I need to make cupcakes with tires on top. I have a good extruder that will make the tires but does anyone have any ideas as to how to get treads on these small tires quickly?

Do you have a texture mat you can roll them over? If not, maybe use a small kitchen knife or an exacto knife to make the tread impressions?

If you use a donut shape to start with, run a strip of fondant around the outer edge, with a little overlap on top and bottom. Pleat the overlap and press down. It will give you the tread lines at the top edge, and bottom edge. (Does that make sense? It is so hard to explain things without images and hand gestures, lol!)

I generally roll the tire across a wire mesh like a sifter sieve or a splatter screen... Works great.

Thanks, the screen is a good idea.