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| Stacked and standing car tires |
The fundamental materials of modern tires are synthetic rubber, natural rubber, fabric and wire, along with other compound chemicals. They consist of a tread and a body. The tread provides traction while the body ensures support. Before rubber was invented, the first versions of tires were simply bands of metal that fitted around wooden wheels in order to prevent wear and tear. Today, the vast majority of tires are pneumatic inflatable structures, comprising a doughnut-shaped body of cords and wires encased in rubber and generally filled with compressed air to form an inflatable cushion. Pneumatic tires are used on many types of vehicles, such as bicycles, motorcycles, cars, trucks, earthmovers, and aircraft.
Tire Pressure Monitoring System
Tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) are electronic systems that monitor the tire pressures on individual wheels on a vehicle, and alert the driver when the pressure goes below a warning limit. There are several types of designs to monitor tire pressure. Some actually measure the air pressure, and some make indirect measurements, such as gauging when the relative size of the tire changes due to lower air pressure.
Inflation Pressure
Tires are specified by the vehicle manufacturer with a recommended inflation pressure, which permits safe operation within the specified load rating and vehicle loading. Most tires are stamped with a maximum pressure rating. For passenger vehicles and light trucks, the tires should be inflated to what the vehicle manufacturer recommends, which is usually located on a decal just inside the driver's door or in the vehicle owners handbook. Tires should not generally be inflated to the pressure on the sidewall; this is the maximum pressure, rather than the recommended pressure. High performance and dynamic drivers often increase the tire pressure to near the maximum pressure as printed on the sidewall. This is done to sacrifice comfort for performance and safety. It is definitely very dangerous to allow tire pressure to drop below the recommended placard vehicle pressure, although this is commonly done temporarily when driving on sand to reduce chance of bogging. The reason for this is that it increases the amount of tire wall movement as a result of cornering forces. Should a low pressure tire be forced to perform an evasive maneuver, the tire wall will be more pliable than had it been of a higher pressure, and thus it will "roll" under the wheel. This increases the entire roll movement of the car, and diminishes tire contact area on the negative side of the vector. Thus only half the tire is in contact with the road, and the tire may deform to such an extent that the side wall on the positive vector side becomes in contact with the road. The probability of failing in the emergency maneuver is thus increased.
Further, with low tire pressure—due to the side wall being more pliable—the tire will absorb more of the irregular forces from normal driving, and with this constant bending of the side wall as it absorbs the contours of the road, it heats up the tire wall to possibly dangerous temperatures, as well as degrades the steel wire reinforcement; this often leads to side wall blow-outs. In an extreme case of this phenomenon, the vehicle may drive into a pot-hole, or a hard elevation in the road. Due to the low tire pressure, the side wall at the contact area will temporarily collapse, thereby wedging the tire between the wheel and road, resulting in a tire laceration and blow-out, as well as a damaged wheel. High tire pressures are more inclined to keep its shape during any encounter, and will thus transmit the forces of the road to the suspension, rather than being damaged itself. This allows for an increased reaction speed, and "feel" the driver perceives of the road. Modern tire designs allow for minimal tire contact surface deformity during high pressures, and as a result the traditional wear on the center of the tire due to reasonably high pressures is only known to very old or poorly designed tires.
Feathering occurs on the junction between the tire tread and side wall, as a result of too low tire pressures. This is as a result of the inability of the tire to perform appropriately during cornering forces, leading to aberrant and shearing forces on the feathering area. This is due to the tire moving sideways underneath the wheel as the tire pressures are insufficient to transmit the forces to the wheel and suspension. It may be, that very high tire pressures have only two downsides: The sacrifice in comfort; and the increased chance of obtaining a puncture when driving over sharp objects, such as on a newly scraped gravel road. Many individuals have maintained their tire pressures at the maximum side wall printed value (inflated when cold) for the entire lifetime of the tire, with perfect wear until the end. This may be of negative economic value to the rubber and tire companies, as high tire pressures decrease wear, and minimize side wall blow outs.
Many pressure gauges available at fuel stations have been de-calibrated by manhandling and the effect of time, and it is for this reason that vehicle owners should keep a personal pressure gauge with them to validate the correct tire pressure.
