never, ever, EVER inflate an un-mounted tire even remotely close to full pressure! The stitching and base tape MUST be properly seated onto a rim before inflating to full pressure.
I have a whole ritual for conditioning tires which evolved out of simply checking them for leaks. It starts with inflating a tire to 3-4 atmospheres MAX and leaving it lying flat on a table for a day or two.
I maintain old, out-of-round tubular rims for tire conditioning, instead of trying to clean the old glue off of them I wire-wheel the majority of glue off and then cover the mating surfaces and sidewalls with two layers of masking tape. If you get 2" tape and center it on the tire face it will fold over nicely to cover the sidewalls and especially edges. This is important to avoid getting schmutz on your clean new tires.
After the tires are centered on the rims properly (no glue yet! if you are using new rims or your wheels) they get 4 atmospheres of air, and sit overnight. If the tire passes your visual inspection inflate it to full pressure. Let sit for a week if you plan to use them, then glue 'em up on your wheels like you normally would do.
If you are storing them, after that week, let the air out and re-fill to 3-4 atmospheres. Store in a cool dark place, periodically check the air and refill to 3-4 atmos. as you feel necessary for the time you are storing them.
I find conditioning of modern sewups makes them tolerable, it would be interesting to see if they'd respond as well to this treatment as some of the tires I have that are 25-35 years old!
Hoep this helps
Dale Phelps Montagna lunga Colorado
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