# Are my tires damaged?



## sfwilshire (Jul 9, 2009)

How badly can hot asphalt damage auto tires? They were paving the road through the middle of the Harbor Cove resort today. From the end, it looked like they were done since the road closed sign was not up and there was no one directing traffic. After DH got onto the road, he went around a slight curve and saw that they were rolling it. He backed up and it was hot enough that he had made tracks and some of it stuck to our tires.

We had frozen food and other groceries in the car and it was quite an ordeal getting it back to our unit. The noise from the road work all week has been miserable. No way to enjoy sitting out on the deck. They even woke us up Monday morning after our long drive Sunday.

I'm just concerned that the tires were damaged. I considered getting the name and phone number of the paving contractor in case it turned out they were. Turns out that someone was supposed to be directing traffic, but he was on the other side of the road in his vehicle talking to the driver of another car.

Should I be worried. DH doesn't think so.

Thanks,

Sheila


----------



## wackymother (Jul 9, 2009)

I don't think you need to worry. They just repaved our street a couple of weeks ago, and the street was open while the asphalt was still hot. We drove on it, left marks like you describe, and our tires are fine--in fact one car just went to the mechanic for some work, and he would have noticed tire damage. The marks in the asphalt were gone by the next day, too.


----------



## Htoo0 (Jul 9, 2009)

I wouldn't think so. It would take quite a bit of heat to begin melting the tread. Probably the asphalt stuck between the treads will soon be gone. Guess you could park it with the tires turned sharply and take a good look at them to see if the tread really is damaged in some way.


----------



## Passepartout (Jul 9, 2009)

*Doubtful...*

Even fresh out of the batch plant where the asphalt is made, it's under 300 degrees F. It will cool some on the truck and fairly rapidly after it's put down. Modern car tires can easily dissipate that heat, and do so regularly. I wouldn't worry about it. Now, if we were dealing with 5-year-old recaps with weather-checked sidewalls that rolled on hot asphalt day-in and day-out, I'd get a little nervous at highway speed.

Someone mentioned 'tread melt'. That's not where the damage would occur. Excess heat can weaken the bond between the steel cords in the belts under the tread and the (usually) 1 ply radial cord that makes up the sidewall structure. Cord separation will make tires 'thump' thump' thump going down the road and frequently you can see a bulge where the separation occurs. 

Enjoy your vacation.

Jim Ricks


----------



## sfwilshire (Jul 11, 2009)

Thanks for the reassurances. We drove 800 miles yesterday and all seems fine.

Sheila


----------

