Car left marks on tarmac in hot weather

DocQuincy

I had tarmac laid on our drive in December 2020 so this is its first summer. I used someone local who had done a lot of work in our area and had very good reviews.

Today has been hot where I am (24C) with no wind and the driveway is very hot to touch. I can home today and drove over the tarmac but overshot where I park the car (not on the tarmac) and had to turn and reverse slightly to get in. Where I did this it has left a dark mark and a few of the small black sticky stones have come up. Not a lot but it is noticeable due to the change in colour (photo attached).

Is this down to the nature of tarmac under hot weather or is it a sign of a bad job? My wife — who, like me, knows nothing about tarmac — thinks I'm worrying over nothing and it just wear and tear in hot weather and it doesn't matter as it is only the top layer. I only ask because if something is wrong with it I'd rather address it sooner rather than later.

Does tarmac do this in hot weather? I understand it hardens over the years so is it just a combination of hot weather and it being relatively new (6 months old).

I thought I'd ask here for impartial advice before I go back to the company that laid it.

The tarmac has been fine up until this hot weather.

Thanks.

(For scale the dark mark is the width of a tyre)

TELLIT01

Basically, turning the wheels has scuffed the surface of the warm tarmac.  I don't think there's much you can do about it and it doesn't mean that a bad job was done.  It might be worth contacting the person who laid it and ask them (a) if it will fade naturally over time and (b) if not, is there anything you can do.

Ebe_Scrooge

I have to agree with the above comment.  Tarmac does soften to some degree in hot weather (on occasion I've seen gritters out on a boiling hot summer's day [spreading sand, maybe, I think] to try and alleviate the problem on the roads).  And if the tarmac is at all soft, then turning the wheels at slow speed will scuff it.  It's cosmetic rather than anything structurally wrong.

DocQuincy

Many thanks to you both, that's good to know.

I'm not too fussed about how it looks, more that it will last. I have read it is worth sealing it after a year so I'll probably contact them at the point and mention any wear and tear to them then.

Thanks again.

twopenny

If you look at the roads around here where we have a lot of holiday traffic in the summer (especially last year) you can see where tarmac has lifted. Hot days you can see marks too.

It has been exceptionally hot and if it's in direct sun more so.

TELLIT01

Many years ago I worked in the offices at a brewery.  One hot lunchtime I watched a fully loaded HGV with triple wheel trailer turning into the yard.  The back of the trailer effectively pivoted on the middle wheels and ripped the tarmac up.  There were peaks and troughs where the surface layer had been dragged across.

Turning the wheels of your car, with little forward or reverse movement, has done similar but on a much less dramatic scale.

DocQuincy

Thanks for the extra information. Funnily enough when I walked to the shop yesterday in the afternoon heat I did see where a wagon had pulled out from a small side road and taken some up — much worse that on my drive.

Is tarmac layered in such a way that the top layer is meant to take a bit of this punishment? I.e. given that we don't have too many scorching days in this country will it be able to take a bit of this damage without massively shortening the life of the tarmac. I really do want to have to pay for it to be re-done in a few years.

Rdwill

A road is generally made up of two courses.

The lower course or base course gives the road its strength.

 Then the wearing course gives the surface its properties., such as outside a school you may want skid resistant. On a motorway - reduce spray. Or on a garage / yard setting - resistant to screwing forces. There are many different wearing courses depending on the application. But on a domestic drive you probably just get cheap and cheerful.