I have to replace my tires every 60 000-100 000 KM as the tires wear down and the rubber comes off as I drive. If this is happening with all cars, why arnt the roads coated in rubber? Is somebody cleaning the tire rubber off the road? Is it getting washed away from the rain and into drains/the ocean? How long does it take for rubber to degrade that has come off the tire?
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if you want to see an extreme example where the rubber *does* stick to the surface, look at airplane runways. the forces involved in airplane landings are enough to make it stick, and they have to clean it regularly to prevent the runway from losing traction.
It’s a bit easier to see what’s going on with tyre rubber in F1, since those tyres last ~100km rather than 100,000km. In F1, some rubber gets worked into the road surface and improves grip, however this is easily washed away with rain. Side note, this means that rain the night before a race can lead to an interesting race as the track “rubbers in” and gains traction over the course of the race.
However most of the rubber is lost as chunks which are known as [marbles](https://i.imgur.com/TbH5lNF.jpeg). In your car, this still happens, just on a dramatically slower/smaller scale. microscopic pieces of rubber breaking off and blowing away over time
Rub your hand along the outer part of your tire sometimes. You hand will be coated. Part of that will be dirt but a lot of it will also be rubber. It’s just really small.
Look up a formula 1 race sometime. Specifically the concept of a track being “rubbered in” and you’ll see what it looks like on a larger scale. A similar thing is happening to our tires but on a much smaller scale so it’s not as noticeable.
I mean they are. Pay attention the next time you pull up to a busy stoplight. Unless it’s been freshly repaved you’ll be able to see a darkening of the pavement where the cars queue up from the rubber left behind.
Tires are a greater source of pollution than the tailpipe of modern cars by weight.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/07/09/tire-brake-tailpipes-emissions-pollution-cars/
We are all just part of a huge experiment with micro particles of tires and brake dust everywhere.
Here in the sf Bay Area there’s growing concern that that shit and brake dust is all up in our bay.
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