Where does all the rubber from worn tires go? There are millions of cars, why do we not see the residue?

Answer 1

check the front windows of a friend's house who lives on a busy street...that yucky dusty stuff used to be tires, it gets into our lungs, food, lawns, sewers, yep, it is disgusting...that is one reason those quiet country roads seem so clean and , well, fresh in a way...

Answer 2

You can see it. Isn't there a significant difference between fresh poured concrete on the freeway and some that has been driven on for a year? If you look closely at the roadway, you'll find that the road tends to settle and sink into the ground where car tires pass over. The road won't be flat and level, the highest points will be in the center of each lane where you'll find chemical deposits from exhaust and engine leaks. In these recessions where the tires travel you will find a layer or coating of rubber residue. Every 10 years or so these roads have to be worn down with high powered sprayers and resurfaced, so they wont be made unsafe.
As for asphalt surfaces, well a similar thing occurs, but much quicker, because asphalt is far softer than concrete. Asphalt, by nature, is very similar to rubber residue because it contains the same element. You wont easily distinguish between the two.
On the concrete roadways, especially near stops such as traffic lights, you might find thin rubbery material to the sides of the road, from the wind blowing it away.
If you burn out long enough to heat up the tires, you'll see rubber fly from the wheels, and there will be residue on the wheel well.

Answer 3

The typical passenger car tire weighs 25 lbs (11.4 kg) when new, 20 lbs (9.1 kg) when scrap, and consists of

Carbon Black - 28%
Synthetic rubber - 27%
Steel - 14-15%
Natural rubber - 14%
Fabric, fillers, accelerators, antiozants, etc. - 16-17%

Much of the residue from tires is turned into a vapor when the tire heats up and creates friction against the surface it comes into contact with. You may notice when people spin their tires really fast on the pavement the grey/black smoke that is emitted from it, this is the rubber vapor.

As for the rest of it you can quite often see the residue on the street, particularly in areas where someone has hit the breaks to stop sharply, or at intersections from drivers turning sharply left or right. When turning a heavy vehicle combined with acceleration this creates the perfect environment for friction and heat to occur, thus leaving a residue on the pavement.

After a while Mother Nature and her elements tend to do the cleanup work that man tends not to keep up with. The elements take their toll on the rubber residue and slowly helps it dissipate, at which point we no longer can see it with the naked eye. This effect along with the rubber vapors has a negative effect on our atmosphere and contributes to the green house effect.

I hope this helped answer your question. :D

~Anathema~

Answer 4

Look at the snow along the highway during the winter The carbon in the tire is worn and discolors the snow. (they add carbon, otherwise the tire would erase itself within the first mile) The residue is also visible as a thin coating which makes the road VERY slippery in the first few minutes of a rain.

Answer 5

Its there. We've all seen skid marks and if youlook on the side of a busy highway you will see rubber residue

Answer 6

DRIVE DOWN A HI-WAY LONG ENOUGH AND YOU'LL SEE BLOWN TIRES ALONG THE ROAD....THE RUDDER DOES WEAR OFF AND THATS THE BLACK MARKS ON THE ROAD. NOW OLD TIRES ARE TAKEN TO BASICALLY TO TIRE FARMS WHERE THEY SIT FOR YEARS AND SOMETIMES THESE PLACES CAUGHT FIRE AND THEY BURN FOR WEEKS((talk about pollution)) NOW THEY ARE STARTING TO GRIND UP OLD TIRES AND USE THEM FOR INSULATION AND EVEN INTO PATCHES FOR ROAD-WAYS. BUT AT THE PRESENT TIME, THERE IS MORE TIRES THAN WHAT WE KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH---THATS WHY SOME PLAYGROUNDS EVEN HAVE SWINGS MADE OF TIRES!!

Answer 7

there is actually "residue" on the roads, every street I've ever been on has two very distinct lines running down the lane about the same width apart as the wheels on my car.

Answer 8

One of the latest things that they are doing with them is making rubber sidewalks in some cities.

Answer 9

Half of them are recycled into cheap condoms. The other half are shipped off to mexico city and los angelos for burning. Have you ever seen how polluted those cities are? :O

Answer 10

the 16 wheller truck shred there tires and it is on the side of the road or in the middle of the hiways