Ten little known tyre facts

YOU might think you know everything about the tyres on your car; they’re black, round (or they should be) and they keep you rolling on the road. But like any consumer product required worldwide, there are factors such as disposal and recycling to consider – plus considerations from the many motorsports and other pastimes that rely on their rubber souls. With that in mind, here are ten facts about tyres that might surprise you.

10

Roads have been made from used tyres since the 1960s, with recycled tyres being shredded and mixed with asphalt to produce recycled, safer and more environmentally friendly roads

9

Formula 1 might seem like a particularly unsafe pastime, but as it happens, many tyre safety features have been added to everyday cars for public roads.

In fact, the actual shape and style of construction of the carcass tyre design comes directly from the sport – not, as you might’ve imagined, years of testing on your average road car.

8

It is illegal to store used or wasted tyres in landfill sites in Europe. Since 2006 the EU has made it illegal for either shredded or whole tyres to be left to rot on the dump.