There's no doubt about it: Tire flips are one of the coolest-looking exercises you can possibly do. It's also one of the most dangerous moves and a perfect example of a contest-specific exercise created for advanced-strength athletes that just got too popular.
When it's used as a training exercise, the goal is to work the posterior-chain muscles, like the lower back and the hamstrings. That's something you can accomplish very well with deadlifts.