Some Rumors About Tires

What's the dumbest rumor a tire guy has ever heard? Tires will expire! This ludicrous rumor has probably been around for at least a few decades. So much so that tire giant Michelin devised tests to prove that tires have no shelf life.
Tires are not afraid to put but afraid of heat
Michelin believes that the "expiration date" of a tire should be calculated from the moment it is installed on the car for use, not from the date of manufacture. So, to test this claim, Michelin conducted tests in Germany, South Korea and Saudi Arabia to prove that three-year-old tires could still provide the same level of performance as new tires.
The test results in Arabia show that the performance of tires that have been used for 1 year is similar to that of tires that have not been used in stock for 10 years. At the same time, in order to test the characteristics of the tire compound, Michelin stored the tire at a constant temperature of 40 degrees Celsius for 20 years. Compared with the tire used for 40,000 kilometers, it was found that the tire compound that had been stored for 20 years would deteriorate faster when used .
Tires do not have a shelf life, but if not stored properly, high temperatures can directly affect tire performance. Therefore, when you sell tires in 2023 and you are forced by customers to sell tires produced in 2020 or 2021, you can show this experimental data to car owners. However, you should also pay attention to the fact that the above-mentioned experiments show that tires are afraid of heat, so you should store tires in a ventilated, clean, cool, dry and dark room in accordance with national standards when storing tires at a room temperature of minus ten to thirty degrees below zero. The temperature and relative humidity of 50% to 80% are appropriate.
Tires are not afraid of water but afraid of cold water
Previously, there was such a report that in a car repair shop, when a maintenance worker was watering the tire to check the tire hole, the tire suddenly exploded. The powerful impact will directly lift the tire worker away.
Is the tire exploding because the tire is afraid of water? Obviously not. Tires can drive and brake on wet and slippery ground, so it is naturally impossible to be afraid of water. The explosion caused by pouring cold water is because the tire has been driven under high temperature for a long time, and the friction of the high-temperature road surface makes it have a lot of heat energy. At this time, it is suddenly stimulated by cold water, and thermal expansion and contraction will occur. At this time, thermal expansion and contraction often lead to uneven shrinkage of the tread and sidewall rubber layer, and there is a certain probability of cracks. At this time, if the rubber of the tire poured with cold water has aging problems, it is easy to explode.
Therefore, if someone comes to the store to repair or replace tires in summer, the driver should be advised to park in the shade and wait for the tire temperature to drop to avoid danger. Do not use cold water to cool the tires!
Not afraid of mud, afraid of potholes
Tires with good wet performance rely on core technologies such as patterns and formulas, and they can also walk on flat ground in mud. But on potholed roads with poor road conditions, the tires will be "losing". If the tires are forced to drive fast at this time, the tires may also damage the tire tread due to the stones in the potholes, and then a slight impact by foreign objects will cause a tire blowout accident.
In the same way, there are also manhole covers and curbs. The lines on the manhole covers and the impact on the curbs will cause the tires to be squeezed with greater force, resulting in tire damage and even tire blowout accidents, especially the damage to tires in these potholes. It is permanent and irreversible. Therefore, passing through potholes at high speed for a long time, frequently killing well covers, and frequently stepping on the accelerator will undoubtedly push the tires to chronic death.
Tire tread is most afraid of foreign matter card
The tire needs to remind the owner to regularly clean up the foreign matter in the tire tread after each service for the owner. Although the small stones caught in the pattern seem to be harmless, because they are full of sharp edges, it is easy to puncture the tire if it is caught between the tire pattern for a long time, causing air leakage, resulting in abnormal tire pressure and puncture. In addition, because another function of the pattern is to help the tire drain, small stones caught in the pattern are like a foreign object blocked in the river, affecting the drainage performance of the tire, which in turn reduces the braking ability of the tire in wet conditions, and leads to accidents in emergency situations .
Therefore, regular cleaning of the tire pattern and attention to maintenance details can keep the tires in a healthy state for a longer period of time!