The Whitewall

[HarleyEarl]

Did you know that originally rubber for tires was white? And that vulcanization of rubber (carbon added) created the black as we now know tires?

They first used the new black rubber on the treads creating the whitewall.

Here's a little history:

http://carsatlarge.com/2007/01/tires-never...te-subject.html

[XP715]

Nothing wrong with a nice pair of whitewalls, or the infinitely more uncommon double (inside and outside) whitewalls or, rarer still, all white tires. I think all white tires look great on Fatty Arbuckle's 1919 Pierce-Arrow:

X 1,000,000

[balthazar]

Dig the all-white tires. Sometimes you see the brass-era show cars w/ all-whites wearing what I'll call 'tire socks'- elasticized fabric covers that slip over the tires to keep the tread clean on the show field.

Anyone up for some triple-stripes?

[HarleyEarl]

Whitewalls were so commonplace at one time, that even sports cars had them, although they were significantly narrower.

[HarleyEarl]

Look at the serene simplicity of this tire and wheel on this VW. You can have all the bitchin wheels out there, give me this kind of automotive purity.

[knightfan26917]

Wow...that's kinda cool!

Heh...I used to really like the white stripes, but now prefer white letting (even though none of my current MCs have the white lettering) tires...easier to keep clean that the stripes.

*shrugs*

Right now...my '72, '76 and '81 have white stripes...the '79 and '87 have all black tires....

[HarleyEarl]

One of the best ways to keep whitewalls and white letters, and even the blackwalls clean is SOS pads. Like magic. Your tires will always look brandnew. And they are cheap.

[PONTIAC06]

When I bought my 95 Regal, it has whitewalls...not sure if they were stock, but they looked really good on the white car, which had a really narrow double red accent stripe down the side...I still really appreciate the vehicle even though it got the crap beat out of it. I even have pictures from when I rolled the odometer over 100,000. Still miss the car even though it's been nearly three years since I traded it in...