Upamanyu Biswas
The second season of ‘Tires’ brings more misadventures and gags to play with as our beloved crew at the Valley Forge Automotive Center try to make it through their days as a small-time garage chain with huge aspirations to grow. With Will at the center of the new expansion ideas, season 2 prominently introduces some new players into the equation, such as True Thread Tires, the main tire supplier for the shop. While the company plays a peripheral role at the start, it becomes a massive center of attention in the narrative as we move forward, mainly because of Valley Forge’s business model. As finances play such an important role in season 2, it is only inevitable that True Thread turns into an ever-present player who has a considerable say in how things could impact Valley Forge’s future and Will’s ambitions.
True Thread Tires is a Fictional Company That Adds Drama Into the Mix
Despite having a notable presence in the second season, True Thread Tires is a fictional tire manufacturer that is brought to life by the show’s creators, Shane Gillis, John McKeever, and Steve Gerben, alongside a slew of writers such as Chris O’Connor, Joe DeRosa, Michael Gleason, Amy McLeish-Milligan, Bobby Telatovich, and Chris O’Connor. The company is depicted as the leading supplier of Valley Forge, which is a crucial arrangement because the auto-repair garage sells tires at a much lower price than its competitors, thus allowing it to outperform many of these opponents through a clever business model. However, this deal only works because True Thread willingly accepts their tires being sold at such a cheap price point, even if it could affect them.
While the organization is entirely fictional, it has some parallels with other tire manufacturers, such as Goodyear, Cooper, BFGoodrich, Firestone, and Michelin, simply because they are all tire makers. However, when one dissects the internal makeup of True Thread as a company, it is evident that they are conceived to have an amusing part to play in the overall light-hearted drama of the workplace comedy series. Intriguingly, the fictional organization shares a similar name with a couple of auto-repair shops named True Tread Tires, which are respectively situated in Davie, Florida, and Canfield, Ohio. Despite their names sounding a lot like each other, the company shown in the Netflix project is a tire manufacturer, whereas the same is not true for the stores mentioned above.
One of the interesting things True Thread brings into the picture in season 2 is the character of Ryan, a struggling salesman who develops an unlikely friendship with Will. The two get along miraculously well because of a similar way of looking at the world and also a shared sense of humor. This can sometimes make them seem like two children playing in a playground full of adults, adding to the amusement when Shane makes fun of them. However, their connection as kindred spirits has a knock-on effect further down the line as Will is put in a difficult position to maintain a positive relationship with Ryan while also having to look after the interests of the shop. As such, Ryan and, by association, True Thread end up playing a strangely vital role in shaping the conflicts driving the second season’s narrative, which still does not change the fact that the company is fictional.
Read More: Where is Tires Filmed?
