Serious question..where does all the rubber from tires go as they wear away. You just don’t see rubber laying along side of road.
Serious question..where does all the rubber from tires go as they wear away. You just don’t see rubber laying along side of road.
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There’s all kinds of black dust on and near roads. That’s the worn down rubber from tires.
It mixes with surrounding soil , and water
It’s safe and sound in our lungs😌
Moved into a house last year that has rubber tire “mulch” all around the landscaping. I didn’t know that was a thing until then. We can pick up a piece and see part of tire brand names on it.
So yeah, I think a lot is picked up and turned into this crap because people see it as longer lasting and more pretty than wood mulch. Nevermind what it does to the soil.
I thought I read tires are the largest source of oceanic microplastics. But I’m not sure if that’s real
I’ve attended a few sustainability conferences where this was discussed. The particles are typically very fine and become dust. Some of it is airborne (not good for our lungs), some settles into the soil, and some gets washed into rivers. It will likely get worse because electric vehicles are much heavier than ICE vehicles, and wear tires faster. It’s a problem that we unfortunately tend to ignore.
Tire wear is one of the largest, along with synthetic fabrics, source of microplastics.
the rubber is abraded off and is ultra-fine, like sawdust. When cars whip by on the same roads, the air currents tend to blow it to either side, where it mixes in with other debris like decaying leaves or gravel or dirt. It also gets washed away by rain to collect in ditches with more dirt.
Most people also attribute a lot of the black grime they do see around roads (like what darkens concrete barrier walls) to exhaust and oil from cars, while not considering that much of it is rubber, too.
I actually see plenty of tires on the freeway. Likely from some blowout.
Into the air, mostly.
Into the air. There’s a reason living near freeways is a high cancer risk.
Tyres wear down in to small particulates
If I remember correctly 60% of air pollution in cities is made up of break dust so theres that lol.
it wears off slowly. when you sand something down, you don’t take huge chunks off; you make a layer of dust. driving along the road is basically an inefficient way of sanding your tyres down.
Check your lungs
Actually, particulate matter from tires pose a serious risk on the environment. Fishing companies in California are suing tire companies because the particulate matter from tires are killing salmon.
https://apnews.com/article/salmon-lawsuit-tires-6ppd-ae6e26744841b96f314c6fb82e93e8f5
Your lungs
I see rubber laying along side the road literally every day of my life. Big trucks drop it all the time.
It wears down like a powder
Most modern tires aren’t pure rubber. They degrade to a fine plastic dust. Modern tires are one of the largest sources of microplastics that are over running the world.
It gets turned into other chemicals via UV, washes into streams, and then kills Coho Salmon. https://ecology.wa.gov/blog/january-2023/saving-washington-s-salmon-from-toxic-tire-dust
It turns essentially turns into dust. Really fine black dust.
Into your lungs, if you’re unfortunate enough to live near a major thoroughfare
The solid particles are either burned into the ground or swept away by maintenance vehicles or the elements, particularly rain and wind. Ends up in the most common locations being the landfill, the ocean and our bodies(lungs).
On a related note, rubber buildup on runways is a serious issue which requires regular maintenance.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airfield_rubber_removal
Microplastics babyyyy
In walkera, joggers bikers lungs
Breathe in that old road smell. Not too deeply now you don’t want cancer.
Creeks, oceans, water bodies on general
In our lungs and our salmon
✨ m i c r o p l a s t i c s ✨
I see rubber alongside the road, in the road, everywhere. Not everyday but often enough. Usually, it’s from semi trucks and big vehicle like car carriers.
But the worst thing is the rubber you can’t see: in the air, water, soil, on the road surface. You’re breathing that, and it’s in your water now.
It rubs off your tires, everyone’s tires, little by little by little. Until it goes airborne, or is washed by rain or moved by wind, into many other places it shouldn’t be.
The parts rubbed off onto other surfaces can be small. You’re driving by quickly. You won’t see them because you’re not looking closely enough. But you do see tire tracks and tire skid marks, I bet. From when people brake very hard, leaving behind literal rubber traces on the road.
To what degree are tires still natural rubber? Sure, it’s been vulcanized and has other chemicals, but how far from pretty natural latex rubber are we with tires?
Actually, you do.
Coho salmon in the PNW know where it goes. https://www.epa.gov/chemical-research/6ppd-quinone
yes you do. you literally do. and if you don’t see it, it’s still there
Yes you do.
