Street tests were causing some confusion. "Other motorists have been so enthralled by the pretty colors that they have gone through red lights or just stopped to stare," Life magazine reported.
That certainly was apparent when Goodyear took a white Dodge Polaris convertible with red wheels and drove it around downtown Miami.
After receiving a lot of positive feedback, Goodyear began tire tests around the United States. Unfortunately, after the first days of testing, it became apparent that tires made of Neothane lost traction at speeds over 60 mph.
They also didn’t perform well in wet weather, the rubber didn’t stay clean enough after regular driving for the illumination effect to work, and they quickly overheated in heavy braking.
But they did have an interesting byproduct, the driver could control the illumination of the tires individually or in pairs from a panel mounted near the car’s steering wheel, allowing the tires to be used as turn signals or brake lights.
They would have cost twice as much as normal commuter tires, and weighed 7 times as much (150pounds) as they were solid Neothane
and now there is only one car that has a set... as Goodyear was extremely wonderful, and made one more set for the restoration of the historically amazing Golden Sahara which after 50 years of storage, finally was sold and restored and hit the show circuit
As it turns out, illuminated tires were actually brought to Goodyear by an independent research and development firm in the late 1950’s, and though Goodyear didn't create, or invent these, they may as well have for the creators hadn't done much past coming up with the idea
https://boingboing.net/2016/12/13/glow-your-roll.html
https://dyler.com/posts/303/why-aren-t-coloured-tyres-used-any-more
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/?p=27881
https://autoweek.com/article/geneva-motor-show/restored-golden-sahara-ii-debuts-geneva-how-and-why-american-custom-legend
Never heard of them... how cool is that!
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