ok so I'm getting there but have hit a small problem with the curve modifier. I could do this without it but I'm interested to know what's happened.
I created my tyre tread aligned with the surface of my tyre, then I arrayed it. after that I tried to apply a curve modifier using a nurbs circle as the main curve. but for some reason the tyre tread twist to face front and comes away from the tyre.
pretty weird so I thought I would find out why.
I attached 2 images to show what's happening.
thanks