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As The Wheel Turns

I have this unhealthy fascination for tires. I like them. I can’t help it. Common wisdom would say that it’s hard to get excited about black round things that merely spin round and round, but I’ve never been very good on wisdom.

This revelation about tires came to me as it does to most men—while I was running an errand for my girlfriend (or wife, as the case may be). The errand was to replace the summer tires on her car with new ones. No two tires on her car were bought at the same time, and the car shuddered as you drove it in the city. It made perfect sense to me that she should have four new tires.

As I was trying to understand the Bavarian words coming from the man behind the counter, I noticed I had that kid-in-the-candy-store feeling as I was trying to decide which tires to get. After reviewing the list, I picked a set of sensible tires, because that’s how my girlfriend is—sensible. For the cost of one rear 17-inch tire for the Porsche, my girlfriend’s car had four very new, very reliable tires, and I was giddy.

Roll Tire Roll

Back when I was living in the States, the guys at the Discount Tires store around the corner knew me by sight. On the Beretta, I switched between winter and summer tires every season. The Porsche needed a new set of track tires every summer, as well as normal tires for the street. As the “normal” set lasted less than 15,000 miles for me, those were yearly as well. Did I mention that they knew my credit card number by heart as well?

It didn’t get any better when I bought the Civic. As I have to drive any car I own on the track, I had to get track tires for it as well. I bought the Civic the nicest set of track tires I’ve ever owned—Hoosiers. These were stickier than fly paper, and softer than my girlfriend’s, er... these were very nice tires.

For the street, I also like to get the highest speed rating I can get. My technical rationalization for this is that such tires are safer, as they can withstand higher temperatures. Of course, the real reason is so I can drive around with Z-rated M+S snow tires. How many people do you know who have driven 160 mph on snow tires?

Ode To Rubber

This is where it starts to get a little strange. I find certain tread patterns, for lack of a better word, “sexy.” I picked the Pirelli P210 snow tires for the Beretta because of the tread pattern. The same is true for the Yokohama Paradas on the Civic right now.

When I get a Car and Driver magazine, I turn over to the Tire Rack advertisement and look at the tire pictures. But doesn’t everybody?

I can’t say that I understand my fascination for steel and vulcanized rubber. All I know is that the next time that I’m driving my car beyond my skills, I want the fattest, stickiest contact patch where the rubber meets the road—provided it looks cool, too.

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July 2002

As The Wheel Turns

Roll Tire Roll

Ode To Rubber