What is more friendly to the environment (Gas vs. Tires)

[imzjustplayin]

Is it detrimental to the environment to wear out tires faster for the sake of better fuel economy? Should fuel economy come first before the life of a tire? I was thinking about all those people who take corners at a high rate of speed in order to improve their fuel economy and whether the benefit from improved fuel economy was an improvement to their overall environmental profile.

[trollbait]

The base assumption is that a hypermiler with completely filled, possibly LRR, tires wears them do faster than a typical driver and tires. Is that assumption actually correct?
Most hypermilers drive slower, and my understanding is that pumped up tires last longer?

Another thing to consider is the potential reuse of old tires. Once burned the gas is gone

[GasSavers_BEEF]

I burn about 500 gallons a year (yes, I drive too much) but I have changed my tires twice since I purchased the car over 5 years ago. the first tire change doesn't really count because the tires were bald when I got the car.

I would say that tire wear isn't really that big of an issue. my tires last a while because I buy the harder composite and I drive much slower and less aggressive. can't remeber the last time I did a burn out in the car (maybe never). I can squeal them a bit going around corners but even that is rare.

[theholycow]

************* wasn't generalizing about hypermilers, just asking about the ones who take turns fast in order to carry their momentum through the turn and not have to re-accelerate afterwards. I do.

I may be going 45 on a road where most people go 55, and they may be tailgating me dangerously closely, but when I turn I don't use my brakes...I might enter that turn still at 45, finishing the turn with 40mph still left, leaving them far behind until they finish turning and catch up to tailgate me some more. To avoid wear on the tires I might have to brake down to 30mph and accelerate to 40mph again once I'm going straight.

The increased tire pressure I run definitely helps with wear. I've always enjoyed taking corners fast, and before I started running higher pressure, I'd always wear the edges of the tire first. Now I get approximately even wear. Actually, I currently have slight center wear, but that's not as bad as edge wear IMO and the whole tire will be bald before any cords show in the center.

Potential re-use is kinda meaningless, IMO. Actual re-use is much more important. They could be recapped and put on a car for another 50,000 miles, but they won't. Does anyone know what are the most common destinations for disposed tires?

[theholycow]

Oh, and with my aggressive turning, I'm mostly down to the wear bars after 25,000 miles. I looked up reviews of my tires and it seems most people have run them bald by 25,000 miles, so I'm still ahead.

[Erdrick]

I had my tires down to the wear bars (if I remember correctly) in my mini kei car in Japan. That is from less than 10,000 miles of driving over two years. I pumped them up hard and cornered like it was a Porsche. Usually squealed them around turns. Then again, the Mitsubishi minica costs around $6000 brand new so....

[GasSavers_RoadWarrior]

Marvin's tires are "due" can't remember what they've got on them, somewhere around 80,000 I think, but it's been something like 6 or 7 years and they're starting to get checking on the sidewalls. Always seems to me you get the first 25% wear in the first 5,000, the next 25% in 10,000, and the last 50% lasts 40,000 or longer.

[VetteOwner]

old tires are shredded into playground substrate so its safe to fall on and alot of it is used in asphalt roads in the asphalt. im sure theres plenty of other uses too

[theholycow]

How do they get the steel cords out of them before using them in playgrounds?

I didn't know they actually are using them in asphalt pavement...I read about it when the technology first came out and haven't heard about it since.

[GasSavers_RoadWarrior]

Diversions for stuff like paving and roof shingles are still relatively minor, there's still huge tire dumps all over the place.

It's possible to burn tires very cleanly in a sealed convertor type incinerator, and gain net energy, enough to displace a coal or gas fired power station, with cleaner than coal, as clean as gas emissions, but for some reason that (and other garbage incinerator plans) is unpalatable to the general public (OMG YOU CAN'T JUST BURN IT !!!!!!11111)