Goodyear Concept Tires Get 'Branded' in Chicago

    CHICAGO, Feb. 8 Despite tattoos posing as tread patterns,
New Zealand Maori tribesmen aren't carving any Goodyear concept tires here.
    The fascination with body art, however, has taken a strange turn at the
Chicago Auto Show, which opens Friday and runs through Feb 18.
    Ford's F-150 Lightning Rod concept truck is tastefully branded with Maori
tattoos, down to the 20-inch Goodyear concept tires.
    Bill Egan, chief engineer of advanced tire technology for Goodyear, said
the "tattooed" tires haven't been the strangest request from automakers, but
they are sure to leave a lasting impression.
    "Just the wide girth of these massive tires will get attention," Egan
said.  "The tires help Ford designers to carry the tattoo theme inside and out
on the Lightning Rod."
    Goodyear tire designers code-named their project, the Tattoo Truck.
    The custom-made Goodyear tires 295/40R20 tires in the front and the
slightly larger 305/40R20 tires in the rear project the hot-rod feel of the
pickup, Egan said.
    The tattoo theme is carried through to the leather-wrapped bucket seats
and headliner.  The die-cut pattern is filled in with the same black cow hair
as the tonneau cover.
    The cherry-red, lowered and stretched Lightning Rod is powered by a
supercharged, 5.4-liter SOHC Triton V-8 engine that produces 380 horsepower
and 450 lb-ft of torque.
    Ed Golden, executive director of North American Ford brand design, said,
"Lightning Rod draws from the passion of muscle cars of the 1960s, the hot rod
industry and the current body art craze to take America's best-selling pickup
to a new level of performance excitement."
    Egan said Lightning Rod's tattoos are attractive stylized designs that
translate well as tread designs.
    In many cases, the unconventional idea is an open door to Goodyear tire
designers.  The best designs are when form follows function; where beauty is
balanced with performance, he added.
    In the case of Lightning Rod's tattoos, form rules, Egan said.  Just as
Maori tattoos have stood the test of time, so do concept tire designs.
    In Chicago and elsewhere, auto show visitors will continue to see wilder
treads on concept cars.  Back in 1983, Goodyear produced just two models of
concept tires.  Five years later, designers came out with double-digit
concepts.  By 1995, the Akron, Ohio, Technical Center designed 50 different
models.
    For the Lightning Rod, its heritage is based on reality.  Its roots lie in
the supercharged, 360-horsepower, 140 mph Ford Lightning F-150.  Goodyear
developed Eagle F1 GS P295/45ZR18 ultra-performance tires for that powerful
tire-spinning truck.