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Comment by nightfly | Hacker News Reader

If there was a good substitute for rubber for tires that wouldn't have the same environmental issues it probably wouldn't be long lasting. Imagine a mostly biodegradable rubber tire that lasts 6-12 months before starting to deteriorate. Instead of switching between your summer and winter tires you'd get all-new "green" tires twice a year.

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IF the new tires were cheap enough that would be fine. Quick lube places could easially install devices to replace your tires and thus your $100 oil change becomes a $130 oil change. Of if you have an electric car your regular tire rotation (which almost nobody does - but it should be done as often as an oil change!) gets turned into a tire replacement.

If AI could build tires then the quick lube could just come to your place of work and assemble the tires right on your car from raw materials, amiright?

Look, my last set of tires cost $1000 (and that was before COVID). They might last 50K miles. How much do you drive? There is no way that new tires plus replacement is going to be $7.50/tire. Even a unicycle isn't going to have a $30 tire.

I have seen tires for small cars in the $40 range. We have already said cheap and won't last long so $10 per tire may be possible.

It should be noted that vehicle design impacts the design (and therefore price) of tires, e.g. the 2012 Subaru Impreza is designed for a 15-18 inch rim and a low-profile tire, so the tires cost around $175 per

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