A desert shrub. Used plastic shopping bags. Do these sound like sources of materials for race tires? Well, they're going into some of the race tires Firestone supplies for IndyCar. Here’s why.
As long as it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, you can make my tires out of anything, really.
Colin Wood said:As long as it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, you can make my tires out of anything, really.
Correct. I'd be interested to see the numbers of what percentage of guayule and "recycled" shopping bags are actually used in the composition of the sidewalls. Tires have hardly been a sustainable or recyclable item on vehicles. Typically finding their way into crash barriers, mulch (previous owner of my home had this stuff everywhere and it's the worst), and football fields.
I know that the Brooks group developed a solution to recycle tire rubber by breaking the sulfur-to-sulfur bonds and recovering some of the organics to be used in new materials.
Let me see if I can find you an answer about how much of these materials make up the tires. That's a good question.
Colin Wood said:As long as it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, you can make my tires out of anything, really.
Strictly speaking, I don't know if JG would feel the same way.
If they can come up with a recyclable tire that actually works like the tires I currently use for Road Track racing and can perform adequately, no, not adequately, but better while lasting long enough to finish without worrying about a "blowout", I would definitely give them a try. I say try, because even in this day and age, with all the info supplied by the manufacturers backed up by computers, they would have to be tried by me to be proven to me that they actually do work.
In reply to DirtyBird222 :
What's wrong with tire mulch? I've been thinking about getting it here because I'm sick of the red dyed wood mulch all over the property and I can't afford the concrete to replace it properly.
One advantage of tire mulch unlike traditional wood based mulch it does not attract termites. A big deal when used next to structures here in the south.
Harvey Firestone was looking for the next "rubber" producing plant even while investing in the rubber plantations in South America; he bought the land in Arizona and Texas (where the Bridgestone proving grounds are) long ago hoping to use a certain cacti that grew there for them but those developments never happened. I'm cool with anything in my tires that keeps them round and stuck to the ground.
RevRico said:In reply to DirtyBird222 :
What's wrong with tire mulch? I've been thinking about getting it here because I'm sick of the red dyed wood mulch all over the property and I can't afford the concrete to replace it properly.
What madmrak351 said is true. It also doesn't float away like regular mulch during torrential downpours.
The problem I have with it is that it seems to stick to everything and get everywhere and it's really just me being nitpicky. From the dog, to my shoes, and.....tires. Previous homeowner put a ton of it down along with some concrete tire paths into the backyard for boat trailer storage. I put my jetski in the same spot but anytime I backed the truck up there it brought out heaps of that stuff and it got everywhere and I was constantly cleaning it up inside and outside of the house.
I recycled the stuff to the backyard where there is less foot and vehicle traffic and have since paved over where it used to be.
Jerry From LA said:Colin Wood said:As long as it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, you can make my tires out of anything, really.
Strictly speaking, I don't know if JG would feel the same way.
JG already has ducks in his tires.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
That is true.
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