Do Rubber Tires Protect You From Lightning

If you check out the graphic below you will notice how the current exits to the ground through the tires.

Do rubber tires protect you from lightning.

Being in a car doesn t guarantee 100 protection against a lightning strike just because of the fact that it has rubber tires that do not conduct electricity. However the steel frame of a hard topped vehicle provides increased protection if you are not touching metal. Bolts from the blue can strike 10 15 miles from the thunderstorm. Rubber soled shoes and rubber tires provide no protection from lightning.

Ironically it s not the rubber tires insulating the car but rather the conductive metal framing which protects you by conducting the electricity around the vehicle and its occupants. Tires are too small to insulate a lightning strike. What keeps you safe while inside a car is the metal body surrounding you which creates a faraday cage. Rubber does not protect you from lightning.

Here s where your grandmother is right though your car is a fairly safe place to be in a thunderstorm but for a different reason entirely. Do the rubber tires on your car protect you if you are outside the car and you re leaning on it. Lightning often strikes more than three miles from the center of the thunderstorm far outside the rain or thunderstorm cloud. Whether it s a yokohama or a continental car tires don t protect you from lightning.

The truth is rubber tires don t prevent lightning strikes in the least bit. Rubber tires on a car protect you from lightning by insulating you from the ground. So the rubber tires on your car do not protect you from lightning they simply ground your vehicle so that the electricity has a place to exit. Most people believe the rubber tires on a car prevent lightning strikes.

Rubber is indeed an electrical insulator but your shoes or bike tires for instance are way too thin to protect you from a lightning strike.