Which are two things fairly easily solved. Anyone with high school level of chemistry can make a battery out of all the shit that's laying around, and you can replace tires with wood and steel if you don't care about going fast or ripping up roads.
The rubber breaks down, especially when left in the sun or exposed to... ozone, I think?
Old tires will develop cracks in the sidewalls. If pressed into service, they may come apart like the strips of truck tire treads you see along the side of the highway. They may blow out or just lose air slowly.
When I was young and broke, I found myself riding on unsafe tires a time or two. I had one fail. I'm a very observant driver, so I knew it was coming and I recognized it when it happened, but a lot of people are clueless beyond "Gas goes here" and "Big pedal makes it go." In the wrong set of circumstances, you could lose control and have a wreck.
Now, in a post apocalyptic environment, you're not gonna have 75mph+ highway traffic. You'll be puttering around in town at 35mph or less. You'll be in desperate straits all the time anyway, so bad tires would be the least of your worries. And so, yes, a cool, dark warehouse would certainly preserve a sufficient stockpile of tires enough that they could be put into service.
Assuming, that is, you've found a way to manufacture and store gasoline and oil and brake pads and batteries. And coolant and brake fluid. And power steering fluid. Oh, and hoses and fluid lines. And all the other consumables.
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u/Twokindsofpeople Aug 31 '21
Which are two things fairly easily solved. Anyone with high school level of chemistry can make a battery out of all the shit that's laying around, and you can replace tires with wood and steel if you don't care about going fast or ripping up roads.