If you are affixing wood to tires, I would suggest torx headed decking screws.
They are pricey, but they last and they drive like a dream.
John,the hex headed screws seem like great idea, do you get the ones with it without the washers?
Are they self tapping?
I love your use of beer bottles, I will have to try that.
Do you cut out one or both of the sidewalls?
I have some tires with both sidewalls cut off, and one with only one sidewall cut off,the rest of the sidewalls are stacked inside of it, because, they have to go somewhere...
I have been planning to use the tires to geo-stabilize a gravel driveway, an idea known as mechanical concrete(
http://www.mechanicalconcrete.com/) , but I'm just collecting/prepping them right now.
It occurs to me that in the future I will leave a few tabs of sidewall to drive stakes through.