Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Rubber Automotive Components
No matter how large or small, theres no such thing as a synthetic automobile. Whether its bituminous carbon, petroleum products or the amino acids used to produce many of the materials used in construction, a car has enough organic components that it is almost in itself a living organism. Rubber is one of the most versatile and obvious of your cars organic components, and can show up in some surprising places.
Tires
Ask any six-year-old to name something made of rubber on a car and most likely theyll point to those round, black things underneath it. However, your cars rolling stock actually contains far less rubber than you might think it does, about 15 to 20 percent by weight. The rest of the tire is made up of carbon black (an asphalt product), silicon dioxide (sand or glass), silicone and metal reinforcements.
Bushings and Isolators
Bushings are thick cylinders of rubber that surround a few of the crucial bolts in your suspension, most notably the control arm and steering component fixtures. Your vehicles suspension contains dozens of rubber bushings and isolators that keep road vibrations from transmitting through the metal components and into your spine. Soft rubber does the best job of isolating the driver, but bushings that are too soft will allow the suspension to squirm around instead of reacting in a controlled manner. Most racers do away with rubber bushings altogether and replace them with hard, polyurethane inserts.
Grommets and Plugs
Wires passing through the engine firewall, trunk wall or vehicle floor are typically surrounded with some sort of grommet where they pass through. The grommets keep sharp edges on the metal hole from cutting through the wires and causing a short. The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) technically prohibits any car from using rubber firewall grommets or plugs, as they can burn uncontrollably in the event of an engine fire. However, the rule is rarely enforced since almost all modern production cars use them.
Fluid Lines
Some portion of your cars fuel, cooling, transmission cooler and power steering systems use rubber lines. These rubber lines are generally less than 24 inches long, and allow the engine to rock under torquing forces. Most production cars also use a short length of rubber in the brake lines to allow for suspension movement; even the braided steel lines that racers use are rubber on the inside.
Weatherstripping
Many modern cars use rubber-based weatherstripping to seal the windows, doors and trunk-lid. However, manufacturers have begun moving away from rubber weatherstripping in favor of plastic, urethane or foam-based alternatives.
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