Yes, it was a crude attempt at humor, the juxtaposition of tires on a website for car duscussions and an internet block/bypass technique. I thought it was funny but I do have a strange sense of humor too 
Anyway, if the firefox thing doesn’t work for one reason or another, do you have a machine somewhere else that you can tunnel through? Like trying to set up a tunnel through your home machine while you’re at work, etc.? I’m sure they aren’t blocking your home IP addy from work if this is the case. Basically make up your own proxy. Just don’t seed it on a port that looks suspiciously as a web proxy, like 1080, 8080 or 3128/3130.