Every motorist, who had a chance to choose new tires for his car, should pay attention to the fact that there are some mysterious thin rubber hairs sticking out of new tires. It is absolutely clear, that they are too soft and small for studs. In that case, there is a natural question: what for they are necessary at all?
Most people do not know why wheels need those rubber tendrils, and some of the least initiated in the question even consider them spikes. As a result, folk creativity gave birth to dozens of versions of varying degrees of interest and absurdity about the origin and purpose of the mysterious element. Most often folk conjectures have nothing in common with reality. In practice everything turns out to be much simpler, but this is no less interesting.
So, rubber tendrils on new wheels are needed for absolutely nothing. They are absolutely useless; they have no “secret” application or purpose. Moreover, they are received, in fact, accidentally as a result of tire manufacture. The mysterious tendrils are just rubber chips, which are received in the process of tire manufacturing at the factory. The process is called vulcanization.
A piece of tire is inserted by a robot into a special mold, which consists of several movable elements. There are small technical holes between these elements. When vulcanization and pressing begins, the hot rubber is given the desired shape. A small part of the hot billet is pressed into those technical holes, which results in a characteristic rubber burr in the form of tendrils after cooling. As a rule, it wears off after just a few days of using the new wheels.