Stone Wheel: YouTuber Applies Flintstone Tech to a Pinto

Bet you didn’t have stone wheels on your Wednesday web-browsing bingo board! We sure didn’t, but then again, therein lies the magic of the internet. For more than 100 years, the cars we love have (primarily) rolled on some form of inflated rubber tire wrapped carefully around a wooden or metal wheel. The phrase “where the rubber meets the road” has wormed its way into vocabularies the world over because, well, when it comes to cars, that’s almost always what’s happening.

Of course, that hasn’t stopped a few folks from experimenting with different materials to use as wheels, or as the grip surface wrapped around the wheel of a car. Recently, the Waterjet Channel, a YouTube channel that made its fame cutting different objects with an ultra-high-pressure waterjet cutter, set out to test out a few different forms of wheels inspired by Fred Flintstone.

Yes, it’s as hair-brained as it sounds. The video’s host, who we know only as “Daniel,” takes us through three versions of experimenting with stone wheels: asphalt, concrete, and finally, true stone.

We’ll get out in front of this: There’s a certain level of indifference in how the video’s main test subject—a surprisingly decent-looking Ford Pinto—is treated here. We’re not huge fans of that, nor are we fans of the distinct lack of safety measures for what is, really, a ridiculously dangerous experiment. However, the findings here did make us chuckle; we hope you’ll experience the same.

Things begin with an asphalt wheel—rather, an asphalt “tire” formed around a steel wheel. Because asphalt is just a bunch of small rocks held together with tar, the outer carcass of an existing tire is needed to help form the pliable material. Daniel then adds epoxy to the mixture in an attempt to get it to bond together better.

Of course, the asphalt tire proves to be a nightmare, crumbling the second they get it out of the rubber mold. Despite easily chunking, he manages to mount the wheel to the rear of the Pinto … And that’s about it. The tire immediately falls apart as Daniel tries to reverse out of the parking spot, thus ending this portion of the experiment.

Concrete is next. First, the team added some metal flaps to the barrel of the wheel, which they hoped would enable the concrete to adhere better. Some wire mesh was also added to the concrete itself to act as a sort of pliable rebar.

Surprisingly, it holds up, and not just to the Pinto’s (meager) weight at a standstill—it even manages to roll a little. Of course, the channel’s host takes things a few bridges too far, but that’s how YouTube works these days. Witness the madness in the system.

Finally, it’s time to go full Fred Flintstone. Four stone wheels are cut from landscape pavers and fitted to the car. Goes without saying, but the material used for landscape pavers probably wasn’t the most durable of rock types, but it was probably available on short notice.

We’ll refrain from any spoilers on how the stone-wheeled Pinto fairs. Check out the full film below—and then please, don’t try this at home.