Blown Tire Shoes

I see blown truck tires along the road every few miles on my daily drive to work; I thought it would be cool to make some shoes out of them. So I finally pulled over an grabbed a tread (Watch out for stabbing steel cords at the edges of the tire scraps.) These things are a little tough and messy to make, but they use all recycled materials except for the glue.

I used:
Scrap tire from highway shoulder.
Scrap carpet from a dumpster.
Old plastic shopping bags.
and some shoe glue.

Tools:
Angle grinder with cut off wheel.
Drill
Something to cut rubber and carpet, I used tin snips and medical scissors.
A Candle

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Step 1: Mark and Cut

Draw a nice shoe pattern around you foot or trace another shoe onto the tire with a marker.

Then use a cut-off wheel on a grinder to cut through the steel cords in the tire. (very smoky.)

Once through the cords, cut out the tread with some tin snips or something.

This is messy with black stuff everywhere; put down some cardboard or something. This also smells like the county fair demo derby.

kludge000 says: Mar 11, 2013. 2:29 PM

I found out how the mexicans do it, that is to say cut tire tread for sandals. They use a long handled pair of pliers and a box knife. The tire tread is cut at the place where the tread meets the tire body on the side wall. The pliers grip the cut away tread as it is skinned from the tire body, just like you do a cow. The steel plies are never touched. :)

kcolburn sr says: Jan 4, 2013. 12:51 AM

Great idea! Can you get 50k miles out of them? 40? How often do you rotate them?
We call the retreads 'gators' out here and was thinking of making some for poor countries....

mary candy says: Jul 11, 2011. 9:51 AM

lol
cool idea!

barefootflash says: Mar 15, 2011. 2:06 PM

Such a good idea!!!

barefootflash says: Mar 15, 2011. 2:02 PM

Plastic bags is such an awesome idea! I was gonna tie up some hemp for mine, but that's way cool, dude!

jefflovescheese says: Sep 1, 2010. 8:13 AM

one more thing i did different, was to protect me from the ouchiness of the metal in the tire, was wrap some duct tape round the edges.

DuctTapeRules! says: Jan 25, 2009. 11:38 PM

Good idea with the tire, although personally the scrap carpet is...kinda gross XP. Could've been soiled or something

robbtoberfest (author) in reply to DuctTapeRules!Jan 26, 2009. 9:37 AM

That's too funny. I never thought of the way I presented that statement. I meant scrap carpet from a new installation, not the obviously nasty stuff in the dumpster. You should read about the people who dig food out of dumpsters. LOL

jefflovescheese in reply to robbtoberfestSep 1, 2010. 8:09 AM

haha hey dumpster diving is a way of life man, and the food is usually pretty clean and great after a wash. anyway the shoes rock, comfy as anything and with all the walking i do, they aint wearing out yet. thanks for the step by step buddy

DuctTapeRules! in reply to robbtoberfestJan 26, 2009. 4:02 PM

Ah I see... FOOD!?!?!? *whimper*

masterochicken in reply to DuctTapeRules!May 17, 2009. 8:17 PM

It's really not as gross as it sounds.

DuctTapeRules! in reply to masterochickenMay 17, 2009. 11:02 PM

Zoidberg much? :D

masterochicken in reply to DuctTapeRules!May 19, 2009. 12:07 AM

No. Too much food is wasted in the United States though. Food Not Bombs often serves food that was dived.

SDJ1 says: Aug 24, 2010. 1:10 AM

if you use off road motorcycle tires you get real good dirt traction, ;)

masterochicken says: Mar 2, 2010. 7:55 PM

I tried using my angle grinder today and my garage was filled with smoke. Tough on the lungs. I pulled out my jig saw with a metal cutting blade and it worked like a charm with out all the smoke.

imrobot says: Oct 19, 2009. 4:11 AM

Are they comfy for braided shopping bags an old tire and a bit o' carpet?

theemilyforce says: Oct 3, 2009. 8:25 PM

Very Nice.

Uncle Kudzu says: Feb 13, 2009. 3:26 PM

i see those tire pieces everywhere. does the tread part of the truck tire also have the steel reinforcement, or just the sidewalls?

robbtoberfest (author) in reply to Uncle KudzuFeb 13, 2009. 9:23 PM

Yes, definitely steel in there. The hardest part of this project is cutting through the steel with a grinder.

ironsmiter in reply to robbtoberfestMay 7, 2009. 5:19 AM

it can depend. Most of the tread from semi's you see on the road are a result of a bad re-tread. In the retread process, the cords are replaced, then the new tread fused over. The bad jobs cause the tread to not fuse properly. Then, when it completely delaminates from the rest of the tire... the tread rolls off, but the body and banding(that they used to replace the origional cording) stay with the rim, on the truck. If you see JUST the tread therefore, it might very well not have any cording and would be PERFECT to retread shoes, or make your own carpet flipflops. If you see a whole tire, or shredded tire, then it probably does have the cording.

Uncle Kudzu in reply to robbtoberfestFeb 13, 2009. 9:30 PM

thanks! nice instructable, BTW. i've seen variations on the tire shoe, but never something as simple as a flip-flop... and a carpeted flip-flop at that!