And I found I had a lower poly version of the really high poly tire. (And then use Carrara's render-time smoothing.) I think this one comes in under 20K, but with just a smooth or two it goes north of 80K. Something mostly to do with the mesh of the tread pattern. I still think it might be a plan-B though. I figure it would be easier to change a mapped tread around than re-model that kind of thing.

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Barbequed Pixels?

Your friendly neighborhood Wings3D nut.
Also feel free to browse my freebies at ShareCG.
There might be something worth downloading.