What's the best way to store inner tubes?

[700rpm]

A friend gave me a nice set of used 19" tubes with metal stems, and it will be a while before I can put these on my car. In the meantime, what's the best way to store them?

[Jordan]

I keep my spare tubes aired up in the attic.

[Art Bjornestad]

I wrap each one in Saran Wrap and then in airtight box.

[H. L. Chauvin]

Might think of protection from squirrels or mice in a garage if you ever have any.

They can be thought of as toddlers who chew wood on baby beds, rubber toys, & anything they are not supposed to chew.

One place would be neatly folded inside an opaque plastic bag and:

1. Hung by a thin wire like a coat hanger in your garage or shop; or,

2. Placed on a top shelf in a closet in your house if your wife doesn't mind.

Others will have other ideas.

[Ron in Quincy]

Store in a cool, dark, dry space. I just put mine in a cardboard box and leave them loose. I am lucky that I do not live in a high humid area.

Ron

[Tom Wesenberg]

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I keep mine aired up in the basement. If you keep then folded up for any length of time, you'll find they crack at the folds. My bike tubes were new in the box and split wide open at the folds after only 6 months.

[Marco Tahtaras]

The only long term survivors I've seen were stored aired up. Most rubber items these days will go bad stored in your bedroom closet. An air tight seal MAY do the trick.

[Charlie Stephens]

Originally Posted by Jordan

I keep my spare tubes aired up in the attic.

My attic gets way too hot to store rubber products.

Charlie Stephens

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

I've had good luck with wiper blades, weatherstrips & other rubber stuff stored in the linen closet in the hall. I have 8 year old wiper blades that are like new, I bought a whole slew of them once for $.99 each!
I like Marco's idea for airing up the tubes. Bill W.

[ctlikon0712]

What about an air tight container and then purged and filled with Nitrogen? A little extreme maybe but it would be worth it for a nice set of real butyl rubber tubes. An old style metal Coleman cooler with the lid clamped down and then filled through the drain might work. The oxygen in our air is what oxidizes the rubber and causes the age damage, if I’m not mistaken. I would think tubes even folded and stored like this would last. Any thoughts?

[Marco Tahtaras]

Originally Posted by ctlikon0712

What about an air tight container and then purged and filled with Nitrogen? A little extreme maybe but it would be worth it for a nice set of real butyl rubber tubes. An old style metal Coleman cooler with the lid clamped down and then filled through the drain might work. The oxygen in our air is what oxidizes the rubber and causes the age damage, if I’m not mistaken. I would think tubes even folded and stored like this would last. Any thoughts?

Sounds like you are onto a business opportunity! Go for it!!!

[dumb person]

Storing them in a wheel with a tire over them. Keeps the light out & the air off the outside fairly well. Filled with nitrogen an then roll the into a big bag, wheel and all, fill the bag with nitrogen and they might be good for a long time, i never tried that though.

[SAJ]

Remember that ozone attacks rubber really fast. And there is always quite a bit of ozone generated by spark discharges from many types of electric motors, generators, drills etc. So store well away from these. I can't remember if this applies to butyl rubbers but I suspect it does. In fact this quote from Wikipedia confirms it:-
Cracks can be formed in many different elastomers by ozone attack, and the characteristic form of attack of vulnerable rubbers is known as ozone cracking. The problem was formerly very common, especially in tires, but is now rarely seen in those products owing to preventive measures.
However, it does occur in many other safety-critical items such as fuel lines and rubber seals, such as gaskets and O-rings, where ozone attack is considered unlikely. Only a trace amount of the gas is needed to initiate cracking, and so these items can also succumb to the problem.
Susceptible elastomers

