Building a special coffee table...suggestions

Originally Posted by Tristan Lall

Alternatively, if you don't mind damaging the tire, drill holes through it, and fasten the top with through-bolts—maybe using some 1/2" flat socket-head cap screws, recessed into the tabletop and secured on the inside of the tire with nuts. That will at least retain the look—but if I had a souvenir like that, I wouldn't necessarily want to drill through it.

I planned on drilling through the tire anyway

[Andrew Rudolph]

I would say you should go to some thrift stores and used furniture stores to begin with and see if you can find a table top of some kind to use. I would say if you used a piece of wood even painted it wouldnt be sorta lame. The reason is since your tire is gonna be on its side its just gonna look like a big round piece of rubber, and most people wont even think about it being a sweet f1 tire.

If you cant Find a suitable tabletop And dont want to spend the money on a glass top (prolly expensive) I would say you could do the wood thing but cut out a window in the center so you can see the tire. As far as structure, Seeing as how i have never actually tested the strength of an f1 tire i would say it might be a pretty wobbly table if you drill through it, so some sort of nice structure to keep it stable might be a good idea.

I would Def say look in stores and stuff for somthing you could modify, if someone did the work for you already why hassle over making an inferior top. (a quick ebay search finds many glass coffee tables in the 50 dollar range)

[DonRotolo]

You can purchase circles of tempered glass in various diameters. I recently bought a 4' diameter one at Pier 1 Imports for just over $100 - a three foot diameter version is somewhat less costly, and sounds like the right size for your tire. Tempered glass is very tough, hard to break, but turns into little cubes if you manage to shatter it - safe

To mount it, I'd suggest dabs of a strong adhesive (like silicone sealer) or something stronger mounted to a few metal studs, which mount through the tire.

Take a photo when it's done!

[ChuckDickerson]

How about getting one of those round patio furniture tables with the expanded metal type top? I've seen them in various colors (black, white, green) and in various diameters (usually 3' and 4'). Cut the top off and bolt it to the tire. You could probably find one used for pretty cheap and paint it some really cool color you like and even paint the car number of you favorite driver on it or something. Red against the black tire might look kinda cool.