Glossary tyre wear

Tyre particles that are formed because of wear during driving and are released of the tyre.

Tyre wear contains the same components as the tyre tread: synthetic rubber, natural rubber, carbon black, silicon, various additives and zinc. In the environment, the released tyre particles form a conglomerate of road abrasion and other dust particles.

Tyre wear is initially on the road. The particles then enter water, air and soil mainly through rainwater and wind.

The quantities emitted vary in the individual studies. UMSICHT balances more than 150,000 tonnes of tyre wear per year for Germany.

Tyre wear is greatest in urban areas at busy roads and junctions and, out of town, on busy motorways.

The data were calculated within the framework of the UMSICHT consortium study and the BMVI project TyreWearMapping from statistics of the Federal Motor Transport Authority and from researched tyre data.

¹Bertling et al.: Kunststoffe in der Umwelt: Mikro- und Makroplastik (2018)
²https://www.umsicht.fraunhofer.de/de/referenzen/tyrewearmapping.html

There are still no reliable studies on the consequences.

Check tyre pressure regularly, change summer and winter tyres in good time, ask for low-wear tyres, generally less driving.

Proactive driving with moderate speed, smooth acceleration and braking can significantly reduce tyre wear.