Chinese rubber stinks strongly...why??

[DMAR]

11 year olds working 60+hours,, that won't happen in my lifetime. I know a handful of 10-15 year olds, and they wouldn't work 6hrs in a year.

And No, not all of us just want cheap. Quality & Usefulness are my top two criteria.

Lol, agreed... My point is that is how it used to be in this country, and it's that way in other countries, right now, today. In other words, if industry could get away with it, it would move in that direction again.

I'm for quality, too. Most people on this board feel this way, one of the reasons I like hanging around here!

 

[Rsharp66]

I work in the rubber industry and was told by our chem engineer that the smoky smell I was getting from a cheap rubber mallet was because one inexpensive prep method for the natural rubber latex base was smoking over open fire. Factor in the unknown material being burned and you can get anything.

I do not know how that applies to tires. I do know that even high quality elastomers stink pretty good and will make your hand and face break out over time

 

[Alfawrench]

Seriously, this is very possibly a health concern. The tires are probably off-gassing something you don't want to breathe. You might want to review the MSDS's that should be at your place of work for a start.

 

[SuzukiGS750EZ]

Are we talking about the stink you get in your hands from older bike tubes? Ugh

 

[2CRUZ]

I spent 38 yrs. in the tire manufactuing bisness and there was a time when we were shiping tires up from Mexico they also had a strong soure smell to them. When I asked I was told that the tires had been sprayed in shipping to kill any insects that might be hitching a ride before they got to this country. That might be just BS. Who knows what they use in there compounds to make their tires.

 

[KMinAF]

I work for Nissan and I have noticed similar situation with particular models i.e. The Rouge especially has a very chemical smell from the dash and interior panels. Maybe they are importing parts from China's rubber factory?

 

[ADSR]

I bought a hand truck a few months back and put in in the garage. The wife went out there and was like WTF is that smell? I came out to find it was the tires on the hand truck.

Yup, it's an import.

 

[DekeT]

Chinese rubber is really soylent green.

 

[thebreeze2012]

I spent 38 yrs. in the tire manufactuing bisness and there was a time when we were shiping tires up from Mexico they also had a strong soure smell to them. When I asked I was told that the tires had been sprayed in shipping to kill any insects that might be hitching a ride before they got to this country. That might be just BS. Who knows what they use in there compounds to make their tires.

I'm not sure of this smell on rubber tires, but I think I know the funky smell that this may be. You may have hit the nail on the head.


I have unlocked thousands of Overseas containers (20-40ft'rs) Sealed that Stank.....

Some of the containers actually have a sticker on the door, warning of the chemical inside.


When you open them up,(the ones with warning sticker) they actually have a bag inside hanging on the door, it looks like a I.V. bag with a tube on the door. I've never opened one that didn't stink, even with out the bag.


I'm pretty sure it's to kill all insects and/or rodents.

 

[Roverbo]

polycyclical aromatic hydrocarbons "PAH" ??

Monte has given you the right answer long time ago. PAH´s are the problem with chicom rubber. Cheap tools from Aldi and Lidl stores have been withdrawn from the market several times here in Denmark, because of too high PAH content in the rubber parts. Not only does it smell, it´s bad for the health too...http://www.epa.gov/osw/hazard/wastemin/minimize/factshts/pahs.pdf

 

[jeejay]

I've independently determined that it was incorporated into the handles of beam type torque wrenches to increase operator accuracy (having to hold one's breath steadies the scale).

 

[cajunfirehawk]

Any wagon/cart/hand truck tires sold at harbor freight, tsc (tractor supply), northern tool, walmart, and most hardware stores (HD and Lowes) have this pungent odor and all come from china. I bought a dump cart from home depot on line for the wife and its tires stunk up my garage for months. This is a lil scarier fact, most children's wagons with tires that hold air use these same tires to as do wheel barrows too.

 

[Bottlecapdigger]

Funny that this topic is so familiar, every time I walk into princess auto (same as the us HF). I said to my wife what is that strong chemical rubber smell? And I think it's all that rubber tires, plastic , rubber mats etc that all that Chinese **** off gassing the chemicals they use. It kinda makes you wonder that they are getting rid of all there hazzard waste by mixing it in all there **** and send over seas to North America. Think back about the toothpaste and the paint used on kids toys that came from China that we discovered about. This maybe something that hasn't be found out about yet. BCD

 

[pepi]

Okay gang, go ahead and fire your jokes in here ...but if anyone really knows the answer, I would love to know it.

I worked for years in a Goodyear store, and a close friend owns a massive tire company catering to vintage vehicles. So I am around tires and rubber products quite often. But the rubber products from China have a strong, unique odor...seriously!

Whenever I'm in a hardware or farm supply store, I can literally tell you if the trailer tires, tubes, etc, on their shelves are from China or not before I get closer than about 10 feet! Whew.

Rubber products from just about anywhere else simply do not smell that strongly.

For the record I prefer to buy American (including Canadian) when I can, and I also appreciate the quality of most European products. But we are all stuck buying PRC stuff now and then. Rubber is one example where this is likely to happen (buy a new lawnmower, for example). The rubber isn't the greatest quality...but that smell is overpowering.

What IS it?

So you think it is only the rubber products do you, take your noise over to Harbor Fart one day. Report back...

 

[zendriver]

Hmmm...
I would have assumed that there were NO tires made of natural rubber any more.

