Idea of the Day: Smart tires

Ah yes, family dinner. That’s when we get together, talk about what’s happening in each others lives and…come up with new ideas of the day.

Tonight the topic came around to Smart Tires. There’s a ton of high-tech activity in this field, ranging from pressure and temperature monitoring to shape-changing tires that vary depending on weather and road surface conditions.

But I’ve been trying to think of a low tech solution that would simply remind me when I need to rotate and/or replace my treads. I think my mom might have hit on it; color changes. Build tires with layered bands that wear off in 10,000 mile increments. When you get to a blue band it means you need to rotate the tires. When you get to an orange band 40,000 miles later it’s time for a new set. Voila, simple.

I know that there are other ways to check the tires, including tread pattern and the penny test, but that’s for replacement only and doesn’t really help with rotation. Maybe it will never be a perfect science (until Smart Tires are everywhere) but this might bring us one manageable step closer…