Dear N8N:
On May 8, 12:06=A0pm, N8N <njna...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> I'm just curious, is there any evidence that exposure
> to elements, ozone, whatever causes the rubber in
> car tires to get hard?
Yes. This is very true. Ozone is applied (with or without humidty
control) in heated chambers to speed the "natural aging process". The
results are hardening, then cracks because a given displacement breaks
intermolecular bonds (due to the stiffening).
>=A0I was whining and crying like a little girl about
> the Goodyear tires on my company car and how
> unsafe they were in the wet, they had no traction
> whatsoever. =A0Eventually they wore out enough to the
> point that I got the fleet people to authorize
> replacement. =A0I remember even posting about how
> much better the new tires were than the old
> Goodyears. Well, today it was raining while I
> was driving to work and again I have no traction
> whatsoever! =A0Trying to accelerate from a stop sign
> or light at anything more than a snail's pace
> results in massive wheelspin, and uphill -
> fugettaboutit. =A0I don't think it's oil on the
> roads, as it's rained within the last week, just
> not during any time that I had to drive the car.
>=A0I don't think it's my foot, either, although I
> am not the slowest driver on the road. =A0Can
> anyone think of an explanation as to why I seem
> to be having such issues with completely
> unacceptable wet-weather traction, when my tires
> are barely worn?
OK, you raise several points:
1) It is your foot. Everyone should be "calmer" with water on the
road.
2) ozone and corona (not the beer) are used to treat polymer films to
improve "wetting" characteristics. Will likely affect either the
rubber's ability to "reject" water or oil on the road.
3) drag racers pour (or used to pour) bleach in the tires / track to
do what?... soften the tires and increase traction.
4) the grooves in your tires are designed *when new* to pump ungodly
amounts of water. As wear occurs, these passages become narrower /
shallower, requiring more pressure to get the same amount of flow.
Ozone will make your tires harder, the sidewalls will stiffen up,
changing the contact area some. Areas affected by ozone for "wetting"
are abraided by driving, so this might be an effect, but it should be
small. But most of all, wear decreases the grooves in the tires.
Or so I'd guess...
David A. Smith
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