Tireman9 wrote:
FastEagle wrote:
OK big guys with the know. What’s up with this.
Whenever doors are opened it seems limits will be explored. In this first reference, rubber is recycled and used in new tire manufacturing. Put’s a peculiar meaning on the word new.
Recycled Tires
After reading that reference you can read this next one where the China tire manufacturers have pushed the percentage of recycled tire rubber just a little too far and had to do some backtracking and expensive recalls.
Tires with recycled rubber recalled
FastEagle
p.s. The picture of the tire shown in the China plant sure looks like a ST tire.
FE
Not sure what your question is.
The report from 2004 is pretty clear when it points out that small percentage of about 10% may be used in some cases but both cost increase and performance decrease prevent higher percentage.
I was personally been involved in some efforts in the 90's to use recycled material in tires for a major OE customer who was demanding we use an increasing percentage over a span of years while at the same time were demanding improvements in both wet traction and fuel economy performance which are adversely affected by the use of recycled rubber.
I am inclined to believe that many think that the compounds used in tires are just a simple mixture of natural rubber, some sulfur and carbon black, when in reality there are over 1000 different chemicals available to compounders in various combinations to make the 20 to 30 different compounds used in today’s tires.
Maybe an analogy will help. Assume you run a large bakery. Now imagine that you are told you need to collect all the left over bread from restaurants, schools and grocery stores and to mix the stale bread, cakes, donuts and bagels be they white or whole wheat, plain or raisin into your new white bread and you need to ensure that this new bread tastes, looks and smells exactly like bread made from new ingredients. Want to try that?
The recall of the tires made with too much recycled rubber is kind of proof of the difficulty predicted in the 2004 report.
I didn't ask any questions. I just posted that for discussion purposes. I’m sure lots of our tire users are not aware their “new” tires have recycled tires in them.
Once the China plant had to make a large recall that ultimately caused the entire plant to shut down it put an emphasis on their manufacturing procedures and quality assurance programs.
A review of tire threads in this forum will reveal numerous posts with suspicions about China tire manufacturing quality. Many OE tire products are manufactured in those plants including those we are currently discussing - LT & ST.
FastEagle
