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Tires are Built to be Durable, but that Doesn’t Mean they Always Are

The advanced technology found in today’s tires makes them a lot more complex than you may believe. Many people think of a tire only as a balloon made of rubber that keeps your car in contact with the street. A tire, however, is a lot more than just a round piece of rubber with a hole in the center of it. Tires are a critical component of any type of motorized vehicle, and they are made up of a wide range of materials that are combined through the process of vulcanization, otherwise known as heat treatment. Not only do they have a complex molecular structure, but there is also a lot more going on inside a tire than you might think. More Information here

The next time you’re riding down the highway or on a side street filled with potholes, give some consideration to your tires. Dealing with potholes is extremely rough on a tire. Factor in the wear and tear you put on your car’s tires when you have to brake suddenly, or you suddenly have to swerve, and it will become apparent to you just how hard it is for a tire to do its job. If a tire is properly manufactured and maintained, it is extremely durable and performs in a magnificent fashion.

Typically, a vehicle contains four springs that are the main components of the suspension system. Your four tires are often grouped together and known as the “fifth spring” because they absorb and release energy. The following portion is a bit technical but bear with us. This information is important to understanding just how your tires operate. Your car’s suspension has springs that have a fixed spring rate. Your tires, however, do not. If a tire is performing the way it should and is in good shape, it’s said to be acting like a “good spring.” Tires performing in the right manner keep your car from rolling, leaning, or “yaw” when you take a corner or make a lane change. Defective tires, on the other hand, perform in the manner of a “bad spring.” When this happens, the handling of your car can be affected in a significantly negative way. When you make a turn or change lanes on bad tires, you may feel that your car seems “soft” or “mushy,” especially if you have to make a quick action like swerving to avoid something in the road. If your tires feel this way, your car may be much more likely to experience a rollover.

The point at which your tires come in contact with the road is referred to as the “contact patch.” Due to the weight of your vehicle, the tires become pressed into a flat spot at the contact patch. Tires bend at the edges in reaction to a road’s surface. As that occurs, the part of the tire that contacts the road becomes flat instead of round. This causes compression energy that is released into your tires in the form of heat. It’s a function of basic physics – energy released in this manner turns into heat. In your tires can be found an extremely large amount of heat.

The heat generated by compression energy combines with other forms of heat generated by friction. Combine this heat with, say, cruising down the freeway on a 105-degree day, and you get even more heat your tire has to endure. All of this heat can significantly alter the structure of your tires. We all know how hot it can get in on a summer day. After you drive around for an hour or so on one of those blistering days when you get back home touch one of your tires. It’ll take a fraction of a second to pull your hand away because it’s almost like touching a hot oven surface.

This slice of Tire Physics 101 was brought to you because it’s important for you to realize the various characteristics possessed by tires, how they are designed for durability, and how inadequate mounting or maintenance can result in defective tires. All of these factors, in conjunction with the possibility that the tires attached to your car might not conform to the manufacturer’s specifications, and you can see how easily a rollover accident can occur.

Think about all of the torture your tires have to endure, and then think about the fact that tires are the only part of a car designed to come in contact with a roadway. Those contact patches only average a mere four cubic feet. Think about all of that, and hopefully, you’ll begin to get a clear realization of just how vital your tires are to the safe handling of your vehicle. The manufacturer of your car is charged with the immense responsibility of conducting incredibly detailed research in order to accurately identify the correct type of tire for that particular automobile. Quite a few rollover accidents have been caused by manufacturers establishing inadequate tire specifications for the car involved. This could very well have been the case regarding your accident.