During the early stages of tire engineering, and with current basic tires, the tire contact patch is readily reduced by both over-and-under inflation. Over-inflation may increase the wear on the center contact patch, and under-inflation will cause a concave tread, resulting in less center contact. Most modern tires will wear evenly at very high tire pressures, but will degrade prematurely due to low (or even standard) pressures. An increased tire pressure has many benefits, including decreased rolling resistance. It has been found, that an increased tire pressure almost exclusively results in shorter stopping distances, except in some circumstances that may be attributed to the low sample size. If tire pressure is too low, the tire contact patch is changed more than if it were over-inflated. This decreases rolling resistance, tire flexing, and friction between the road and tire. Under-inflation can lead to tire overheating, premature tread wear, and tread separation in severe cases.
Load Rating
Tires are specified by the manufacturer with a maximum load rating. Loads exceeding the rating can result in unsafe conditions that can lead to steering instability and even rupture. For a table of load ratings, see tire code.
Speed Rating
The speed rating denotes the maximum speed at which a tire is designed to be operated. For passenger vehicles these ratings range from 99 mph (159 km/h) to 186 mph (299 km/h). For a table of speed ratings, see tire code.
Replacing a tire on a vehicle with one with a lower speed rating than originally specified by the vehicle manufacturer may render the insurance invalid.
Service rating
Tires (especially in the U.S.) are often given service ratings, mainly used on bus and truck tires. Some ratings are for long haul, and some for stop-start multi-drop type work. Tires designed to run 500 miles (800 km) or more per day carrying heavy loads require special specifications.
Treadwear Rating
The treadwear rating or treadwear grade describes how long the tire manufacturers expects the tire to last. A Course Monitoring Tire (the standard tire that a test tire will be compared to) has a rating of "100". If a manufacturer assigns a treadwear rating of 200 to a new tire, they are indicating that they expect the new tire to have a useful lifespan that is 200% of the life of a Course Monitoring Tire. The "test tires" are all manufacturer-dependent. Brand A's rating of 500 is not necessarily going to give you the same mileage rating as Brand B's tire of the same rating. The testing is non-regulated and can vary greatly. Treadwear ratings are only useful for comparing Brand A's entire lineup against itself. Tread wear, also known as tire wear, is caused by friction between the tire and the road surface. Government legal standards prescribe the minimum allowable tread depth for safe operation.
Rotation
Tires may exhibit irregular wear patterns once installed on a vehicle and partially worn. Furthermore, front-wheel drive vehicles tend to wear the front tires at a greater rate compared to the rears. Tire rotation is the procedure of moving tires to different car positions, such as front-to-rear, in order to even out the wear, thereby extending the life of the tire.
Wheel alignment
When mounted on the vehicle, the wheel and tire may not be perfectly aligned to the direction of travel, and therefore may exhibit irregular wear. If the discrepancy in alignment is large, then the irregular wear will become quite substantial if left uncorrected.
Wheel alignment is the procedure for checking and correcting this condition through adjustment of camber, caster and toe angles. These settings also affect the handling characteristics of the vehicle.
Retread
Tires that are fully worn can be re-manufactured to replace the worn tread. This is known as retreading or recapping, a process of buffing away the worn tread and applying a new tread. Retreading is economical for truck tires because the cost of replacing the tread is less than the price of a new tire. Retreading passenger tires is less economical because the cost of retreading is high compared to the price of new cheap tires, but favorable compared to high-end brands.
Worn tires can be retreaded by two methods, the mold or hot cure method and the pre-cure or cold one. The mold cure method involves the application of raw rubber on the previously buffed and prepared casing, which is later cured in matrices. During the curing period, vulcanization takes place and the raw rubber bonds to the casing, taking the tread shape of the matrix. On the other hand, the pre-cure method involves the application of a ready-made tread band on the buffed and prepared casing, which later is cured in an autoclave so that vulcanization can occur.
During the retreading process, retread technicians must ensure the casing is in the best condition possible, in order to minimize the possibility of a casing failure. Casings with problems such as capped tread, tread separation, unrepairable cuts, corroded belts or sidewall damage, or any run-flat or skidded tires, will be rejected.
In most situations, retread tires can be driven under the same conditions and at the same speeds as new tires with no loss in safety or comfort. The percentage of retread failures should be about the same as for new tire failures, but many drivers, including truckers, are guilty of not maintaining proper air pressure on a regular basis, and, if a tire is abused (overloaded, underinflated, or mismatched to the other tire on a set of duals), then that tire (new or recapped) will fail.
Many commercial trucking companies put retreads only on trailers, using only new tires on their steering and drive wheels. This procedure increases the driver's chance of maintaining control in case of problems with a retreaded tire.