Whitewall Tire History.

The whitewall tire or white sidewall (WSW) tire for automobiles, had a stripe or perhaps the entire sidewall made of white rubber. In the early days, car tire manufacture was only of white rubber, that being the natural colour of rubber when initially processed. Nonetheless, in this form the the tire's rubber didn't give adequate traction on the road, nor last all that long, therefore carbon black was included in the manufacture of the rubber used for the tire-treads. This resulted in better road adhesion and tires where the inner and also outer sidewalls were still white rubber.

When completely black tires were obtainable, the existing white rubber of the sidewalls was hidden by a thin skin of black tinted rubber. If these tires were roughly scuffed against the curb-side, the existing white sidewall rubber would show through.

In the later years of the 1920s shining whitewalls contrasting with black, were thought to be highly stylish, albeit somewhat of a "show-off" style. Whitewall popularity gathered momentum through the 1930s, however, the advent of placing panels over the mudguards led to the double sided whitewall being phased out from popularity.

As mentioned earlier, whitewalls were not particularly sought as a statement of style, to begin with. Indeed, the opposite, entirely black tires were deemed more desirable. The reasons being that, black tires needed less attention spent on keeping them clean, and they were more durable. So, completely black tires became a status symbol being considered the "top" tire, often fitted to the luxury cars of the 1930's.

Through the 1950's the width of the whitewall was reduced in order to lessen the height of vehicles, a style that quickly became quite fashionable. 1957 saw a version of the ultra-exclusive Ferrari Eldorado Brougham with whitewalls, diminished to a 1" wide strip on the sidewall, with black to the wheel rim. The popularity of broad whitewalls had diminished by 1962, but were still an option for the Lincoln Continental.

The 60's, saw the introduction of a red/white stripe combination on Thunderbirds and other high-end Fords, including triple white stripe variations on Cadillacs, Lincolns and Imperials. The 1970s saw pretentious, showy, automobiles emerging from Detroit, influencing an increase in the stripe width of whitewalls to 1 5/8" plus. The pimpmobile culture of the '70's saw a reintroduction of completely white sidewalls.

These days, completely white sidewalls are still produced in original bias-ply or radial form by specialist outlets and/or classic car restoration businesses, some firms manufacture white inserts. Also available these days are niche service company's, that do a roaring trade with portable whitewall machines. This consists of a small burring machine, that after having scuffed the tire, then applies a specialised paint to the area. This type of application can add numerous stripes, coming in a number of colours, is relatively quick, generally comes to you and is long lasting.

The history of the whitewall tire, began not so much as a matter of style, rather a manufacturing consideration.

iAutoblog the premier autoblogger software