The 1911 edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica states that 'The spelling 'tyre' is not now accepted by the best English authorities, and is unrecognized in the US', while Fowler's Modern English Usage of 1926 says that 'there is nothing to be said for 'tyre', which is etymologically wrong, as well as needlessly divergent from our own older & the present American usage'.

The spelling tyre began to be commonly used in the 19th century for pneumatic tires in the UK. The Times newspaper in Britain was still using tire as late as 1905. Nevertheless, traditional publishers continued using tire. The spelling tyre does not appear until the 1840s when the English began shrink fitting railway car wheels with malleable iron. The word tire is a short form of attire, from the idea that a wheel with a tire is a dressed wheel. Metal tires are still used on locomotives and railcars, and solid rubber (or other polymer) tires are still used in various non-automotive applications, such as some casters, carts, lawnmowers, and wheelbarrows. Pneumatic tires are used on many types of vehicles, including cars, bicycles, motorcycles, buses, trucks, heavy equipment, and aircraft. Early rubber tires were solid (not pneumatic). Before rubber was developed, the first versions of tires were simply bands of metal fitted around wooden wheels to prevent wear and tear. The tread provides traction while the body provides containment for a quantity of compressed air. The materials of modern pneumatic tires are synthetic rubber, natural rubber, fabric and wire, along with carbon black and other chemical compounds.

Tires provide a footprint, called a contact patch, that is designed to match the weight of the vehicle with the bearing strength of the surface that it rolls over by providing a bearing pressure that will not deform the surface excessively.

Most tires, such as those for automobiles and bicycles, are pneumatically inflated structures, which also provide a flexible cushion that absorbs shock as the tire rolls over rough features on the surface. Tractor tires have substantial ribs and voids for traction in soft terrain.Ī tire ( American English) or tyre ( British English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide traction on the surface over which the wheel travels.

Bicycle tyres uk