Assessing winter tyre condition

[belfry]

Is there a way to assess the pliancy of winter rubber?

I'm thinking about winter tyres that have been stored in storage bags in a utility room in a house, so not too hot or cold.

Winter tyres stored in daylight will have degraded over 5 years, but what about tyres stored in ideal conditions?

I am wondering if it's possible to assess the condition of a tyre by testing how much pliancy has been lost?

[stevieturbo]

If they look fine, no huge cracks etc etc and you already have them, just work away, they'll be fine.

If you are intending to buy these or something, harder to say.

[Smint]

Refitted my winter set couple of weeks ago for probably the 8th or 9th season, they live the rest of the year in the garage on wheels fully inflated, seem just as pliable as the day they went on the first time, no signs of degradation still have 7mm tread and drive fine, don't think i'll ever wear them out.

[Sheepshanks]

I used a set on wife's Tiguan that were 9yrs old last year and didn't have any issues. They'd been kept in the garage.

Still got them, but the car has gone now.

[E-bmw]

Due to the amount of use they get for few months of the year, I too have had sets of winter tyres for several years at a time for various cars of mine.

They are always stored off the floor in a dark garage & have yet to see any signs of degradation in the surface rubber on any of them.

[belfry]

The reason that I started this post is because there is often a very generic approach to tyre age vs rubber hardness.

Obviously, I don't want to drive on tyres that have become hard and less effective, but I would like to be able to assess the difference in condition between a winter tyre that has been stored in sunlight for 5 years and a similar tyre that has been stored in ideal conditions.

I have found a rubber hardness scale called "Shore A" and a tester called a Durometer for about £20. This will give me a chance to understand the reduction in pliancy of the rubber over 5 years.

[Bobupndown]

My son was looking to pick up a cheap 2nd set of alloys for his Polo to put winter tyres on and chanced across a set complete with winter tyres already fitted for £100 on gumtree locally. They were BF Goodrich but were 10 years old. He ran them for one winter then changed them for a set of new Kumho winters. They would probably have been OK for a few more years but it just doesn't sit right with me driving on tyres a decade or more old.