The interactions and chemical reactions influencing the curing behavior are more complex in silica-filled compounds than in carbon black–filled systems. In silica-filled compounds, stronger filler – filler interactions and silane-mediated reactions, and interactions with the accelerators introduce additional contributions to torque development, thereby making the interpretation of cure curves more challenging. The goal of the study is to determine the contributions of different parameters that influence the cure torque. Based on measurement techniques such as Mooney viscosity, filler flocculation rate, bound rubber content, and crosslink density determined by equilibrium swelling, the contributions of different factors to the cure torque: compound viscosity, filler – filler and filler–polymer interactions, and polymer crosslinking can be quantified.In this work, compounds containing three different SSBRs (functionalized and non –functionalized with respect to silica interaction) at varying silica loadings were investigated. The results demonstrate that cure torque is dominated by intrinsic polymer characteristics, particularly polymer crosslinking, at low filler loadings, while filler-related interactions increasingly dominate as the silica loading increases. As a consequence, in highly filled compounds, the contribution of polymer crosslinking to the cure torque is low, indicating that cure torque cannot be directly correlated with crosslink density in such silica-filled compounds. Furthermore, the presence of bound rubber at low filler loadings in functionalized SSBR indicates the effectiveness of end-chain functional groups in promoting chemical coupling to silica via silane. This improved understanding of cure behavior enables a more accurate quantification of different influencing contributions and provides a framework for improved prediction and control of vulcanization behavior in high-performance tire tread compounds.