What is Up With Big Rig trucks with Chariot Spikes on the Wheels?

[sleepy]

I was walking up the street in my suburban desert fringe town yesterday.
Sun Valley, Ca is largely industrial, somewhere in the sands and the dirt near a couple of major freeways.
And so it is not an uncommon site to see Big Rigs parked for the night.

But I was walking yesterday, past a tractor from Texas, parked for the rest, festooned with 6 inch metal spikes around both wheels.

Man, I don't want to mess with that. Like this:

http://boingboing.net/2009/07/31/maybe-these-massive.html

Is there a practical use for these? Bumping deer and bikers???
And I wouldn't do that at all. I'm just wondering.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

that's pretty mad max-level insane. obviously just another redneck urge for baddassery.


so now we wait for years until the states get around to legislature banning them, i suppose. unfortunately it will probably involve a few poor sods getting annihilated in order to bring attention to the issue.

 

[sleepy]

Yep. Something wrong is going to happen with those spikes.
A blowout or worse on account of them, and they do extend an inch or more beyond the fenders, body, bumper. They are the most prominent objects on the sides of the tractor rig, though that may not be the case with the trailers hitched to it. Bad enough.

 

[StevOz]

Why spikes, really should they not be crucifixes, barbed wire optional?

 

[sleepy]

Oh man. I wouldn't want to get hit with somebody else's bloody crucifixes either.
Not at that speed.

 

[Itchigo]

At least it keeps you damn 4-wheelers off me! lol

 

[sleepy]

Well, I'd like to think so. But the extra effort at the truck wash says different.
I wonder what the fault would be in the event of an accident? Would the spikes increase liability?

 

[Coil_Smoke]

D.O.T. Approved ?

Maybe They are made out of rubber...

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

Maybe They are made out of rubber...

that was my thought as well, after i posted. some kind of 'rubber-plastic' compound painted with several coats of metallic enamel, perhaps.

 

[Coil_Smoke]

I'm a gonna stand behind the right to equip one's vehicle with defensive adornments . Like a gun it is up to the owner to use whatever responsibly. Clearly the average driver has lost respect for an 18 Wheeler's ability to inflict unintended mayhem, carnage and death. Those spikes should serve as a reminder stay well clear of the rambling behemoth that is a full size tractor trailer.

 

[Itchigo]

I'm a gonna stand behind the right to equip one's vehicle with defensive adornments . Like a gun it is up to the owner to use whatever responsibly. Clearly the average driver has lost respect for an 18 Wheeler's ability to inflict unintended mayhem, carnage and death. Those spikes should serve as a reminder stay well clear of the rambling behemoth that is a full size tractor trailer.

Absolutely true and a thumbs up! They're just meant to look cool is all. Most are either hard plastic, or cheap "crapmetal"(â„¢). If you hit them, they would break. But as you guys are showing, it's a deterrent to keep people paying attention. They're for wannabe badasses.

 

[faralos]

wheel spikes suck ass! I got pushed off the road last week by a maniac with them on his rig
doing over ninety on the pa turnpike then he had the balls to slide over to the left lane
where I was those things spinning madly inches from my car now he ain't even supposed to be in the left lane
but that is where he stayed,cutting me off at around 80 mph
I was too scared about having my vehicle torn up by them so I let him go

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

wheel spikes suck ass! I got pushed off the road last week by a maniac with them on his rig
doing over ninety on the pa turnpike then he had the balls to slide over to the left lane
where I was those things spinning madly inches from my car now he ain't even supposed to be in the left lane
but that is where he stayed,cutting me off at around 80 mph
I was too scared about having my vehicle torn up by them so I let him go

when riotous enthusiasm settles in to the dust, this is the kind of report i actually expect.

 

[sleepy]

I dunno. I'd like to think they are "breakaway spikes", but the ones I saw were firmly attached to the metal hubcaps that were bolted on. Else those were the wheels.
They looked attached like one-piece wheel molding.