Tire Builders
Operate machines to build tires.
Most important skills
- Operation and Control
- Operations Monitoring
- Active Listening
- Critical Thinking
- Monitoring
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Time Management
- Speaking
Key knowledge
- Production and Processing
- Administration and Management
- Mechanical
- English Language
- Engineering and Technology
- Public Safety and Security
- Education and Training
- Customer and Personal Service
What the work involves
- Build semi-raw rubber treads onto buffed tire casings to prepare tires for vulcanization in recapping or retreading processes.
- Fill cuts and holes in tires, using hot rubber.
- Trim excess rubber and imperfections during retreading processes.
- Depress pedals to rotate drums, and wind specified numbers of plies around drums to form tire bodies.
- Start rollers that bond tread and plies as drums revolve.
- Inspect worn tires for faults, cracks, cuts, and nail holes, and to determine if tires are suitable for retreading.
- Cut plies at splice points, and press ends together to form continuous bands.
- Align treads with guides, start drums to wind treads onto plies, and slice ends.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Investigative.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (66.5% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (54.7%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months (50.2%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Tire Builders is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very low | Lower on contact with others than 85% of occupations compared | 42% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very low | Lower on dealing with the public than 91% of occupations compared | 45% of surveyed respondents chose “Not important at all” |
| Teamwork | Very low | Lower on teamwork than 97% of occupations compared | 35% of surveyed respondents chose “Fairly important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 99% of occupations compared | 30% of surveyed respondents chose “Very little freedom” |
| Time pressure | High | Higher on time pressure than 73% of occupations compared | — |
| Conflict situations | Moderate | Lower on conflict situations than 51% of occupations compared | — |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Moderate | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 55% of occupations compared | 38% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Consequence of error | High | Higher on consequence of error than 64% of occupations compared | 41% of surveyed respondents chose “Fairly serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: high
- Conflict situations: moderate
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: moderate
- Consequence of error: high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 10.28%
- Occasional contact with others: 16.07%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0%
- Contact with others most of the time: 32.11%
- Constant contact with others: 41.54%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2020
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 45.32%
- Fairly important: 32.11%
- Important: 6.19%
- Very important: 0.89%
- Extremely important: 15.49%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2020
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 5.14%
- Fairly important: 34.58%
- Important: 34.06%
- Very important: 9.47%
- Extremely important: 16.76%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2020
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 27.7%
- Very little freedom: 30.48%
- Limited freedom: 8.5%
- Some freedom: 13.01%
- A lot of freedom: 20.3%
n = 16, Incumbent 08/2020
Time pressure
- Never: 15.49%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 5.14%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 0%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 7.74%
- Every day: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2020
Conflict situations
- Never: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a year or more but not every month: 15.18%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 27.17%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 2.3%
- Every day: 26.28%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2020
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 15.74%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 14.43%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 38.42%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 31.42%
- Every day: 0%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2020
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 6.36%
- Fairly serious: 41.07%
- Serious: 0.94%
- Very serious: 20.9%
- Extremely serious: 30.73%
n = 16, Incumbent 08/2020
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O*NET-SOC 51-9197.00 · SOC 51-9197 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8