Budd–Michelin rubber-tired rail cars which featured innovative and distinctive pneumatic tires. The company claimed that its application of tires on its rail cars afforded both a substantially more cushioned ride and increased the cars' traction by 35%. The design of Michelin's tired wheels included an aluminum safety ring and a flange that were only used in the event of a puncture or other type of tire failure; during normal operation, only the rubber tire made contact with the rail. Inspired by Michelin's success, the Budd Company set its sights on marrying the new rubber rail tires with its shot-welded, stainless-steel carbodies; it had developed
Rubber Factory Secret commercial. "Stack Shot Billy" was performed on "Late Show with David Letterman". "Rubber Factory" was met with critical acclaim. According to review aggregator website Metacritic, the album received an average critic score of 81 out of 100. James Hunter of "The Washington Post" said that the album "capitalizes richly on whatever it exactly was that caused the rock- and-roll commentariat to adopt [the band] in the first place as college-dropout makers of new indie-rock blues". In an enthusiastic article, David Browne of "Entertainment Weekly" gave the album an "A" and wrote six variations of a review for the album.