2 ms·

Are there tires that are not made of plastic?

• deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
• dsfyu404ed 7y ago
  Yes but they generally only get used on rails and in low speed applications.
• hinkley 7y ago
  I dunno about no plastic but there may be less plastic tires. Maybe. When I last bought new tires, I found out that tires lose a ton of their performance even at 50% wear rating. I thought I was doing well picking better tires than factory for my vehicles but it turns out any new tire would have had better handling because it was new. As is common, people don't talk about the problems with their product until they have a solution. Michelin was experimenting with tire construction and formulas that were both greener and retained more of their behavior at 50% (or was that 70%?) wear level. Part of the rubber compound was derived from seed oils. Of course, any woodworker knows about boiled linseed oil. When exposed to air it undergoes an exothermic reaction with oxygen that polymerizes it. Bioplastic. I'm not entirely sure nature makes a distinction between that substance and synthetic plastics. So I'm a little skeptical of Michelin's woo woo about natural materials, since I'm no chemist and who knows what happens to those oils during the manufacturing process. I bought the tires but only patted myself on the back for having a safer car, not saving the planet via consumption.
  • kube-system 7y ago
    There are also significant decreases in performance due to wear isn't due to the material itself, but also the change in geometry. For instance, when rain grooves wear down, they're not able to channel away as much water.
    • hinkley 7y ago
      Yeah that was another of their tricks. Bury sipes into the rubber so that new ones open as the old ones wear out.
  • bluGill 7y ago
    Boiled linseed oil is flax seed oil that has been processed by (heavy metals as I recall) - the chemical reaction looks like boiling which is why it is called boiled. So this finish is a synthetic plastic by definition.