Whitewall tires
Whitewall tires , incorrectly also white band tires , are two-wheel or car tires that are equipped with a white tire side or a white stripe on one or both sides of the tire.
Manufacturing
The first car rubber tires were not black, but - because they were made of natural rubber - white. In order to improve the properties of the rubber , other additives were added over the next few decades that gave the car tires their black color during manufacture.
In the 21st century, only a few specialist manufacturers produce whitewall tires. To do this, they use special shapes in the manufacture of new tires , which make it possible to bring rubber compounds with different colors and properties to the desired areas of the later tire. Special properties of whitewall tires are described in the international patent classification "B29D 30/00 G". Tubular tires with white reflective stripes are produced especially for bicycle tires .
Whitewall tires and colored tires (tires with surrounding stripes in other colors) can also be produced by subsequently vulcanizing suitable rubber compounds.
history
In the early years, whitewall tires were a cheaper alternative to tires made entirely from enriched black rubber. Completely black tires corresponded to the premium class. Over time, however, that changed and whitewall tires were considered premium tires as they added to the overall design of the car. During the 1930s black tires were preferred again, and in the 1950s and 1960s the trend towards whitewall tires repeated itself. They were used as a design element of vehicles. Whitewall tires were made for the automotive sector as well as scooters, motorcycles and other two-wheelers.
One reason why whitewall tires have been on the decline again since the 1950s may be that today's car tires have a much narrower “wall” that could be colored white. Since the 1980 / 90s, they have hardly been used as standard equipment in new cars. An exception was the Lincoln Town Car , which could be ordered with whitewall tires until production was discontinued in 2011.
1904 Auburn with tires that are difficult to clean
Whitewall tires from the 30s
Whitewall tires at Harley-Davidson 45-UL (1945)
Narrow Stripe Whitewall Tire (1965)
Colored tires with narrow red stripes (1969)
Imitations
Whitewall tires are often imitated, e.g. B. White wall rings are used to achieve a similar appearance. This enables the contemporary processing of older vehicles ( oldtimers ) for which whitewall tires are no longer available. However, the few whitewall ring products available on the market are suitable for use in road traffic; as a rule, they are only suitable for exhibition purposes. Tire paint or tire varnish with a white hue is also used, but this darkens very quickly and thus looks dirty.
literature
- Rudolf Boch, History and Future of the German Automotive Industry , page: 17 and 189, ISBN 978-3-515-07866-5
- Mischa Berghoff, professional vehicle cleaning and preparation , whitewall tires page 234, ISBN 978-3-8023-1885-6
Web links
- The history of the tire , Münchner Oldtimer Reifen GmbH
- Matthias Parschau, license to wrestle , overview of procedures and solutions for whitewall tires, private website
- History of the whitewall tire, Autowebsite.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ International patent classification "B29D 30/00 G", whitewall tires, special features of the side walls, e.g. B. reflective , German Patent and Trademark Office
- ↑ Subsequent vulcanization of whitewall tires, description of the process, official manufacturer website, "Harald Möller GmbH"
- ↑ Boch, page 189
- ↑ Whitewall tires for scooters, official manufacturer website, Continental
- ↑ White wall tire approval for motorcycles, official document, Continental (PDF; 7 kB)
- ↑ White wall ring - alternative to white wall tires, official manufacturer's website, "RAVUS tire decorative rings"