OT: What's with the tires?

[bkelly65us]

This has been occupying my mind since June of last year when we drove to WDW from PA. Driving thru the Carolinas and Georgia we noticed tires and pieces of tires everywhere on the highway. I mean, everywhere! For all that discarded rubber we never did see any wrecks or people pulled off to the side changing a blow out. As my kids kept saying, "What's up with that?"

 

[goofy4tink]

THe trucks are shedding!!! Good thing they have more than enough wheels on those rigs to cover when one of the tires blows out.

 

[tiggerrr]

Many trucks use re-treaded tires. Basically when the tread is worn on a tire, the remaining tread is shaved off and a new tread is "attached" to the tire (various means exist for putting the new rubber tread on). What you're seeing on the side of the road is that tread coming off. As goofy4tink put it so well, "The trucks are shedding."

 

[TheWog]

and maybe those states are/were not as diligent as other states about cleaning it as others are.

 

[seashoreCM]

The retread is glued on, not welded or melted to make a truly one piece tire again. After awhile the glue fails and the new tread peels off.

 

[gram]

It only seems to be in "hot" states. Arizona is full of re-tred shed too. Hardly ever see it in Illinois..

 

[disneyfaninaz]

I think AZ tries to keep up with picking up the tire treads out of the roadway and along the side. I-10 is a big commercial truck route.

 

[Buzz's Buddy]

I see this EVERY DAY on Route 295 in NJ.

I've even been next to a truck as the tire started to disintegrate. Not the best place to be as that rubber starts flying!

 

[momdad4kids]

Ive worked in the commercial transportation industry for some years now and just wanted to clear up one small misconception. The huge peices of rubber also known as "alligators") you see along many highways are not all re-cap tires, actually not quite half are in fact new tires. The problem arises when tires are underinflated and /or overloaded causing extreme heat build up and thus premature tire inflation. Its why checking the inflation pressures in the tires on your own car is so important. Imagine losing a front tire on your own car at 75 mph, just food for thought.