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On 25 Jun 2005 at 10:58, Michael Cecil wrote: > I don't doubt that oxidation occurs but the term "dry rot" is usually > applied to the more serious issue of rubber degradation that happens as > a combination of ozone and hydrocarbons in the air reacting with the > rubber making it hard and brittle. Think of an old rubber band, how > they will crumble. Now think of your old tires doing the same thing on > the highway. The term is misleading though - it should really just be > "rubber rot" or something. It's really just oxidation. Rot implies some sort of biological action, which is not at play here. The rubber band analogy is somewhat misleading here, simply because rubber bands are made from different material and are not intended to have any long term durability. Tires are black because they have added carbon black to the material to make it more resistant to UV and wear. There's a lot of technology and experience here that's just not applied to rubber bands. -- ******************************* Jim Adney, jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, Wisconsin, USA ******************************* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~