Discolor tire shows you when it's time for new rubber

Jonathon Ramsey — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 08:29:00 EST

Filed under: Concept Cars, Etc., Design/Style

Two designers that have already won a Red Dot concept design award for the Bevel Cup, Gao Fenglin & Zhou Buyi, have come together again on an idea called the Discolor Tyre. Understanding it couldn't be simpler: A layer of colored rubber beneath the black casing will appear when the outer tread depth falls beneath a certain amount. Fenglin and Buyi estimate that 20,000 kilometers of driving, or about 12,400 miles, will cause the colored tread to show, but there's no reason why harder rubber compounds couldn't increase that number. A side benefit is that it would also quickly reveal tears in the casing and the sources of leaks.

This isn't the first concept to use alternate hues to detect tread depth, with other ideas having already been patented. The patented Colored Wear Indicator for Tires uses not just one, but several colors to indicate how far the tread has worn down. The patent for a Vehicle Tire Tread Depth Determining System, conversely, doesn't use a fixed color, it uses an ultraviolet-sensitive layer that changes color after enough tread has worn down so that it is exposed to sunlight. We're sure there are more out there; point being that designers are already thinking about how we'll check our tires when the last car parts store closes for good... and we run out of pennies.

Discolor tire shows you when it's time for new rubber originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 04 Jan 2013 08:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Scanners embedded in road to result in fines for those driving on worn tires?

Zach Bowman — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 14:32:00 EST

Filed under: Etc., Government/Legal, Safety, UK

Here's a new one. According to AutoExpress, police in the UK are looking into scanners embedded into roadways that can detect the depth of a vehicle's tire tread. If your rubber doesn't meet a set of pre-determined parameters, you could eventually expect to see a fine show up in the mail. Currently, law enforcement says that the technology will only be used in checkpoint scenarios to alert drivers of a potentially dangerous situation, but given that the system costs somewhere around €50,000, or $67,500 at current conversion rates, critics are concerned that the depth-measuring device will be used as a cudgel to drum up revenue.

That concern is bolstered by the fact that Trevor Hall, a major proponent of speed cameras in the UK, is also behind the measure.

We're all for improving road safety in any way possible, but if this new technology results in fines for motorists, we have concerns. After all, measures like the one proposed here would almost certainly target low-income drivers and unfairly position revenue generation on their shoulders. After all, if you can afford new tires, chances are better that you'll buy them.

Scanners embedded in road to result in fines for those driving on worn tires? originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 30 Sep 2011 14:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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