The first step is to roll on the airtight inner layer, then the inner sidewall reinforcement. A heated knife is used to cut the edges; natural stickiness makes the joins. Getting the edges to butt up is tricky, but there is some stretch in material.

This is a hot ride!!!

We add these to position the bead and butt join on each side. Here, we slide steel bead rings over them using gloves, as sweat from fingers can cause rust down the track. The drum is then inflated to raise the centre and fold edges over the bead.

Placed over the centre section to prevent any metal from tread puncturing the airtight layer below. We also run another strip around the bead – to prevent damage from kerbing. This key component helps to keep the tyre on the rim.

They mightn’t look like much at this stage, but these are the sidewalls. This is one of the trickier steps, as you need to ensure that the centre section doesn’t stick to the tread. A protective plate prevents this as we roll to secure the joints.

This is added to indicate who made the tyre. It’s a key component – not only for the rest of the process, but in tracing back any future problems. The bar code reveals when and where the tyre was made – and even which machine was used.

The last job before we apply the tread. Here, we flip the protective strip over the bead. While our instructor does it in a couple of turns, we take a little longer. It’s not as easy as it looks, as the casing isn’t rigid and
flattens easily.

After waiting 20 minutes for the solvents to dry, it goes on another inflatable drum. This is pumped up to give our casing a tyre-like shape. Glue is applied to the centre, then the metal-ply layers – diagonally across the top and in opposite directions.

If this tyre was going on anything but a 2CV, a textile belt would now go on to prevent centrifugal growth at speed. Here, all we have to do is open up the sidewalls, lay on the pre-cut strip (the tread), stick the heated ends and glue down sidewalls.

Our tyre is then vulcanised to turn the compounds from plastic to elastic – through a heat and chemical reaction. Moulds are heated to around 170˚C, and a bladder packed with hot water and steam pushes the casing into them for around 10 minutes.