I’ve had a folder on my desktop called “tires” for like 4 months that’s just pics of LMQ’s tires, so I figured a little Tumblr appreciation was due! I think tires are cool, just generally speaking, and they smell nice. Big tires, skinny tires, offroad tires, you name it–I JUST THINK THEY’RE NEAT. And because Pixar is Pixar, Lightning’s tires are especially neat.
In the shot above, from the would-be championship race at Motor Speedway of the South, he’s got his racing tires on. (I mean, obviously, since he’s racing, but.) You can see in this shot that they’re treadless!
On a normal car, if your tires are bald you’re in trouble because you’re gonna slide all over the place and your life will be sad. But in racing, it’s actually preferred. Why? Because more surface area means more contact with the track means more grip. And grip is good. The reason that’s not true of us plebs on the normal road is because our roads have all kinds of debris on them–and most importantly, water. Without tread, there’s nowhere for that water or debris to go, so you end up driving on water instead of on road, aka hydroplaning. Which is not fun.
But once Lightning’s off the track, we see him switch into treaded tires for civilian use. These are the tires are the last rites that we see Not Chuck and the other pitties administering during his interview with Kori Turbowitz.
Later on, Luigi puts him in very lightly treaded whitewalls:
Pullin’ out the good stuff! None of those tractor treat snow tires. :P
Nicer, Sportier Civvies!!
In Cars 2 it kinda looks like he wears racing tires literally the entire movie for some reason, but that could just be that my file is too low-quality to see tire tread. But anyway, in Cars 3, we see that Lightning has opted for a different tread pattern on his civvies.
These look to me like a directional tread pattern. The V-shape is supposed to be especially good at shunting water away from your contact patch, making them ideal for driving in inclement circumstances, or on wet surfaces (like, for instance, sand or mud). A+ choice for your future Cars 3 adventures, Lightning. XD
From what we see in Cars 1 or Cars 3, Lightning pretty much only wears racing slicks when he’s on the track, or immediately about to be. (I mean, the winner of the race hadn’t even been announced yet and Lightning was already getting fitted with normal tires.)
When he arrives at the Rusteze Racing Center, he’s already in said racing tires, which means he’s not there to get the tour, or chum around, or reach for his lunch. He’s ready for business. Like, immediately.
I actually think this next cap is really sad, even though it only makes logical sense that after the simulator fiasco, we see he’s changed back into civvies again.
I say it’s only logical because after you wreck a multi-million dollar simulator of course you’re done for the day, uh.
Yet seeing him out of the racing tires is a stark contrast to how ready he was when he first arrives at the Center. This shot is from just before Lighting enters Sterling’s office, where Sterling is waiting to tell him that Lightning won’t be going to Florida, and he won’t be racing for Rusteze. Those tires are just one more visual emphasis that racing? That whole thing? Your whole life? That’s over. It’s not time now to hang it up–it’s already happened. Why can’t you see this, Lighting? Sterling asks, in not so many words.
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