This summer we are experiencing heat wave after heat wave, with the thermometers not giving us a break. But far from thinking about whether this is normal in summer or not, what we do have to take into account is that high temperatures affect the tyres on our motorcycles. Moreover, they do so both on the outside of our tyres and on the inside, and this makes us more likely to have an accident.
Let’s start with the simplest part and the one we see, and that is that if the ambient temperature is high and the sun shines directly on the asphalt depending on the day and the place, the asphalt can heat up to around 70 ºC as recalled by the Association of Tire Manufacturers (Afane).
That, in itself, will condition how our tires perform. But they will also be hotter in their tread, which means there is a greater chance of overheating at a given time, and we will have less grip than we normally have.
But there is one aspect that is not taken into account because it is not visible and because we often overlook it, and it is actually much more important. And that is that tire pressure varies depending on the ambient temperature and also the altitude at which we are located.
Heat influences inside and outside the tire
In this case we are only going to talk about temperature. If we have checked the pressure at a low ambient temperature, when the temperature rises the air inside the tyre will expand, and this will cause the internal pressure to rise. The greater the difference in temperature from the current pressure setting, the higher the pressure will also be.
The consequence of this is that the tyre with more internal pressure will be “more inflated”, the casing will therefore deform less and by deforming less we will have a smaller contact area with the asphalt. This means that we have less grip, which added to what we mentioned above and also to the pressure that the tyre can gain as the temperature increases, also due to use, makes the situation even more complicated.
For this reason, it is important to check the pressure, do it when the tyre is cold and do it regularly. And while we are checking, a quick look to see if there are any wear, cracks or any other anomaly is not a problem.
In the end, as we always say, the tire is the only part of our motorcycle that is in contact with the ground, so we have to take care of it.
