A new report from across the pond finds that airborne particulate pollution from tire wear and tear can be more than 1,000 times worse than what comes out of a tailpipe, depending on what substances are being measured. In 2017, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, including Rodney Weber and Hongyu Guo, found that fine metals emitted from brakes and tires combine with acidic sulfate in the atmosphere to produce a toxic, soluble aerosol.