Why Are There So Many Shredded Truck Tires on Michigan’s Highways?

When driving along I-75, or any of Michigan's highways, you'll likely see massive slivers of semi-truck tires. These shredded tires can be dangerous to those on the road- more on that later.

You may be thinking to yourself, why so dangerous? It's just rubber!

And you'd be wrong. Most truck tires actually have metal in them, making them more dangerous lying on the road and more expensive for trucking companies to replace.

Truck Tire Re-treading

Those companies then go on to find a workaround, — retreading their tires. Retreading is a process of recycling an old tire by putting new layers of tread on it. These layers can tear off, especially if a truck's tire pressure is low, causing the tread to become hot and separate.

What can happen to my car if it hits one of the stray shreds?

Trust me when I say to avoid this happening at all costs. I was behind a semi when it lost one of its treads and let's just say the outcome was not pretty. Here is the list the kind people at AAA left me with after taking a look at my car post-running over a freakin' semi tire.

• Significant under body damage
• Broken brake line
• Damage to gas tank
• A/C compressor leaking dye and oil
• Several codes in the OBD system (whatever that means)

Lovely, isn't it? It's just about $12,700 worth of damages.

All of that to say, if you can avoid those shards of tire in the road- do it.