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Is it in bicycle tires too? Sneaker soles?

by geetee 2y ago

BadHumans 2y ago
The problem with tires is the weight of cars grinding tires into the ground. Unless you weight 2 tons, I don't think you need to worry about sneaker particles.
- sosborn 2y ago
  Soles do wear out. It's not like the rubber just disappears.
  - BadHumans 2y ago
    I'm not implying soles don't wear out but that shoe rubber is nothing in comparison to tires. It is not worth comparing the two.
adw 2y ago
Dust generation is a function of vehicle weight, so people and bikes generate massively less.
- Sparkle-san 2y ago
  Proportional to the 4th power of the axel load specially so bicycle tire wear is basically non-existent compared to a semi.
  - jmole 2y ago
    well, the rubber compounds used are very different too. You would not enjoy riding a bicycle on the hard rubber used for a semi-truck tire. The 4th-power rule is more applicable when it comes to road damage. If you want a comparative analysis of tire wear and environmental impact, you have to consider the average mileage before a tire is worn out, the volume/mass of material that's lost, etc. This article[0] suggests 150,000 miles for steer tires, and 300-500k for drive tires. If a tire starts out at 1/2" (16/32") and is worn down to 3/32", a delta of 13/32" or ~10mm. Radius of a typical 22.5" tire is 500mm and tread width 250mm, so you have (π500^2-π490^2)*250mm = 7.5L of rubber material deposited all over the world for each tire. Over 1M miles, this is 12 steer tires, and 24 drive tires, so ~200L of tire rubber over a typical semi truck lifetime. 0 - https://www.fleetowner.com/operations/article/21676805/tires-closing-the-gap https://www.fleetowner.com/operations/article/21676805/tires...
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
foobiekr 2y ago
Do your bike tires wear out? Where does the material go?
- bagels 2y ago
  Yes, same place as car tires. The magnitude is much smaller than car tires though.
- refulgentis 2y ago
  No, never, I've never heard of a bike tire wearing out, in fact I've never even seen them sold separately. Where does what material go? A series of microscopic turtles with canister vacuums that live on the tire ensure material never leaves.
analog31 2y ago
I just replaced a pair of worn-out bike tires. They certainly wore out by the rubber going somewhere. The amount of rubber lost was maybe a couple mm thick, by 15 mm wide. The tires had probably about 8000 miles on them. I don't know if that info helps with doing the math on where rubber particles primarily come from.

Is it in bicycle tires too? Sneaker soles?

by geetee 2y ago

Is it in bicycle tires too? Sneaker soles?

The problem with tires is the weight of cars grinding tires into the ground. Unless you weight 2 tons, I don't think you need to worry about sneaker particles.

sosborn 2y ago
Soles do wear out. It's not like the rubber just disappears.
- BadHumans 2y ago
  I'm not implying soles don't wear out but that shoe rubber is nothing in comparison to tires. It is not worth comparing the two.

adw 2y ago

Dust generation is a function of vehicle weight, so people and bikes generate massively less.

Sparkle-san 2y ago
Proportional to the 4th power of the axel load specially so bicycle tire wear is basically non-existent compared to a semi.
- jmole 2y ago
  well, the rubber compounds used are very different too. You would not enjoy riding a bicycle on the hard rubber used for a semi-truck tire. The 4th-power rule is more applicable when it comes to road damage. If you want a comparative analysis of tire wear and environmental impact, you have to consider the average mileage before a tire is worn out, the volume/mass of material that's lost, etc. This article[0] suggests 150,000 miles for steer tires, and 300-500k for drive tires. If a tire starts out at 1/2" (16/32") and is worn down to 3/32", a delta of 13/32" or ~10mm. Radius of a typical 22.5" tire is 500mm and tread width 250mm, so you have (π500^2-π490^2)*250mm = 7.5L of rubber material deposited all over the world for each tire. Over 1M miles, this is 12 steer tires, and 24 drive tires, so ~200L of tire rubber over a typical semi truck lifetime. 0 - https://www.fleetowner.com/operations/article/21676805/tires-closing-the-gap https://www.fleetowner.com/operations/article/21676805/tires...

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

foobiekr 2y ago

Do your bike tires wear out? Where does the material go?

bagels 2y ago
Yes, same place as car tires. The magnitude is much smaller than car tires though.
refulgentis 2y ago
No, never, I've never heard of a bike tire wearing out, in fact I've never even seen them sold separately. Where does what material go? A series of microscopic turtles with canister vacuums that live on the tire ensure material never leaves.

analog31 2y ago

I just replaced a pair of worn-out bike tires. They certainly wore out by the rubber going somewhere. The amount of rubber lost was maybe a couple mm thick, by 15 mm wide. The tires had probably about 8000 miles on them. I don't know if that info helps with doing the math on where rubber particles primarily come from.