What would be an alternative to rubber tires?

[theycallmeebryan]

It takes approximately 7 gallons of oil, both in the formation of synthetic rubber and in energy, to produce 1 tire. (sited here: RMA: Rubber FAQs)

I have been wondering: What would be green, oil free alternatives to rubber tires (considering our access to natural rubber is pretty much none)?

[dennyt]

Crr .0001-.0020

[Frank Lee]

Leather?

[markweatherill]

Anti gravity! Of course, Big Oil has been suppressing this for years.

[Ryland]

28 gallons of oil to go 50,000 miles seems pretty good to me, 1785 miles per gallon for your tires.
I think if you want to make a larger impact getting low rolling resistance tires is going to off set the oil used to make the tires more then the increased rolling resistance of a sub par rubber compound.
Or you can take the train.

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by markweatherill

Anti gravity! Of course, Big Oil has been suppressing this for years.

Can't say I'm attracted by the idea

[RobertSmalls]

Bearing in mind the amount of energy required to produce wooden wagon wheels / leather tires / moon buggy spring arrays / tofu twheels, I'd say synthetic rubber tires are an absolute bargain considering how long they last.

[euromodder]

The Michelin Tweel uses a lot less rubber for starters, and what's on there should last longer

[Christ]

There isn't an alternative if you live in PA - the law requires pneumatic rubber tires on passenger cars.

[DJBecker]

Tires are pretty high-tech items already.

The rubber content is much lower than you expect. There is substantial weight in reinforcing fibers (steel, aramid/Kevlar, polyester). The "rubber" part is heavily filled with carbon (likely created from oil, but not certainly) and minerals (largely silica). And the polymer part is a complex mix of rubbers.

I don't know how you would fairly allocate the "oil cost" of a tire. I do know that almost everytime I see an estimate like that from an "environmentalist", it's a lie created by multiplying mis-matched numbers. ("Save two gallons of water by turning off the tap when you brush your teeth." Sure...) They should be working to get fair comparisons for tire compounds. (How can you find a sticky tire with long life and good energy return?) Not say "everything you do is bad" .