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Show WATER INJURY TO TIRES IS SMALL Running Through Stream Is Not Injurious. Now and then In the course of a3 automobile trip a car has to pass through a stream, and the question Is sometimes discussed whether the action ac-tion of the water is harmful to the tires. The same question arises when the car Is out in a heuvy rain. Such a wetting Is practically nothing noth-ing at all, either for damage or Improvement. Im-provement. At any rate, the effect on the tire is not harmful. Two chief constituents of a tire are rubber and cotton, both vegetable substances, and as a rule water does not Injure vegetable vege-table matter. As Illustrative of this point, there is the old but true story of the farmer who, when one of his rubber boots fell Into a well, placed the other on a shelf In a closet. Twelve years later when the well was cleaned the lost boot was found to be In excellent ex-cellent condition, but the boot on the shelf had fallen Into ruin. If running through a brook resulted In cooling a tire the effect would be decidedly beneficial, but a quick dash through the water has little effect on the heated air within the tire and consequently the temperature change in the tire after Its bath Is negligible. Water itself apparently does no harm to tires, but the combination of air and moisture commonly known as humidity is very destructive, especially especial-ly on the cotton In ordinary fabric tires. The moist air works in between the layers of the fabric and rots them out, sometimes even before the tires leave the dealer's storeroom. Cord tires stand humidity better. The harmful effect of moist air Is the chief reason why, when tires are stored, they should be kept In a dry atmosphere. As sunlight Is also harmful, harm-ful, the storage place should be dark-ened. |