What's the Most Iconic Tire of All Time?

"Jcarr" (jcarr) 04/13/2015 at 10:06 • Filed to: QOTD

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I know compounds and tread patterns seem to change by the minute, but show me the tire that is most legendary.

bob and john > Jcarr 04/13/2015 at 10:08

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white walls. Duh :D

Brian Silvestro > Jcarr 04/13/2015 at 10:08

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P Zero, Pilot Super Sport, Blizzak

marshknute > Jcarr 04/13/2015 at 10:10

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Michelin Pilot Supersport. Whenever someone puts performance tires on their car, they are inevitably Pilot Supersports.

Second place would have to go to Bridgestone Blizzaks as the go-to snow tires.

Coty > Jcarr 04/13/2015 at 10:10

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Wide ovals.

Kawaii-Gon Jinn > bob and john 04/13/2015 at 10:12

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"LOOK AT ME, LOVE ME!"

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Jcarr 04/13/2015 at 10:12

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The Mickey.

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > Jcarr 04/13/2015 at 10:13

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Rubber ones.

Leon711 > Jcarr 04/13/2015 at 10:14

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Particularly if you are British and like to TrackdayBro

Yokohama A048

itschrome > Jcarr 04/13/2015 at 10:14

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Good year Eagle. sure they come in many flavors but the over all name GoodYear Eagle has been riding on performance and race cars for ever!

philipilihp > Jcarr 04/13/2015 at 10:15

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Don't know exactly what brand of tire this is (Dunlop?), but 1960s treaded racing tires, as seen on this Porsche 917:

crowmolly > Jcarr 04/13/2015 at 10:16

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You can try and make a case for redline tires, or polyglas, or wide ovals. Maybe Goodyear slicks. But to me there is no question. BFG Radial T/As are it. They are easily the most commonly installed muscle car tire in history.

Tinfoil Hat in a thunderstorm, now with added diecast > Jcarr 04/13/2015 at 10:16

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Not sure if these are iconic but back in the early 90's the poster for these in the tyre shops had a street machine doing a burn out with the caption "Real mean smoke Eagers"

Can't find any photos online of that but found a shirt. Apparently you can still get them. They did smoke well.

itschrome > bob and john 04/13/2015 at 10:17

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I miss those ducks..

KnowsAboutCars > Jcarr 04/13/2015 at 10:19

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Maybe the most iconic winter tires.

Bluecold > Jcarr 04/13/2015 at 10:21

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Pirelli Cinturato had the first 'modern' type casing.
https://www.cinturato.net

Michelin XAS were the first assymetric tire
http://www.michelinclassic.com/en/Classic-Tyr…

XWX the first 300km/ph tire
http://www.michelinclassic.com/en/Classic-Tyr…

So going by classic cars, those are the tires.

Jcarr > Jcarr 04/13/2015 at 10:21

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Surprised no one has mentioned the BFG All Terrain yet.

OPPOsaurus WRX > Jcarr 04/13/2015 at 10:24

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i did a post kinda like this a while ago but i cant find it. it was basically to get tread patterns for a blipshift submission which didn;t make the cut.

here is a pic I took of my WRX's winters, not iconic but still cool.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

and a pic from Redbull's winter Rush

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

and if you want to talk about straight up iconic, this one is out of this world

Tohru > Jcarr 04/13/2015 at 10:24

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Since all the popular choices have been taken...

The Bridgestone g-Force T/A KDW

and the Firestone Winterforce.

atrombs > Jcarr 04/13/2015 at 10:32

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I would say due to their issues, just about everyone in the US recognizes the name Firestone.

jariten1781 > Jcarr 04/13/2015 at 10:38

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Marketing-wise it was probably the Goodyear Aqua-tread. That thing was in newspapers, magazines,on tv, had huge displays in every store that sold tires. It was nuts. They even cross branded it with shoes that had the tread pattern for the sole.

Trevor Slattery, ACTOR > Jcarr 04/13/2015 at 10:40

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I'm doing something for the old heads...

FromCanadaWithLove > Jcarr 04/13/2015 at 10:41

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A modern legend. Everybody loves the MPSS.

