‘researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have engineered what they believe is the most wear-resistant metal in existence - by a long shot.
’ Made of platinum and gold, they say if the tires on your car were made from the stuff, you could skid around the equator 500 times before the tread wore out.
’ That’s nearly 12.5 million miles.’
The next tires I should buy.
I doubt the researchers are so ignorant to think that tire treads could or should be made from metal. That HAS it be an error from an ignorant journalist.
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Sears RoadHandler tires would wear like Iron. Most people would get rid of them by 50k miles because they were too damn hard and even though there was plenty of tread left - there was almost zero traction.
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Why not use as brake rotors that last forever instead?
The post did say SKID around the world!
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I think the researchers were trying to express the wear-resistance of their new metal in terms a layman could understand, not making a prescription. Even if they would make good tires no one’s going to buy tires made or platinum and gold - they’re all flying in their private jets.
They can’t possibly make good tires. The coefficient of friction would be less than 10% of a rubber tire. Virtually un-drive-able. That ignorance is the point of my post.
I’ve never thought of gold as being super-durable’ definitely not a metal I’d choose to investigate for a new durable alloy. Maybe platinum is the key to make it more durable. For a crankshaft main bearing shell you’d think you’d want something really durable. But if it was too durable, then it might wear out the crankshaft rather than the shell, which would be counter-productive.
People seem to resent the things that actually wear out as they age, even if wearing out is the reason they exist. Tires, tennis shoe soles, pencils and erasers, brake linings, blah, blah, blah. Even human bodies wear out.
Yeah, and the older I get, the more that bothers me.
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Getting a replacement part in a couple of weeks, new hip!
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Aside from the expense, your brake rotors would be more valuable than the rest of your car, it would be a huge increase in unsprung weight which is not good for handling and road holding.
Platinum and gold? Talk about some heavy metal!
Gold 19.3 grams per cc
Platinum 21.45 grams per cc
To put that in perspective
Lead 11.34 grams per cc
Iron 7.874 grams per cc
Uranium 19.05 grams per cc
That’s right, uranium is NOT the heaviest naturally occuring element in spite of what kiddy show “scientists” claim.