Microplastics
If you’ve ever worked in a warehouse, you’ll know the black dust that covers everything from forklift tire wear, and the black boogers you get breathing that shit all day.
Your lungs
Same place all the worn paint, worn brakes, and every wearing part goes.
Dust in the wind
It’s out there killing baby salmon. Not /s it’s science.
Typically it melts onto the road
But you do, if you look. Chunks of rubber, and even a fine grain dust of rubber.
Look more closely. You will see it.
The rivers and lakes.
Lying along side the road.
I’ve seen rubber laying along the side of the road many times. Granted, I think those may have been from blowouts.
In all seriousness, It’s probably akin to how erasers work if I had to guess
When people talk about there being microplastics in everything? Mostly tires
You do see it. It looks like black sand.
It is actually on the road. In motorsports, they talk about how the track is less grippy in the beginning of the session and once cars drive on it for a while, the car has more grip because the rubber from the tires is on the road.
I bet rain and wind wash it away. In cities they also have street sweepers. The smallest particles likely even go airborne.
Some sticks to the road, some is the black dust near roads.
Combination of rubber and brake shoe compound.
FWIW A company I used to work for made the product to strip the rubber deposits off international airport runways. Those tires leave a lot of rubber behind as the wheels spin up on contact with the runway.
Most of it becomes dust. Tire wear produces tiny rubber particles that get kicked up into the air, wash into drains, or settle on roads and soil. It’s real, and it’s everywhere, even in the ocean. You’re probably breathing a little tire right now.
You don’t see rubber on the side of the road? I see it all the time. More often it’s in the middle of the road.
Tire dust. Major pollutant. #1 cause of microplastics in the ocean. Very bad. Worse with EVs because they are heavier. Cars are a problem.
You know how you can see where most cars maintain their lane on a road?
Outside of those lines. That’s where the rubber is
I’m an airline pilot, you very much see rubber in the touchdown zone of runways used frequently for landing. It’s actually a problem on some runways (particularly non-grooved runways in the tropics) because it greatly increases the risk of hydroplaning (“reverted rubber” = rubber remelts and forms liquid barrier between tire and runway).
You also see a bunch of beads and marbles of rubber alongside the racetrack after high-performance motorsports – F1, IndyCar, NASCAR etc
I have camped on the infield at the Daytona 24 hour race, 50 something years ago. Spent the next week blowing and flushing expensive tires out of my sinuses. By now I think I have gotten most of it.
Yes it gets into the air.
It goes into the air. And its on the road – washed away by the rain.
Microplastics, you drink them, eat them, breath them and basically have them in your blood and even your brain.
check out this podcast
it’s like really fine sand paper, you don’t see it because it’s just so tiny amounts.
About 50% of the microplastics problem is from car tires. Some of it is stored safely in your sex organs and brain
sounds like someone shoulda used a rubber
It’s on the road. Do you never wonder why street cleaners exist?
When the chemtrails settle they destroy the tire wear in the roads
Most rubs off on the road. The rain then washes it into our water systems which is why you don’t see it in large amounts.
The rubber is stored in the balls.
The ELI5 answer, You know how pencil erasers leave behind dust when you use them? Tires work the same way, they wear down and leave “tire dust” on the road. Rain and wind wash it away though so you don’t see big piles of it sitting on the side of the road.
Along with the exhaust fumes…in our lungs but STOP! The ice flows are melting!
What can we do about this?
They go into the watershed
Everywhere. Literally all over everything everywhere.
In your lungs like brake dust
Like others have said, it’s degraded through use to very small fragments like microplastics.
Look up 6-ppd and it’s affects on salmon.
I also see big tire chunks laying at the side of the road everyday.
There’s tons of shit all over the road. You’re not going to notice black dust on the road all the time but it’s there
One of the biggest sources of water pollution is stormwater runoff from our roads. The tires, brake pads, the drip drip drip end up in our rivers…..
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i see tire rubber laying along the road every day 🤷🏾♀️
Well it’s picked up and burnt.
Unfortunately if you are interested in learning more and being a bit bummed out look into the work on 6PPD being done by Washington and Oregon. The tire particulates being deposited in the side of the road are a substantial risk to juvenile salmon and steelhead.
Into the water.
On the windows of all the nearby homes. Just ask them.