JawzX2, Boost Addict. 1.6t, 2.7tt, 4.2t > Jcarr 04/13/2015 at 10:43

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I'm gonna go with the BF Goodrich Radial T/A, it may be seen as a "redneck" tire because of it's prevalence on classic muscle cars, but it pretty much single-handedly created the "High performance street tire" category. Without the BFG Radial T/A race tires and street tires would have probably remained forever separate categories, with very little technology crossover, but BFG saw the need for a tire that could handle the power (if not the "handling") of then-modern muscle cars and built the Radial T/A to serve a market that had never really existed before. The Firestone Wide Oval tried, but failed where the Radial T/A succeeded. Not only are the big white letters iconic from all the muscle car and pony car photo-shoots of the past half century, but the market success of the Radial T/A proved to other manufacturers that a "performance tire for the street" was a viable market and consumers were interested in more than just comfort, quiet and lip-service to safety. BFG was the first American tire company, and although the tire brand is now owned by Michelin, an important innovator in the tire industry itself, there's no denying that BF Goodrich Tire was incredibly influential in the first half of the last century and well into the second half.

Dsscats > Jcarr 04/13/2015 at 10:43

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R888s are pretty far up there for the track oriented bunch.

Tareim - V8 powered > KnowsAboutCars 04/13/2015 at 10:49

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wasn't aware nokian done a hakka tyre

Tareim - V8 powered > Jcarr 04/13/2015 at 10:52

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The Maxsport Hakka is a common dirt tyre used in rallying over here

Snuze: Needs another Swede > Jcarr 04/13/2015 at 10:52

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Michelin X Radial... it was the first widely available, commercially viable radial tire. It completely turned the market on it's head and single handedly led the shift away from bias ply tires.

RallyWrench > Trevor Slattery, ACTOR 04/13/2015 at 10:54

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I had A008s on my 2002, great tire.

KnowsAboutCars > Tareim - V8 powered 04/13/2015 at 10:58

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You knew of Nokian Tyres but didn't know Hakkapeliitta? It's their most famous product.

whiskeybusiness NOW A DANGER TO CROWDS NEAR YOU > Jcarr 04/13/2015 at 11:03

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Because of the tuner community, I'd say triple 8's are the most iconic in recent years.

gas head > Jcarr 04/13/2015 at 11:12

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RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > jariten1781 04/13/2015 at 11:14

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I remember that. The only reason I didn't post it is that it was gone in a flash, and doesn't seem as iconic *now*. If this question had been asked ten years ago with the memory still fresh...

jariten1781 > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 04/13/2015 at 11:20

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True. Though I'd argue it's iconic in the way New Coke is iconic; as a major failed marketing push...not in the way Coca-Cola Classic is iconic as a century long success.

I wonder how far in the red they ended up with that campaign.

NoneOfYourBiz > OPPOsaurus WRX 04/13/2015 at 11:34

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I WANT the shirt you posted above - black with tread marks. Blipshift is losing me with it's available designs. Too esoteric.

NoneOfYourBiz > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) 04/13/2015 at 11:36

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Vulcanized, no less!

OPPOsaurus WRX > NoneOfYourBiz 04/13/2015 at 12:57

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i'l talk with my buddy and see what we can do. I think we need a minimum of 25 people on board. we're still open for suggestions like colors or whatever. he also has his own silk screener so we can print it ourselves.

Tareim - V8 powered > KnowsAboutCars 04/13/2015 at 12:58

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yeah I can't say I could name any of their tyres apart from now, I know the hakka name from the Maxsport tyre but weren't aware of hakkapelitta

KnowsAboutCars > Tareim - V8 powered 04/13/2015 at 13:08

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Interesting, could Maxsport be copying Nokian? The Hakkapeliitta name comes from the feared Finnish cavalrymen who fought in the Swedish army during the thirty year war.

Tareim - V8 powered > KnowsAboutCars 04/13/2015 at 13:24

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could well be copying slightly as the tread doesn't differ by that much

Trevor Slattery, ACTOR > RallyWrench 04/13/2015 at 14:38

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A008's were the original "show off your tread tire". Don't think there is a more distinctive tread ever produced.

Sneaky Pete > Jcarr 04/13/2015 at 18:51

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whatever Firestone tires were on the "rollover" Explorers.

Gizmo - The Only Good Gremlin, but don't feed me after Midnight > marshknute 04/13/2015 at 22:40

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I've bee told this several times, lately, and each time I tell the offensive smart-ass that Michelin still makes the Pilot Sport Cup & Cup2 tires and they are way better than the SuperSports (especially after they've been heat cycled a few times). I've been tracking mine auto-x, PDX, HPDE, etc., and am only slightly behind the guys on Hoosier A6s.

Wacko > Jcarr 04/14/2015 at 12:19

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Goodyear Wranglers of course