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Show Auto tires The first automobile tires, made of cotton and natural rubber, were single air-filled tubes that frequently lasted less than 1,000 miles. Turn-of-the-century motorists carried up to six spares. Here are some more facts you may not know about the trusty tire: . Cotton continued to be the chief tire fiber in the United States until 1938, when rayon was introduced; in-troduced; tires made of nylon and polyester soon followed. . By 1948, the first radial tires with cords running straight across the tire rather than at an angle went into production. produc-tion. Steel belts were specified to add stability to the tread area. By the early 1970s tire manufacturers manufac-turers introduced glass fiber as a belt material. . Today, the glass belted radial tire has become one of the standards stan-dards in the replacement market. Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp. a leading supplier of glass tire cord reports more than 125 million glass radials have been built and sold. The reason: Glass radials offer a smooth ride, non-rusting belts, run cooler than other tires, and have excellent ex-cellent strength and durability. Their performance characteristics were recently highlighted at the grueling 24 hour endurance en-durance races at Daytona and LeMans. A racing team driving two Porsche Turbo Carreras, using street tires in a field riding on special purpose racing tires, won the GT Classic at LeMans, and used only five tires to cover the 272-lap race on the 8.5 mi. LeMans, France course. |