so, you buy new tires for your car because they get worn down...where does the rubber go?

Question

you don't see millions of pieces of rubber all over the ground.......just like the soles of your shoes. does it evaporate?

Answer 1

Same place the brake pads and shoes end up, as dust in the air and on the road. This is why they have cabin filters in the newer cars.

Rubber dust is actually consumed by microscopic life that lives along the road ways and in the ground. This was a topic on the news many years ago.

Some will end up in ground water and drainage ditches and rivers and in air filters and in your lungs and stuck to windows and car body parts and washed off in car washes and rain puddles. But it is one of those items that some microscopic life has been consuming for who knows how long.

Real "rubber" came from the sap of rubber trees (latex) but all oil is from an organic source so I suppose the old tar pits and similar sources have been feeding these micro-lifes for as long as there's been oil.

I live near an Interstate and the oil and rubber residue sticks to my exterior windows and is best cleaned with dish soap for a no streak clean.

Good Luck!

Answer 2

Rubber from tires wears off very gradually. If you walk along any busy road and rub your hand along the asphalt you will notice some gritty dirt. A lot of that is tire debris that builds up over time. Also you have to remember street sweepers clean up the rest of the debris.

What's left of the tires nowadays (the used tires that the tire shop takes off your car) get s recycled and made into things like playground mats and door mats.

Answer 3

You're a very sensible person. Yes, the rubber does vaporize and go into the atmosphere where it causes global warmig as well as ill-health effects when you breath it. This is why people in Africa have such long, healthy lives, because there aren't any cars or rubbers there. Hope this helps!!!!

Answer 4

You see what looks like dirty trails on the highway. That's tire rubber, ground off, from millions of tires.

Answer 5

It shreds off like a cheese shredder. Stand at a curve in a oval racetrack. You can feel the rubber hitting you when your down near the fence.

Answer 6

did you ever burn off at the red lite --- well look back at the patch and now you realize where the rubber "goes"" cold -- heat -- varied road surfaces -- turns -- backing up and just plain driving up and down the road wears the tires like the shoes on yo foots..

Answer 7

It's a very thin layer of very fine rubber dust out on the road.

Answer 8

the rubber is embeded in the asphalt, its just hard to see because just a little bit comes off is y u cant see it on the road

Answer 9

same principle of a pencil eraser , It rubs away . Less on straight aways more when you turn

Answer 10

it rubs off on the road. if it came off in pieces, your tire would pop.