According to this page it’s about that 25% of the whole tyre, where more than half the tyre is not rubber/synthetic rubber but other stuff.
So there is more synthetic rubber than natural rubber. But the mind-blowing thing for me here is that I kind of assumed the whole tyre was synthetic, but they are only 25% plastic and still are the biggest source of mocroplastic.
But the other stuff is nasty. Total of petrochemicals in a tyre is above 60%. That fabric, carbon black, oils, elastometers, textiles, antioxidantes and additives are all based on petroleum too
I thought car tyres were made of rubber.
On average ~25% of that rubber is synthetic, i.e. pertroleum/plastic based.
Rubber literally grows on tress, and we’re like no, plastic please.
Rubber is less resistant than the plastics mix we use now.
We didn’t invest much into developing rubber into a better for for tires. The switch was due to cost & hegemony.
There are actual safety concerns with tires. Modern ones are much, much less prone to blowing out on the highway.
It still can happen though. Ask me how I know.
According to this page it’s about that 25% of the whole tyre, where more than half the tyre is not rubber/synthetic rubber but other stuff.
So there is more synthetic rubber than natural rubber. But the mind-blowing thing for me here is that I kind of assumed the whole tyre was synthetic, but they are only 25% plastic and still are the biggest source of mocroplastic.
But the other stuff is nasty. Total of petrochemicals in a tyre is above 60%. That fabric, carbon black, oils, elastometers, textiles, antioxidantes and additives are all based on petroleum too