You won’t be surprised to hear that, without the right precautions, extreme heat can do some serious damage to your tyres. And we don’t just mean heat from the sun.
While climate change and the arrival of warmer days does have an impact on your rubber tyres, this certainly isn’t the only form of heat that your tyres are subject to. In fact, we’d go so far as to say it’s not even the most common.
Most examples of extreme heat occur when a tyre is pushed to its limit in terms of speed, sharp handling, weight, and friction between the tyre and the road surface. If a tyre is not maintained at the right PSI, or it isn’t suitable for the terrain it’s travelling on, the extra pressure can increase the risk of blowout as the air inside the tyre expands. And yes, the temperature outside the tyre matters too.
In this blog, we’re sharing some of the most common causes of extreme tyre heat, how to know if your tyre is getting too hot, and what to do to keep your tyres stable and safe to drive on.
Common Causes of Extreme Heat
Extreme heat in tyres can be caused by external conditions and by driving behaviour – whether it be driving too fast, driving on underinflated tyres, or driving with an excess of weight in the vehicle.
In fact, extreme heat and the damage it can cause to tyres is one of the reasons why it’s so important to pay attention to the load and speed rating on a tyre – letting drivers know how much a tyre is designed to hold in terms of weight, and its maximum driving speed.
What Happens to the Rubber Under Extreme Heat?
Contrary to popular belief, when we talk about a tyre being exposed to extreme heat, we usually mean that the air inside the tyre has become hot and has expanded. The first thing to understand is that it is perfectly normal for the air inside tyres to rise and drop in temperature, through motion and the shift in energy. However this becomes problematic when the tyre is driven at an incorrect pressure, is not suitable for the weight it’s carrying, or is driven too fast.
These external factors all cause a dramatic increase in the generation of heat inside the tyre, putting extra strain on the rubber and causing deformation to the tyre structure.
This is then made worse by the presence of external heat and high ambient temperatures, which prevent the tyres from being able to cool down effectively.
The end result is a tyre that suffers consistent and regular damage to its internal structure. Extreme heat accelerates the rate at which the tyre degrades and typically means that the tread pattern becomes worn far more quickly - thus leaving the tyre with a shorter lifespan.
