Blown tires in US vs Europe

[joemilitary]

So driving south in the states after being in Europe. Notice a lot of blown tires on the highway. Never noticed this in Europe.

Is it because the US is warmer especially in south and heat damages the tires ?

Does Europe take better care of their tires?

Other?

Thanks

[vonna]

LOL!!

You brought back a MOST STRESSFUL memory to me!  Passing the car inspection in Germany was worse than any pressure I had known before . . .    my coworkers used to have full blown celebrations if they passed on the first round.

So, I only offer anecdotal information, but my car(s) have always passed inspection in the states . . .

[ArchietheDragon]

Jun 24, 2015 13:07:08 GMT -5 vonna said:

LOL!!

You brought back a MOST STRESSFUL memory to me!  Passing the car inspection in Germany was worse than any pressure I had known before . . .    my coworkers used to have full blown celebrations if they passed on the first round.

So, I only offer anecdotal information, but my car(s) have always passed inspection in the states . . .

cars aren't even inspected in CT.



But my guess is that most of the tire debris on the road is from 18 wheelers.

[joemilitary]

Roger. It's the bigger trucks I am talking about with blown tires.

[joemilitary]

Other theories?

[mroped]

Maybe is the difference in quality of tires?!
Michelin vs Cooper or something like that?

Also, in US a trucker might start in Maine and end up in Allen, Texas. Is not the distance only but the difference in temperature that can cause a tire to blow under the same load.
I don't believe the truckers adjust their tire pressure while traveling just because they hit warmer climate.

In Europe, at least Western Europe, the clean up crews do the job they are getting paid for in a more conscious way. In here is "we'll get there at some point" atitude.

[haapai]

I doubt that it has anything to do with the weather.  I suspect that the answer is probably that we use 18-wheelers to move an amazing volume of stuff over crazy distances instead or shipping it by rail, barge, or smaller trucks that have to stop instead of letting it flap off.  We also don't have that many required stops where some sort of gatekeeper can order you to change a tire before proceeding. 

[wvugurl26]

A lot of them are from 18 wheelers. Likely caused by the use of retreads. They aren't permitted on the front two wheels but they are fair game for the others. It's a common practice in the trucking industry. They blow out more because it's not a brand new tire. I'm sure the climate variations mentioned earlier also come into play. Plus once it gets to our borders pretty much everything is trucked to it's final destination. There is some rail transportation but most of it comes via truck.

[justme]

Could just be Europe cleans up the highways faster so you just never saw it there. Or a function of that and how many more trucks/miles we have.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

There was always a lot more rubber on the road during the summer months when I lived in TX.  I always assumed that hot weather is harder on tires than colder weather.

[tskeeter]

Jun 24, 2015 12:54:18 GMT -5 joemilitary said:

So driving south in the states after being in Europe. Notice a lot of blown tires on the highway. Never noticed this in Europe.

Is it because the US is warmer especially in south and heat damages the tires ?

Does Europe take better care of their tires?

Other?

Thanks

I assume that you're talking about chunks of rubber from tires on the roadside.  There are a variety of factors that contribute. Higher temperatures is one.  As are bigger, more heavily loaded trucks.  In Europe, a 40 foot semi trailer is about as big as you see.  In the US, a 53 foot trailer is standard.  So the load on the tires is about 30% or so heavier.  Highway speeds (and related heating of tires) might be a factor, too.  Most of the European truck drivers I've seen seem to be going slower than the 70 MPH common in the US.  Might also be retread tires.  Don't know what the rules are in Europe, but in the US, retreads are commonly used on all axles of a truck except for the steering axle.  The rubber caps applied to retreads tend to delaminate and come off the tire carcass more readily than the tread of a newly manufactured tire.  It is also possible that European truck drivers might be better trained to monitor tire air pressure to avoid heat damage to tires than US truck drivers.  Or, it could be a difference in distances that trucks go at high speeds.  US laws and highway design allows someone to drive at 70 MPH for 10 hours.  It's unlikely that a European truck driver could maintain that speed for that long a period of time.  When you consider that speed and duration increase the potential for heat damage to a tire, it would seem to be more of a problem in the US.  Especially the southern US, where ambient temperatures are often a lot higher than Europe's typical about 70 degree range.