Recreating tire tread

I think you would get a good result using Illustrator’s Extrude shape tool – this is found in file menu:
Effect > 3D

1. Make your type tread pattern the same length as the circumference of
   the tyre shape you require – you then drag the tread shape in to the
   Symbols panel. You need to do this because the Map Art function
   finds resource assets here.

2. Make circle and extrude to a depth relative to a tyre shape (this can be tweaked later on with the Appearance dialogue box)

3. Set your Rotation axis and Perspective

4. You can then Map Art – this will bring open another dialogue box that allows you to select the facet on which you map your Symbol – your symbol will appear in a drop down menu – you will be able to manually rotate/stretch this in to position.

5. Once you are happy with the shape you can un-group and release the objects and select the line art you require.

A similar project can be viewed here available on Youtube

If you want your tread to sit on a two way curved, more torus-like surface (as the real tyre surface is) you can replace the 3d extrusion by 3d revolution. However, this might make the mapping more tricky.

Hope this helps – there are a fair few tutorials on this matter available on the web, Happy Mapping!