Glowing Tires? Not as cool as it sounds...
You know what would be fun to see at night on the roads? Glow in the dark tires! Well its been tried…and failed miserably! Didn’t even make it into production.
In 1961 Goodyear decided that the next innovation in tires was colors! Chemist William Lawson and Anthony Finelli created a tubeless (one solid piece), cordless (airless) tire with a synthetic polyurethane rubber compound called neothane. They could be poured into molds and came out translucent. So then all you had to do was put some dye to the mix and you’ve got a colored tire! Add in some lightbulbs inside the tires (cause they aren’t filled with air) and they can glow! Sounds great to me! Unfortunately though, they had some serious issues. For one, they were simple to make but the neothane was costly to produce. Definitely a custom item for the elite. They also got dirty easily (as all tires do) which would cover up the illumination. So you had to keep your tires clean, which is not a thing I’ve ever thought about. But the big reason is they were incredibly unsafe! The material did not do a good job at handling friction and extreme temperatures (both things tires go through all the time). Due to this, they would melt during heavy breaking! They also had very poor traction and couldn’t drive in any wet weather! Also, the two cars that had glowing tires that were made for marketing caused accidents from people being distracted by them when they drove around Miami and NYC.
So sadly, as cool as they looked, they were never available to buy. There is one notable car that had them though. The Golden Sahara II made by Jim Skonzakes was gifted a set of tires by Goodyear. This car was made with gold plated ornamental work, had a remote control start, remote control driving, built-in television/tape recorder/player, electronic doors, vibrating massage seat, a bar in the back, and a hydraulic trunk. In the 60s this was the car of the future! After its owner passed away it was bought for $350k and fully restored. For the restoration, Goodyear remade its illuminated tires but as a completely solid model. So it can still be driven at very low speeds and dry roads. Im not sure I’d risk it though!
Want to read more about the glowing Goodyear tires? Check out this link.. https://www.carexpert.com.au/car-news/how-goodyear-invented-the-glowing-tyre-in-1961
Want to learn more about the Golden Sahara II? Check out this video…
