Why are tires and tubes made of rubber?

Answer 1

Elasticity and durability combination. Many different materials were tried before hitting on latex rubber, then in 1895 Andre Michelin invented the pneumatic tire but never patented it. 1911 was the first successful pneumatic tire&tube. Charles Goodyear had invented and patented vulcanized rubber way back in 1844. yes, pre-civil war. Ford's first cars off the assembly line, in 1908, the Model T had solid hard rubber. They had tread patented by Frank Seiberling the same year. Nylon was experimented with-with limited success. The first tubeless tire was patented in 1903 by Goodyear Tire & Rubber but not approved by the US DOT for use on cars until the 1954 Packard. Synthetic rubber was patented by Benjamin Franklin Goodrich in 1937