Peugeot RCZ Forum

Where does all the rubber go that's worn off car tyres by roads ?

If a car tyre lasts around 30k km and wears about 7mm of tread off during that time, then you are rubbing off an average of 0.2 nanometres of rubber for each metre that you drive.
That's about an atom's thickness for each tyre revolution, adding up to 10k tonnes of rubber desposited every year by all the cars in the UK.
Apart from the occasional catastrophic blowout, most of this is in the form of fine dust which washes off the roads into the verges and drains. Some is filtered out at water treatment plans and re-cycled as construction aggregate, but most of it is simply lost into the river network.
Tyre rubber is a significant source of hydrocarbon and heavy metal pollution in rivers and lakes.


Why do drivers often crash into trees or lampposts ?

According to statistics for US road-users, crashes where the vehicle leaves the road only account for 16% of car accidents - so mostly, drivers crash into each other. If it seems otherwise, here's why:
First, lampposts and tree collisions are generally very serious (16% of all accidents, but 31% of fatal ones), so you're more likely to hear about them.
Second, these accidents are less likely to block the road, so the vehicle will tend to be there longer and you're more likely to see them.
Third, lampposts and trees are the most solid things at the side of the road. So, even if the car hits a hedge first, it ends up wrapped around a solid pole embedded firmly in the ground.


What's worse - putting petrol in a diesel engine or diesel in a petrol engine ?

If you put diesel in a petrol engine, it'd cause knocking, which would eventually cause serious damage.
As for diesel engines, they use the fuel itself as a lubricant. Using petrol would eventually cause wear on the engine and corrode seals.
Diesel engines are stronger than petrol ones, so on balance, it's probably worse to put diesel in a petrol engine.