It actually becomes part of the road. If you’ve ever looked at a fairly new section of pavement that was newly paved, you can actually see the rubber that was left behind from tires. Since it takes thousands of miles to wear tires down, the layers are so thin, it is unnoticeable.
Wow I always assumed it kinda fused into the road surface over time which I think still happens because you can see that on sharp turn, but for the most part I guess it becomes dust like all these other comments say
I see plenty of comments about the micro particles that wear off tires–6ppd-Q is one that’s been getting a lot of attention lately–but I think it’s important to note: you do see rubber laying along the side of the road in some places. Any long stretch of highway you’ll see shells of cheap, poorly constructed tired that got too hot and delaminated in sheets.
I used to live about 7 houses from a freeway. Sure, it had sound-baffling walls, but after living there a year, I realised that fine black dust was accumulating on anything outside that didn’t get washed off by rain.
I don’t live there anymore.
BEHOLD!!! microplastics.
The rubber disintegrates and dusts the area around roads.
I read a study a while ago that growing up near major roads increases the risk of asthma and ailments.
it goes to the three nations… air, water, earth… worse? our blood.
alternatively, the rubber migrates to the same interdimensional dump where missing socks and lost pens are.
It is on the road if you sweep it up in the dust you will find microscopic bits of tire and palladium and rodium dust from catalytic converters.
Sometimes during the prefect sunset. You’re notice parts of the road looks greasy/oil that’s layered down rubber
It’s screwing with the reproductive cycle of salmon, specifically a chemical that makes tires last longer.
Likley not good for humans too.
Not as bad as lead in gas.. Hopefully
Lot of it goes up into the air. The rest gets washed away when it rains.
Sure you do, you see pieces of rubber in the freeway all the time
Into your brain! Yay! Cars rule!
Rubber is a massive pollutant. Think about all the roads and motorways that lead past rivers and lakes. Now think how all that rubber gets washed into said waterways when it rains. Fish, frogs and other marine animals are absolutely chock-full of plastic. Since it is a hormonal disruptor, some species of frog have like 95% female births. Hence the famous sentence “they’re turning the frogs gay”.
The chemical dust gets washed into the oceans and kills the Salmon.
Dust
Living in a major city answers this question very quickly, it is EVERYWHERE.
I had an apartment in Brooklyn directly under the BQE where I kept a little broom next to my window because tire rubber would accumulate on the sill in inches.
Micoplastics to be washed down the storm drain.
oceans, rivers, groundwater, streams.
It’s inside all of us.
99% of microplastics in the ocean are tyre rubber
Tire dust may be the largest polluter of all.
In your lungs and brain for the most part.
r/TiresAreTheEnemy
You can see black allllllll over roadways, what do you mean?
Randall Munroe (of XKCD) actually answers this in his book, What If 2. The answer is that it goes into the air and water and is actually kinda a big problem.
I spent a few years in Los Angeles living next to a freeway and all the neighbors and me experienced black sticky dust all over everything. You could wipe everything down but it would just be back the next day. It’s in the air. It’s in the dust. It’s everywhere.
There is a reason that people who live right beside a highway live shorter lifes than someone on a farm.
End up in our food and lungs.
Take a deep breath…
Everywhere. Sometimes you’ll see smeers, strips, or chunks on the road, but much of it is broken down so small and swept along, to end up in the soil, water, air.
It’s turns to micro particles in the air and pretty much everywhere else.
It now paves your lungs.
I live next to a major road in Sydney – if we leave things on the veranda, it gets covered in fine black shiz – I assume it’s a mix of tires and exhaust
It’s in your scrotum. And lungs. And hair. And everything.
Look up “micro plastics.”
It all goes to our water supply and ends up in our bloodstream.
No professional, but I’m pretty sure that the friction of the wheels turning on the ground, braking, etc. slowly grinds away the rubber, but it’s in really small amounts which you can’t see unless they take time to build up, and they typically get washed away by rain/wind. Think like sandpaper, just really, really slow.
It’s not going in giant chunks. It’s very gradually wearing into the tarmac. You can usually drive like 50,000-75,000 miles on tires. That’s like driving across the entire continental United States and back 10x. Now think of all that distance and divide it by the quarter inch or so of rubber that wears off of your tire treads. The amount being placed onto the road at any given time is microscopic.
Around 25% of the microplastics in the ocean come from vehicle tyres.