System for providing illuminated displays on a vehicle tire or wheel assembly

A system for providing illuminated displays (26,24,78) on a vehicle or wheel assembly includes one or more tire marking devices for integration with tire sidewalls or vehicle wheels. Such tire marking devices may include a plurality of point lights sources (22) (such as LEDs or OLEDs operating at one or more wavelengths) arranged in a predetermined array configuration (20), a microprocessor (46,68) coupled to each of the plurality of point light sources (22), a power source (48,70) for powering the microprocessor and/or other device elements, and a timing sensor (50) configured to provide one or more timing signals to the microprocessor. The timing signals generated by the timing sensor preferably include sufficient information to determine the rotational rate and relative position of the plurality of light sources. The microprocessor controls the flash sequence and duration of each point light source in the plurality of point light sources as they travel in a rotational path around the tire or wheel to which they are mounted. The flash sequence and duration of each point light source is determined as a function of the rotational rate and position of the tire or wheel assembly as obtained from the timing sensor.