Modern synthetic rubber compounds are WAY better than tires were 50 years ago. If you see old Black n White films of 1920's-vintage cars being driven, you'll notice LOTS of spare tires hanging all over every one of them. Drivers used to experience a flat tire every 30 to 50 miles, no exaggeration. So, while modern synthetic rubber is not worth a damn for a sling shot, it helps to make mighty fine rubber tires!

1920's tire woes were probably more of an issue of reinforcement and design, as much as rubber compound.

Some of today's Heavy truck tires are 65% or more natural rubber. I just swapped some steer tires that had 121,000 miles on them.

Apparently Bridgestone is all in.

Bridgestone Corporation has taken a step forward in diversifying rubber sources announcing a new tire with 100 percent of natural rubber-containing components derived from guayule. Guayule is a plant native to the southern U.S. and northern Mexico. The natural rubber was cultivated at the company’s Biorubber Process Research Center in Mesa, Arizona.

http://www.tractionnews.com/bridgestone-natural-rubber-alternative/

 

[zendriver]

Hmmm.

Grown men, complaining about the smell of tires and hardware.

Anyone up for a mani/pedi?

Since i no longer have a sense of smell, I can only reminisce of the strong smell (stink actually) of the new American-made tires, belts and hoses, that hung out temporarily in my dad's 1970's gas station.

 

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Just hang out with someone with rank BO, it'll cover up the smell of the rubber.

 

[Tony G]

Its not just rubber products. I bought some drugstore reading glasses from Walmart once. I found that the frames stank like **** and it wont wash off no matter what solvent used even brake cleaner. I threw them in the trash.

 

[zendriver]

Do you mind my asking how you lost your sense of smell? I ask because I know several people that have developed vision and/or hearing problems over time, but I only know one person that has lost his sense of smell. Interestingly, he spent much of his young and early adult life working at his father's gas/service station. Just wondering if it's coincidence.

Not at all. I'm 57 and have had allergy problems all my life having sinus surgery one.

Drs say it's age, but I have worked in asbestos mfg plant, around chemicals, her and there most of my life, now working delivering fuel, for a refinery.

I don't know what to pin it on. Sometime I thinks it's because life stinks, often, LOL

 

[2CRUZ]

Tires made in America have an inherent smell simply because of the oil, carbon black and the different chemicals that they are made of. As for the tires made in China, there is no telling what kind of **** they put in those tires. I would think they would have to meet DOT standards but how could any one know what kind of compounds are used to make them.

 

[kwschumm]

Maybe the Chinese are sequestering their pollution in products they export.

 

[chrisnazzy]

I've worked for 2 of the biggest national tire sales chains in the US for over 13 years. I can attest to the fact that some Chinese tires do stink and badly.

I'm around tires so much that I can't really smell them much. The are 3 exceptions to this:

1.) Every time I put a new set of BFGoodrich or Michelin tires on one of my vehicles they make my garage smell nice for the 1st week or two.

2.) Once a year I can smell tire smell if I go on vacation and come back into the showroom after being off for 8 or 10 days.

3.) When one of the other guys decides to bring a set of Chinese tires into the showroom and put them on display for some reason. Someone put a brand new set of the Pro Comp All Terrains in there recently and it was so bad we had to take them out. They literally stunk up the whole showroom and office. I've also taken a set off a customers car once because they said it stunk up their garage so bad they wanted to return them!

 

[drink]

If you think that stuff stinks, you should have smelled the plastic seat covers from a 1970 Toyota. Consumer Reports said that the seats had a particularly bilious odor and that was an understatement. I took a test drive in one and had trouble getting to sleep that night because I couldn't get that odor out of my mind (or nostrils).

Who goes around sniffing Toyota seat covers?

I didn't know rubbers were made in China; I thought they were all made in the USA. Who wants to go around sniffing them?

A long time ago I overheard a fellow asking another fellow if he goes around sniffing little boys tricycle seats but the other fellow didn't answer. Can't blame him either.

 

[Hornman]

I am a Chemical Engineer by training and I worked in Goodyear's tire compounding area for a while, so I can tell you what some of the chemicals are in tires that smell bad. It used to be common in this country to use heavy residual oil as an extender in tires. A semi sized tire might have a gallon of oil in it. A passenger car tire would have a couple of ounces. That oil comes from the bottom of the still just above asphalt and has all kinds of cats and dogs chemicals in it: sulphur, benzene, and other equally smelly dangerous chemicals. We used a "staining antioxidant" to keep rubber from breaking down in the atmosphere. That stuff looked like ninety weight oil and smelled horrible, so it may be that they are loading down their tires with antioxidant. When I walk into Harbor Freight what I smell is extender oil.

As far as the floormats and vinyl gloves and other stuff, yes I could believe that the Chinese could be putting toxic chemicals in them because they can and because the toxic chemicals are cheaper than the non (less) toxic chemicals now used in the USA. They put melamine in dog food because it was cheaper than real meat and I lost two dogs because of it.

 

[Lump]

I am a Chemical Engineer by training and I worked in Goodyear's tire compounding area for a while, so I can tell you what some of the chemicals are in tires that smell bad. It used to be common in this country to use heavy residual oil as an extender in tires. When I walk into Harbor Freight what I smell is extender oil.

.

Thank you SO MUCH, Hornman. That is exactly the kind of information I was seeking, long ago when I started this old thread.

So I guess it would be correct to say that the Chinese are probably putting MORE of the same kind of "extender" chemicals into their rubber products that USA companies use? I worked in a Goodyear tire store about 35 years ago, and never smelled anything like Chinese tire-rubber, until the last 15 years or so. Frankly, I kinda wondered if they might be using something extremely toxic, which US companies would be forbidden to use. I detest that smell, personally.