tire components

Tire Components: the ingredients of your tire

What are the basic ingredients in a typical tire?

A typical modern radial tire contains some or all of the following tire components:

Fabric
steel
nylon
aramid fiber
rayon
fiberglass, or polyester (usually a combination)
Rubber (natural and synthetic)
Reinforcing chemicals
carbon black
silica
resins
Anti-degradants
antioxidants
ozonants
paraffin waxes
Adhesion promoters
cobalt salts
brass on wire
resins on fabrics
Curatives
cure accelerators
activators
sulfur
Processing aids
oils
tackifiers
peptizers
softeners

Just to give you a rough idea of what tire components you might find in your car's tires, a P195/75R14 all-season passenger tire, the most popular size, weighs about 21 pounds and has about:

5 pounds of 30 different types of synthetic rubber
4 pounds of 8 types of natural rubber
5 pounds of 8 types of carbon black
1 pounds of steel cord for belts
1 pound of polyester and nylon
1 pound of steel bead wire
3 pounds of 40 different kinds of chemicals, waxes, oils, pigments, etc.

Tires made for different applications will have distinct components and in different proportions. For example the amounts of Synthetic Rubber and Natural Rubber would vary according to the final use. Typically we might find something like the following table: