Hi Wes, Here's my trick. I use the white silicone brake paste like comes in caliper kits for 1:1 cars. "Syl Glide" is another product you can use. It's for working with automotive seals like the old school, lock strip, pullem' in with a string windows, and any other annoying rubber thing ya gotta slide through a channel or push through a hole. Pretty much any brand of that sticky silicone paste will work. I get mine at NAPA.
The idea is to keep the air away with a silicone barrier during prolonged storage. Most all rubber can benefit from this treatment. I use it on my 1:1 show cars every spring, and use it constantly in my resto work (day job)
For slot tires. I slather up my hides and put them in one of those little zip loc parts bags that we all have layin' around. Leave them some place medium warm for a coupla days. Like your water heater or by the furnace. Then I checkem' and reslather them if they've wicked up a bunch of the paste.
It works OK for restoring old vibe tires, and for any other decent tire if you catch them in time! Except dryed out spongies and those stupid hard rubber, plasticy aurora tires. (I've been thinking about "Trans-ex" for those.) Some tires are just dust regardless. I store all my tires this way, and check them every once in a while to see if they're drying out. I'm usually diggin around in the tire box fairly often anyway.
You'll have to clean them up before use, especially the centers, but it's not that big a deal to wipe down a set when your doing a build. If a little gets on the track, it makes for some good fun!
Good luck!
Bill
I've got a bag full of Supertires that have been sitting in a drawer for a couple of years and they're still fine.
