What Happens To The Brakes When You Burn A Tire

What happens to the brakes when you burn a tire
Although the practice could be fun, tire burn has implications for the braking system, here we explain the details.

When it comes to the safety of a vehicle, the quality of the braking system plays a crucial role, as the braking system is one of the most important safety features and good brakes can make the difference between avoiding an accident and a possible tragedy occurs, says Quic Transmission, an automotive service company.

Currently, most cars have disc brakes, which replaced drum brakes by showing greater efficiency.

Disc brakes work in the following way: when the brake pedal is depressed, a hydraulic pump is activated, which directs the brake fluid to the brake calipers. The fluid pressure causes the pistons to push the pads. These pads rub against the brake disc, where the kinetic energy is converted into dissipated heat, and thus the vehicle as a whole gradually slows down, explains Atlántico Autocentros.

However, for the brakes to work properly it is important that the suspensions do not show looseness or obvious signs of deterioration and that the tires are in good condition and with the correct pressures.

If the tires are not in optimal condition, they will not be able to meet the demands of the brakes and the car will not respond properly when the brake is pressed. Therefore, good tire conditions will be decisive when it comes to guaranteeing good braking, says Atlántico Autocentros.

For its part, the Michelin company, a specialist in tires, indicates that the main problems suffered by tires are due, to a large extent, to the dangers of the road or to the accumulation of heat, since high temperatures in the tires contribute to the rapid loss of air or even cause a sudden tire blowout, which can lead to loss of vehicle control at the same time.

What happens when you burn a tire
In a video published on YouTube by Engineering Explained, the degree of wear that a tire can suffer when a rim burns is shown, which, we insist, affects the braking system.

The recording presents a Honda vehicle, which is monitored with a thermal camera, which records and shows the wear suffered by the tire when exposed to high temperatures.

During the video it is shown how in just 5 seconds the car tire reaches a temperature of 160 degrees and begins to release small pieces of rubber. Losing these fragments is detrimental to the tires, since the rim is seriously damaged and its adherence is conditioned, explains Grupo Baldajos, specialists in vehicle maintenance.

Another video published on the platform shows, with a GoPro camera, the internal wear that a tire suffers when the practice of burning tires is carried out. The Distorted Perception channel presents this perspective in which it is observed how the applied heat wears down the tire until it explodes, rendering it useless.

Specialists indicate that although the braking system does not present failures at the time of tire burnout, the tires do wear out and are damaged by the high temperatures they experience, a fact that in the future could cause the car to not respond correctly to the demands of the driver. braking.

The smoke when burning tire
A disadvantage present in the practice of tire burning is the “smoke” that is produced during the process. Since, although it may look like smoke, it is actually another compound that is very harmful to health, says Grupo Baldajos.

The “smoke” that is observed when burning a tire comes from the melting of the tire tread, a fact that causes the elements of the rubber, such as chemical compounds and oils, to evaporate and when in contact with the cold air condense in the form of white smoke that appears when burning tires, adds Grupo Baldajos. Breathing large amounts of these chemical compounds could be detrimental to human health.