THE BEST Tires

Everyday car tires are made mostly by machine, but the high-end tires used for racing are made by hand. In this clip from Street FX Motorsport TV, they take us inside Michelin Motorsport’s HQ in France for a look at the tire-making process, building up layer by layer of rubber, textiles, steel, and adhesive on spinning drums.

Artist Blake McFarland shows off a pair of sculptures he built for the 2019 Cotton Bowl. He created versions of Penn State’s Nittany Lion and the University of Memphis Tiger out of Goodyear tires, wrapped around a foam and fiberglass structure. The sculptures weigh about 200 lb each, and used pieces from 400 tires combined.

Just like a real 4×4, if you’re going to take your R/C vehicle off-road, it needs proper tires. Traxxas is showing off their extreme new Sledgehammer tires. Designed for their badass Rustler 4×4 VXL, the oversize tires increase ground clearance, and have an open-block pattern for traction and mud-clearing on the most rugged terrain.

Science Channel’s How It’s Made takes us inside of the Kenda tire factory for a look at the fascinating and complex process of transforming various rubber compounds into knobby, rugged mountain bike tires. The machine that applies the texture really is like a giant waffle iron.

While tires are generally meant to be disposed of once they’ve lost their tread, some kinds of industrial tires are so expensive that it’s worth giving them a second life via retreading. Pete’s Tire Barns shows how they refurbish worn out airless tires. Original video here.

We learned from Mythbusters just how versatile duct tape can be. But here’s one use we never thought of – making a spare tire out of the sticky stuff. Life OD tried just that with surprisingly usable results. Unfortunately, it cost more to make than buying a cheap rubber tire.

We recently spent a day with the fine folks from Michelin and TireRack.com to see why winter tires are critical in colder climates. Those all-seasons your car came are okay down to about 44º F, but below that, you’ll be much safer and better controlled with true winter tires.

Full-size tires take up a whole lot of space when being transported or stored. This machine allows multiple tires to take up far less room by folding them up and storing them inside each other. Of course, you’ll need another machine to unpack them.

After you wolf down your requisite dose of fried dough and sugar today, sit back and enjoy some donuts of the automotive variety, courtesy of pro driver RJ Anderson, as he spins circles on his BFGoodrich® Tires. As Anderson proves, the best donuts are the ones you make yourself.

Based on a similar, but simpler design to their airless car tire concept, Bridgestone is showing off a bike wheel and tire combo which use a series of flexible thermoplastic spokes to absorb shocks and can never go flat. They hope to put them into production by 2019.

A far-future tire design for autonomous vehicles. The Eagle 360 would offer cars much greater maneuverability, thanks to their spherical shape, a larger contact area, and unique tread design. Their mag-lev attachment system is like having four BB-8s driving your car.

Protect the pricey rims on your car from getting curbed with Alloygators. These durable strips fit between your rim and tire to absorb any dings or scratches, and can be cleaned up to look good as new. Available in both bright accent colors and stealthy black or alloy hues.

Designers Gao Fenglin and Zhou Buyi’s concept for tires would use colored layers to indicate how worn the treads are in a much more obvious way than today’s difficult to use tread wear indicators.

Hankook Tire held a competition challenging designers to look at tires from a whole new angle. Ben Zavala’s innovative Tiltread design won, but any of these finalists could change the tire paradigm.

If designer Brian Russell has his way, you’ll never get a flat again. His concept bike tire is made from rubber stretched over carbon nanotube-reinforced rods, to provide a cushioned ride without air.

Belgian artist Wim Delvoye took thick rubber car and truck tires, and carved intricate patterns into their sides and treads, creating stunning works of art from otherwise discarded junk.

Can’t afford a TRON lightcycle? These Cyglo Tyres (yes, they’re British) have durable LEDs embedded into their tread or sidewall, providing the coolest glow you’ve seen on two wheels.