Softening and preserving tires

[lectraplayer]

Between taking my Maxxis mudders off one bike in favor of some slicks, and having some other tires on my full floater I'm wearing on checking and looking like spit, I have been looking for ways to "bring back" those old tires and make them look like I give a flying F when I'm in the urban jungle, until I go off the road. (I hose pipe the bike down after a muddy ride though) I also want to keep those Maxxis mudders for later for after turkey season when I can go back in the mud. What's the best thing to use for both purposes?

 

[dabac]

Treating with chemicals to soften tires is a so-so thing.
Not usually done.
People who race R/C cars on indoor tracks (used to) use some gunk to make their tires stickier, and I think I've seen drag racers do something similar.
There is a kinda dodgy chemical that can be added to (hydraulic) oil to make rubber seals and gaskets swell a little to stop leaks in wait for a proper rebuild.
Don't know of any bike-specific product.
If you feel that you must, maybe one of those sidewall shine products used in car styling.

One successful(at the time) pro team deliberately stored tires to age them before use.

The biggest thing for preserving tires is to keep them away from ozone, which can degrade rubber surprisingly fast.
IRL, this means keep them away from (spark-generating) electrical appliances. Big motors, generators, furnaces, arc welders....
Next thing is probably keep them out of sunlight.
Next, keep away from heat.

I'd be entirely happy with cool, dark and away from machinery.

 

[Froze]

This is an interesting subject as weird as it would be. I age my tires one year by placing them in a file cabinet in the basement away from motors etc and heat and sunlight. However you'll run into those who think that a unused tire that is a year or two old is a bad tire and you need a new one, not true at all. I have a set of factory original Fuji tires that came on a 1984 Fuji Club when it was sold brand new and the tires don't have any sidewall or tread cracking on it and I actually rode on the tires for about a month before swapping them for a more modern tire; those tires were 30 years old without having any age related problems. Having said that, if you buy a set of tires on closeout that may be already a year old and then you let them set another year they'll be just fine.

I would not treat the tire with any chemicals, depending on the chemicals it could make the tread very slippery, it could rot it out faster, and who knows what else. Drag racing is not the same thing as bike riding...did I really have to say that? Drag racing the tires are shot after about 30 passes (depending on the car of course), and some companies like Mickey Thompson doesn't recommend using any gripping solution **** on their drag tires; so the answer to using anything on your bicycle tires is a huge NO!