This Test Shows How Bullet Resistant Tires Can Be

Getting the right set of tires is an important part of what goes into building an armored vehicle, and companies like Hutchinson and Tyron can be an excellent place to get those run-flats. But have you ever wondered how a regular retail tire would stand up to the impact of a bullet? After all, the typical tire is made, in part, of actual steel belts, and certain kinds of steel are used for bulletproofing. Plus, some companies, such as Nokian and Goodyear, feature aramid fibers in their tire sidewalls for extra support if there's a puncture. And that material — sometimes known by the trade name Kevlar — is commonly used in bulletproof armor.

Well, we've got good news. Though for some odd reason Consumer Reports doesn't include bullet resistance when analyzing, for instance, CR's top truck and SUV tire picks for 2026, Parker Smith of the Yee Yee Life YouTube channel recently took up the challenge. He brought five new, unmounted 37-inch Nitto Mud Grappler tires and assorted firearms out to the shooting range, stood the tires up in a single row, tread-to-tread, and got to work. 

Smith's test was to shoot at the front treadface of the first tire and see how far the bullet would get into the treadfaces of the tires behind the No. 1 position. So the ideal path would be into the outside tread facing the gun, through the entire first wall of the tire, then into the inside part of the rear wall, through the treads facing directly opposite the gun, and into the next tire — an unlikely real-world scenario, but still interesting to watch.

The results may surprise you, as they certainly didn't seem to be what Smith expected, especially looking at the entry holes. Even with the biggest caliber guns — meaning those with the widest-diameter bullets — the entry points were quite small. Smith put this down to the ability of the thick rubber to close over the holes after the bullets get through. In fact, the rubber was so thick that, combined with the steel belts beneath, it stopped a bullet from a .22-caliber pistol from breaking through to the inside of the first tire.

Moving up to his Glock pistol, Smith was able to put a 9mm round with a full-metal jacket completely through the first tire and past the first treadface of the second. Yet size didn't always seem to matter here, as a .45-caliber Browning handgun, with an even wider bore than the Glock, got its bullet stuck in the second tire's first treadface without penetrating it. The story was much the same with a .44 Magnum. That said, the last and largest handgun tested, a gas-operated semi-automatic Desert Eagle loaded with .50-caliber bullets, made it past the first two tires before lodging in the front treadface of the third.

To beat that mark, Smith had to resort to an assault rifle firing 5.56mm green-tip rounds engineered with special "penetrator" steel cores — one of which embedded itself in the inside back wall of the third tire, meaning it essentially pierced the treads of 2¾ tires. Now, you're definitely welcome to (safely) try this yourself, but please don't be like the Des Moines cop who drove off with a rifle on his roof.