| About old tires, and LED just flashed on.... [message #267331] |
Mon, 08 December 2014 12:21  |
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Matt Colie
Messages: 8547
Registered: March 2007
Location: S.E. Michigan
Karma: 7
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Senior Member |
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I have been wondering what happened to tire. Just now, a light (upgraded to LED for low power consumption and improved durability) went on. Whether this is a valid connection or not, I do not know. Unfortunately the friends that I used to have in the industry are all retired (hopefully) and I collected home contact numbers of a very few. None of those were places that could help me answer this.
When I was younger tires did fail more frequently, but that was old technology. These failures were not what we are seeing with recent production. I have also had 10+ year old radials (OK, they were Michelin) but they wore out without failing. That was all before the late 70's and the push to limit the use of volatile hydrocarbon carriers for adhesives. At that time I was doing a lot of testing for automotive OEs and suppliers. When this push happened, there was a lot of trouble with the change over. Lots of things that used to be dependable were no longer so. Some bonded products just fell apart, and some failed before we could even test them. (A memorable one is a cylinder head gasket prototype that arrived in my office only to be collection of loose parts once the box was opened.) Most of these were elastomer parts that were bonded to either a metal mount or other elastormer parts. Some looked good and were OK to install but failed during the test cycle well in advance of the benchmark. This failure was usually at the bond. This has also caused other issues.
Possibly related cases:
I had a bonded #2 genoa (sail) that was 8 years old fail after only three days of sailing in its entire life. The first two days were under very tough conditions but five years before.
The space suit that are relics of the early space program are on display in museum in climate controlled cases are reported to be falling apart as the curators watch helplessly. The elastomers of all the joints and connections are disintegrating. Just from age some never even saw any use.
As I sit here, I am wondering if this is the same situation that now plagues our tires. I have personally had very few of the common failures that are most common in modern tires, so I really can't take this speculation any farther than what I just wrote. I can offer no other information or means to deal with this issue other than not running old tires myself.
If anybody has any interesting experience, please feel free to add it.
Matt
Matt & Mary Colie - Chaumière -'73 Glacier 23 - Members GMCMI, GMCGL, GMCES
Electronically Controlled Quiet Engine Cooling Fan with OE Rear Drum Brakes with Applied Control Arms
SE Michigan - Near DTW - Twixt A2 and Detroit
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