the cold. As long as you wait for things to warm up (mid 30s or warmer) before you move it and/or drive it away, you should be fine.

Regarding flat spots, if you're only parked for a few weeks, there really isn't much risk. Parked for months? Well, that is a different story. There are a multitude of strategies to avoid them. Overinflating them is one strategy, but there are also folks who use pads or devices like these (https://www.griotsgarage.com/product...+tire+ramps.do). I'm not too keen on the jack stand method as it can lead to other issues with the suspension, so I wouldn't personally do that one.

Of course, the best thing that you can do is actually drive the car with proper tires for the season. It's rare that any of mine sit for more than 2-3 weeks.

 

If performance tires are going to be subjected to temperatures below -7 F they should be off the car...which is a whole lot easier to do if you have a set of summer and winter wheels/tires. Getting that cold doesn't automatically "kill" the tires, but they need to be warmed up before mounting, being driven on, or adjusting inflation temperatures (which includes reducing pressure from 50 PSI if they've been pumped up). This is TireRack's recommendation https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiret...jsp?techid=220, but manufacturers all issue similar warnings. Practically, you COULD leave a car with UHP or high-performance tires on its hubs in a cold garage that gets down into -F territory but don't move it or doing anything that will flex the tread until the tire is gradually warmed back up. Not following this advice can - in extreme circumstances - result in damaged tires. Potential compound cracking is less of an issue with tires that are off the car, but I still wouldn't subject my high-performance summer tires to sustained temperatures lower than -7 F/-22 C.

Despite the above, lots of people don't follow manufacturer recommendations because they think they know better than the people that make and sell high-performance tires. With tires on a 992 costing a pretty penny and compromised tread compounds having the potential for all sorts of nasty effects, I suggest it's prudent to err on the side of caution.

 

^ I never said that my tires will be subjected to those temperatures. Somewhere thereabouts, give or take a few degrees, will be the all time low outdoor temperature in the middle of the night. So it's a few hours.

My attached garage, which at least gets some heat from the house, is always a good amount warmer than outside temperatures. I can't say for sure how much, but a 20ish degrees or more difference sounds reasonable.

Furthermore, my plan on those super cold nights is to keep the laundry room door (which is heated by the home) open to the garage, hence allowing some of the home's heat to flow into that space.