What ever happened to whitewall tires? I was traveling, I noticed no one has whitewall tires any more. What happened?

LeeinNC Loc: Morganton, NC

I was traveling, I noticed no one has whitewall tires any more. What happened?

W9OD Loc: Wisconsin

They put the white side in?

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

I guess they fell out of favor...

BebuLamar

I guess I am not old enough. I never liked white wall tires.

Grump's Photos Loc: Dunedin FL

Natural rubber is off white. Carbon black is added, not for the black look, but to give the tire additional wear properties. The white part of the “whitewall” tires has probably had zinc oxide added to whiten up the natural rubber, and get rid of the off white color.
Andy

RiJoRi Loc: Sandy Ridge, NC

The kids, who were short enough to reach the whitewalls, grew up? And the rest of us grew old enough to not want to bend in double to clean them?

I kinda remember my dad asking the mechanic to mount his '49 Plymouth' s tires whitewall-in so they would not get scuffed.

As someone else said, they fell out of favor, just like cornering lights and talking cars. ("Your door is a jar!" 😉)

--Rich

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

RiJoRi wrote:

...
... they fell out of favor, just like cornering lights and talking cars. ("Your door is a jar!" 😉)

--Rich

Our Buick had cornering lights that came on with the respective turn signal, LOVED THEM!
Especially on country roads with no lights at intersections (or driveways...).
Older, great car, and we'd still have it if it wasn't for getting rear-ended by someone doing about 35.

BebuLamar

Grump's Photos wrote:

Natural rubber is off white. Carbon black is added, not for the black look, but to give the tire additional wear properties. The white part of the “whitewall” tires has probably had zinc oxide added to whiten up the natural rubber, and get rid of the off white color.
Andy

But I don't think tires are made of natural rubber any more. I grew up living next to a rubber plantation. It's not there any more for 50 years now.

pendennis

Every tire used to start as a black-wall tire. There was a layer of "white" under the sidewall surface, and the black was milled away to get the white sidewall to appear. Red stripe tires had a red band where the white was. That was how I saw it done at a tour of the Firestone Tire plant in Akron in the 70's.

There are a couple of custom tire companies which still offer white sidewalls of differing widths.

LeeinNC Loc: Morganton, NC

RiJoRi wrote:

The kids, who were short enough to reach the whitewalls, grew up? And the rest of us grew old enough to not want to bend in double to clean them?

I kinda remember my dad asking the mechanic to mount his '49 Plymouth' s tires whitewall-in so they would not get scuffed.

As someone else said, they fell out of favor, just like cornering lights and talking cars. ("Your door is a jar!" 😉)

--Rich

allan catt Loc: gillingham,kent,uk

Back in the 70s here in the uk you could buy the white wall and fit on a deflated tyre one then reflate it,also you could buy a white wall paint and paint the tyres.you needed a steady hand though or they looked crap.🇬🇧

Don W-37 Loc: Bangkok, Thailand

BebuLamar wrote:

But I don't think tires are made of natural rubber any more. I grew up living next to a rubber plantation. It's not there any more for 50 years now.

Plenty of rubber plantations here in Thailand.
Big business! Thailand accounts for 37% of worlds rubber supply, or over 5 million tons. About 28% of car tires are natural rubber.

Cheers,
Don

cincykid

Think also the growing impact of imports. I think they were seldom if ever used.

sodapop Loc: Bel Air, MD

Does anyone remember "Portawalls"?

Canisdirus

LeeinNC wrote:

I was traveling, I noticed no one has whitewall tires any more. What happened?

That's ... art.