You would need an indexing fixture to be able to rotate the wheel(s) by equal amounts between grooves. If most of the wheels you are interested in have the same number of tread bars around them, you would only need one indexing disk, but if there are various numbers of bars, you'd need several disks.
You wouldn't need any advanced equipment to use the fixture once it was made, but you'd need a design, and some help from someone with a milling machine and rotary table to make the indexing disks.
How you choose to make the grooves in the tyre might call for some development. If heat will work, you could just mount a soldering iron on the indexing fixture, and pivot it into contact with the tyre, with an adjustable stop to control the depth of groove. I suggest a temperature-controlled soldering iron, or at least a simmerstat in the lead of an ordinary one, might help to control the smoke, smell, and fire brigade callouts.
