With all the customizing of cars these days, the lighted wheel adds a new dimension. Small lights are installed in the hub of the wheels and the tires are made from clear rubber so the lights illuminate the tires and some of the road, too. For an added price, there are small decorative items available that can be imbedded into the clear rubber, such as plastic spiders, fake barbed wire, confetti, yellow duckies, or whatever is your fancy. ( Maybe even croissants and fishbones.)The lights come in a choice of muted colors and the imbedded items come in many colors to be admired during daytime driving.-- xandram, Jan 03 2006 here is some 'miraculous' clear rubber stuff http://www.smooth-on.com/liqrubr.htm [xandram, Jan 03 2006] And where does one find this miraculous clear rubber?-- justaguy, Jan 03 2006 I really don't think that clear rubber has to be a miracle. It might cost a lot to make it, but money is no object here.-- xandram, Jan 03 2006 Tyred of the dark?-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jan 03 2006 [xandram] Suggest you put this in Car:Tire:Appearance, and then delete this anno. Bun from me. I want mine filled with cats.-- ConsulFlaminicus, Jan 05 2006 Clear wheels are found on bazillions of scooter and skate wheels. Maybe polyurethane could be employed to construct a pneumatic tire? I'm not really up on the materials science, but I think you could at least make a really heavy, really expensive yet somewhat transparent solid tire.-- half, Jan 05 2006 ...But not really heavy vehicles where comfort is a concern. Wooden wheels, all-steel wheels, and caterpillar treads are all used on some type of vehicle, but that doesn't mean you'd want them on your car.
I have my doubts that a suitably resiliant, safe, UV-resistant, long-wearing clear rubber compound exists, and I surely wouldn't know how to go about making one.-- justaguy, Jan 05 2006 [consul] Thanks, I found the category-but I don't want to delete your anno--I like it. Thanks. and [justaguy] I'm just a girl, so I don't really know how to make tires for real.-- xandram, Jan 05 2006 Which is why I'm not voting yet. It would be a good idea if I were convinced it could be accomplished with today's technology.-- justaguy, Jan 05 2006 Who said anything about comfort, safety or longevity? I can show a bunch of applications where polyurethane wheels are carrying a lot of weight: pallet jacks for one, though you'd definitely not want to ride one down the freeway loaded with 5500 lbs.
I thought the author might be strictly going for style here. Ever observe how smooth the ride _isn't_ on a lot of cars that are lowered for style or performance? Might as well be driving a buckboard. Extremely high performance tires don't last 50,000 miles either.
I don't know of any suitable transparent material from which to make the necessary belting for the proposed tires either.
But, do I think anyone is going to or should build these transparent tires in the real world any time soon? Nah. Would someone buy them if they were built? Surely. Did I vote on this idea at all? No.-- half, Jan 05 2006 There's a big, big difference between riding in a race sprung pasta rocket with lo-pro Pirellis and taking a pallet jack around the track at 70mph, as you say.
I like the idea, but in my opinion it's only just gone in the oven.-- justaguy, Jan 05 2006 well, is there a halfbakery vehicle we can try them on?-- xandram, Jan 05 2006 //I'm just a girl, so I don't really know how to make tires for real.// Might want to rethink that statement. There exist many o' females who are bright enough to not only make a tire, but invent the wheel as well.-- blissmiss, Jan 05 2006 oh [blissmss] I was in no way insinuating that women cannot do these things, it's just me! I can 'imagine' all kinds of things, but don't know I could really make them, but I would surely give it a try.( just a girl) was in there for [justaguy] sorry-- xandram, Jan 05 2006 random, halfbakery