Tiny traces of ozone in the air will attack double bonds in rubber chains, with natural rubber, polybutadiene, styrene-butadiene rubber and nitrile rubber being most sensitive to degradation. Every repeat unit in the first three materials has a double bond, so every unit can be degraded by ozone. Nitrile rubber is a copolymer of butadiene and acrylonitrile units, but the proportion of acrylonitrile is usually lower than butadiene, so attack occurs. Butyl rubber is more resistant but still has a small number of double bonds in its chains, so attack is possible. Exposed surfaces are attacked first, the density of cracks varying with ozone gas concentration. The higher the concentration, the greater the number of cracks formed.
Ozone-resistant elastomers include EPDM, fluoroelastomers like Viton and polychloroprene rubbers like Neoprene. Attack is less likely because double bonds form a very small proportion of the chains, and with the latter, the chlorination reduces the electron density in the double bonds, therefore lowering their propensity to react with ozone. Silicone rubber, Hypalon and polyurethanes are also ozone-resistant.
SAJ in NZ

[H. L. Chauvin]

Haven't bought Model A tubes in many,many years; but after reading modern tire tube information on several Forums, can see the problem with "all" of today's flimsy tire tubes being made outside of the U.S.A.

Had some 1935 & some 1960 tubes in some flat tires that held air later in 1996 after pumping up with a hand pump -- some old 50 year old 1960 tubes still holding air in 1956 tubless tires on a trailer.

Went on line & got an education -- we can only buy foreign made "May Pop" tubes today.

One motorcycle guy even advised to always smell all the different the tubes offered -- the best ones he says are no doubt the ones that stink the most -- not at all surprising, & appears to be the modern generation's way to choose tubes & candidates -- then he adds that today, the ones filled with air last the longest -- again, not at all surprised!

[glenn in camino]

I store mine in plastic bags and in a cool place.

[mot]

i have quite a supply of 19 inch tubes
all made in the USA or Canada MANY years ago
i even have a NOS Red tube 4.75/19 no 5.00 on it it has the metal valve stem
all are stored folded in boxes in my closet
i checked on them for this answer
NONE of them have folding cracks they all look perfect
the red one has to be 70 years old i would imagine
here is a firestone i just took out of this tiny box
the good years were just folded in a box
the atlas tubes are in small boxes
these are all old USA or Canadian tubes
now i have some NEW tubes in my tires ,and they all have cracked at the seams and around the valve stems ,they were inflated inside the tires
not one of them has survived being inflated inside the tires
i have some old tubes in my sedan that were put in there in the 1950s and they still hold air fine
its the formulation of the "new" rubber thats the culprit

[steve s]

I believe that SAJ nailed it. My understanding is that ozone is really the only significant culprit in rubber decomposition. Unless you live in California, where strange atmospheric things go on, the normal source of ozone is sparking at the brushes of electrical motors. So, don't store rubber stuff near your furnace motor or toy train layout. Any airtight sealed container should help.

Steve

[Tom Wesenberg]

It's too bad that America has forgotten the formula for making good rubber, and the practice of making and selling quality products.

Inner tubes are an important safety factor, yet all the companies want to make and sell junk rubber.

[Rusty Homestead Fl]

I was recently given a pile of rubber bands from a friend who stored them in an air tight jar with TALCUM POWDER in the 1960's. They're still like new. Don't know what the properties are with talc but I had heard of this before. Sure worked for rubber bands!

[H. L. Chauvin]

Mot,

I was hoping somebody would come forward and educationally show some old "American" made tubes, made in America, when Americans were allowed to be "true" Americans; & then compare same with these no-choice crappie "May Pop" foreign made tubes.

I've seen "American" made military inner tubes stored in unsealed boxes like the ones you have for over 20 years with no problems with folding or being exposed to the atmosphere.

Have no doubt they could have endured ozone, artillery & rifle gunsmoke, concentrated corn fed European cow pee, severe freeze/thaw cycles, concentrated poisonous mustard gas, plus whatever else one could find on a military battle field.

In my opinion, the problem is really not that foreign made tubes are pitiful, what is so pitiful is too many of us do not care that we are presently burying America with taxation punishment & idiotic Government Intervention.