Drive Wire for September 14th, 2016: Did Bad Tires Cause The Carrera GT Crash That Killed Paul Walker?

According to Matt Farah, old tires were the leading factor in Paul’s death.

byEric Goeres|
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Three years ago, Fast and Furious star Paul Walker was killed when the Carrera GT he was a passenger in crashed into a utility pole in Los Angeles. For years, people have blamed high speeds and bad driving for the wreck, which also killed owner and driver Roger Rodas. Yesterday, The Drive columnist Matt Farah, who was friends with both Walker and Rodas, wrote a piece that shifted a significant amount of the blame on the car’s tires, which were nine years old at the time of the crash.

According to Farah, the capability of car tires depends on a combination of tread pattern and the chemical compound of the rubber. Over time, Farah writes, tires the chemical compound breaks down, the rubber dries up and hardens, and the car’s grip on the road diminishes drastically. In Paul Walker’s case, the Carrera GT was cornering at speeds that would have pushed 9-year-old tires far past their breaking point.

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