Now, Ain't That A Dande-lion

I've had orange peel tires and sunflower seed tires but never dandelion tires.

 

Just saw a news report about rabbits chewing on automotive electrical wires with soy based insulation. Seems to be quite a problem at Denver International's long term lot.

 

I heard there are trees in the South Pacific that have rubber for sap. Maybe we should use these as trees are a renewable resource. Maybe they would also grow someplace like Brazil. Worth looking into?

 

Ford tried a rubber tree plantation back in the'20s or '30s. Turns out rubber trees aren't suitable for orchard planting. A certain disease could readily spread through the entire grove. Wild trees are only found individually because of this. Don't think this has changed.

The discovery of synthetic rubber made the expensive natural rubber obsolete.

 

It was shortages from war that caused the switch to synthetic. WWI caused rubber shortages and high prices. The US even created a rubber cartel in the 1920s. The Russians built the first plant in the 1930s. The Japanese controlled the rubber supply in WWII so the US needed to use Synthetic rubber for its needs. This pushed better processes and much lower prices, and during WWII the US had the raw material oil. The Allies even targeted bombings of Nazi synthetic rubber plants at the end of the war. After the war the cost of the synthetic was so much cheaper than natural rubber. Dandelions may also be less expensive, idk

Renewable does not necessarily mean environmental. You are right, Ford attempted to do Rubber plantations in brazil in 1928-1945, but ran into cultural problems and leaf fungus. Cutting down rain forests to plant crop trees may not be the best for the environment. A crop is more prone to blights and parasites. After WWII with inexpensive synthetic rubber available for cars, Ford stopped the experiment. The Malaysians do have the rubber plantation agriculture worked out now
Rubber Cultivation in Malaysia

 

Great. Just what we need: genetically modified dandelions with larger roots and herbicide resistance. And these are supposed to stay where they're wanted and not spread to where they're unwanted.

 

Yeah, I've had those citrus tires too. These are the last pair on my car:
How Oranges End Up in Your Tires: Yokohama dB Super E-spec - Tech Dept. - Car and Driver

They didn't last too long (40k) and handling suffered towards the end.....we'll see about these dandelions!

 

They need to figure out a way to use non-genetically modified weed species. This would be a win-win for landowners and City managers who have to deal with weed management. Turn a field full of starthistle or kudzu into tires! That would save on management costs.

 

This is interesting as it sounds like they are trying to find a way to use dandelion roots to create "rubber" as a whole.

I own a set of Yokohama Avid Ascends, that employ the use of "Orange Oil". But in the case of these tires, the "Orange" additive is a fraction of a fraction of an additive used to manipulate the characteristics of the rubber.

This sounds more like an attempt to create a new source of the rubber itself.